Inter-Set Stretching for Muscle Growth: What Science Says
2026-02-17
If you spend time in any gym, you'll see it: lifters frantically stretching between sets, contorting themselves into yoga poses between bench press sets, convinced they're optimizing their gains. The logic seems soundâmore flexibility, more range of motion, more muscle growth, right?
Wrong. Recent 2025 research turns this assumption on its head.The Problem with Passive Stretching Between Sets
A November 2025 review published in MARCA specifically examined stretching between sets for muscle growth, and the conclusions are striking. Passive stretching aims to relax the muscleâwhich directly contradicts one of the fundamental mechanisms of hypertrophy: stressing and damaging muscle tissues so they rebuild stronger.
When you perform passive stretching (the kind where you hold a position and let gravity or a partner stretch your muscle), you're essentially telling your body to loosen up the tissue you've just worked hard to damage. This creates a fundamental conflict in your training logic.
What the Research Actually Shows
The 2025 evidence is remarkably consistent:
- Passive stretching alone does not significantly contribute to muscle growth. A 2025 review in Dr. Muscle analyzing stretch-mediated hypertrophy found that low-intensity passive stretching, even when performed extensively, fails to stimulate meaningful muscle protein synthesis pathways.
- The tension requirement. Hypertrophy requires mechanical tension at levels that challenge the muscle's capacity. Passive stretching operates at the opposite end of the spectrumâlow tension, relaxation-based, designed to increase flexibility rather than create muscular stress.
- Titin and the passive tension debate. Recent research has illuminated titin's role in passive muscle tension. However, this relates to passive stiffness properties, not the active force production needed to trigger growth. Your muscles aren't getting "stretched into bigger" â they're getting "loaded into bigger."
The Exception: Longer Muscle Length Training
Here's where it gets interesting. While passive stretching between sets appears counterproductive, training at longer muscle lengths does show promise for hypertrophyâparticularly longitudinal muscle growth.
A March 2025 systematic review in ScienceDirect examined longer-muscle-length (LML) versus shorter-muscle-length resistance training and found that LML training may promote greater fascicle lengthening and potentially superior longitudinal growth. The key distinction: active tension through loaded stretching (like paused squats at the bottom, or slow eccentrics in a stretched position) is fundamentally different from passive stretching between sets.
What Should You Do Between Sets?
Instead of passive stretching, consider these evidence-based alternatives:
Active recovery: Light movement that promotes blood flow without interfering with the next set. Walking, light cycling, or gentle foam rolling. Mental preparation: Visualize your next set. Studies show mental practice can improve force production. Dynamic mobility (pre-workout): Save your serious stretching for before or after your sessionânot between working sets where you're trying to maintain tension and readiness. Rest properly: Simply resting allows ATP regeneration, CNS recovery, and prepares you for your next hard set. This is what the science actually supports.The Bottom Line
The belief that stretching between sets optimizes muscle growth is not supported by current evidence. In fact, it may work against hypertrophy by promoting relaxation when your muscles need tension and recovery.
Save your stretching for dedicated mobility sessions or warm-ups. Between sets? Rest, recover, and prepare for your next set of heavy work.
The path to maximum gains isn't found in pretzel-like poses between setsâit's found in progressive overload, adequate volume, and training with intensity.
References: MARCA (2025) "Stretching Between Sets to Gain Muscle Mass"; ScienceDirect (2025) "Does longer-muscle length resistance training cause greater longitudinal growth in humans?"