Static stretches are a funny thing. They are bad before exercising, good after workouts, and downright amazing when you’ve spent the last eight hours sitting in a desk chair. Click here to learn more….

“While dynamic stretching has been proven to ‘prime the pump more efficiently and get you ready for exercise performance,’ if you’re looking to increase range of motion, decrease pain, fix your posture, then static stretching is the way to go,” says physical therapist Jared Beckstrand, P.T., D.P.T., founder of Tone and Tighten. Plus, by improving flexibility and posture, static stretching could wind up improving your ability to power through workouts without injury.

Still, some static stretches—old-school, mistaught, or completely against the laws of nature—just suck. Read on as trainers, exercise physiologists, and physical therapists share the six stretches that are wasting your time.

1.Traditional back-of-shoulder stretch

We’ve been hugging one arm across our chests since elementary school PE. Unfortunately, this stretch shortens already too-short muscles in your chest and lengthens muscles in your back that are already overstretched, says exercise physiologist and licensed massage practitioner Nikki Naab-Levy. “Most of us already live with a forward shoulder position from sitting at a computer, and consequently have tightness in the muscles on the front of the body like the pecs with weakness, and too much length in the muscles on the back of the body like the rear deltoid and external rotators of the shoulder,” she says. Basically, it just puts you in a never-ending slouch.

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