Good input, MarcM. I dug a bit and found this interesting...a good discussion of ranges of flexibility (which you mentioned) and stretching and warm-ups.
It states "that stretching increases short-term flexibility, a potential benefit to athletes involved in sports that require extended range of motion, like whitewater kayaking or rock climbing, and a likely—though unproven—means to mitigate injury if you are unusually inflexible." And I will add...like treeclimbing.
from
http://www.outdoors.org/publications/outdoors/2008/outandfit/pre-exercise-stretching.cfm
WORKING STIFF? Foremost among these difficulties is determining how an athlete’s flexibility and injury risk are related. “We know from military studies that those that are least flexible and most flexible have the highest injury rate,” Gilchrist explains. “That would theoretically indicate that a normal range of flexibility is important for injury prevention.” Dr. Ed Zambraski, military performance division chief at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Mass., concurs. “People with low or high flexibility are more likely to become injured. But studies haven’t really looked at these particular groups.” Numerous studies have demonstrated, however, that stretching increases short-term flexibility, a potential benefit to athletes involved in sports that require extended range of motion, like whitewater kayaking or rock climbing, and a likely—though unproven—means to mitigate injury if you are unusually inflexible.
GETTING WARMER Ed McNeely is the co-founder of Strength Pro, a sports consulting business, and has worked with 17 different Canadian national teams, including rowing, biathlon, and cycling. Like many professional trainers, he remains convinced that pre-exercise stretching has its benefits. “There are two purposes for stretching: for warm-up and for flexibility. Stretching won’t prevent joint or skeletal injury,” McNeely claims. “But there’s quite a bit of good evidence that stretching can help prevent muscular injury.” Despite the lack of conclusive science supporting this assertion, McNeely does have a point. Research has shown that a good pre-exercise warm-up—which can include stretching as one of its components—can be beneficial. The key is to realize that stretching by itself doesn’t count as a full warm-up.
JUST DO IT To warm up properly, you need to get your heart pumping through a low-intensity cardio activity that focuses on the muscles appropriate to your intended activity. “A good warm-up raises your heart rate and increases blood flow to your muscles through the range of motion you expect to need,” Gilchrist explains. “Warm-ups have been shown to prevent injuries. If you only have five minutes, it might be more important to focus on a really good warm-up than to focus on the muscles.” As part of the process, McNeely advocates a slow start to your activity. “Work into it easy. Spend the first 5-10 minutes going at 75 percent of pace you plan on using.” But all this advice doesn’t mean you should stop stretching, especially if it’s something you enjoy. “There’s no negative effect to stretching,” Zambraski notes. “Even if it doesn’t change the injury rate, it’s sort of like, ‘If it doesn’t hurt me, I’m going to do it.’”
