Originally Posted by livedarklions

Right, one of the things that's become clear from the scientific study of stretching is that it doesn't "warm up" a muscle which used to be one of the main reasons trainers, etc. used to claim for it.

What you're doing is completely reasonable as marginally increasing flexibility appears to be the one thing that stretching actually does. People's maximum flexibility, however, is mostly determined by genetics, and it varies wildly from person to person. It's also not universally true that a marginal difference in flexibility is worth anything. Lots of excellent athletes are basically stiff. I'm by nature not very flexible and I get no noticeable benefit from stretching. I also don't find my inability to comfortably cross my legs (for example) is any serious detriment. I'm sure that varies a lot person to person by what they're doing, what they're used to, and their body's response to the actual stretching.
I just got accused of trolling because I don't believe that people should claim stretching prevents injury like I'm some sort of anti-stretching fanatic when all I'm really saying is I think stretching is, for most people, a matter of comfort and a decision that should be made individually.
Obviously, people who actually need flexibility for their activities, e.g., dancers, gymnasts, need to do a lot of stretching. Bicyclists probably vary like crazy in this regard.