What a world record powerlifter says you’re getting wrong about mobility

The fitness industry thrives on all-or-nothing mentalities, from 75-day challenges to aggressive calorie cuts and punishing routines. Static stretching has become part of that same conversation, a recurring debate in fitness circles where some experts argue it’s essential for recovery and range of motion, while others say it’s overhyped.

Jordan Syatt, a fitness coach and world record powerlifter, has spent his career chasing both extreme strength and extreme flexibility. So, we sat down with him to get his take on the real science of mobility, why most people stretch at the wrong intensity, and how to tell when it’s actually making a difference.

Mobility isn’t optional, and neither is strength

Right away, Syatt doesn’t waste time calling out how often fitness conversations default to black-and-white extremes. “In order to go viral, people avoid nuance, or they don’t understand it,” he says. “They end up saying that whatever they do is the one right way, and anyone who does it differently is wrong.” Stretching, he argues, has fallen into exactly that trap.

Even as a powerlifter, Syatt is quick to acknowledge the limits of his own discipline. “The best powerlifters in the world aren’t the longest-living people in the world,” he says. “They take strength to the extreme, but they end up missing out on other important aspects of exercise, whether it’s mobility or cardio.”

It cuts the other way too. “If someone is only doing strength training and no mobility, that’s a big problem, because they might be really strong in the ranges of motion they trained, but once they’re challenged in a range they don’t have access to, they’re not strong anymore.” The takeaway is simple: you need both to get the best results, not one instead of the other.

Why “before or after your workout” is the wrong question

Syatt pushes back on the premise itself when it comes to whether stretching belongs before or after a heavy leg day. “That framing assumes stretching should be light and passive, either a warm-up or a cooldown,” he says. “And these are the same people who say no matter how much they stretch, they never make progress with mobility.”

Mobility, in his view, improves the same way strength does. “In order to make adaptations with your body, whether it’s muscular strength, bone density, or any performance marker, there has to be a level of intensity you bring to your training, and you have to progressively overload. Same thing with stretching.”

Light static stretching during a cooldown isn’t wrong, he says, but it won’t move the needle much. “Where you’re really going to make improvements is when you start treating mobility like your strength training, doing it as a main part of your workout.”

Stretching isn’t just about soreness

The research on stretching and soreness is famously inconsistent. “You can find a study proving whatever point you want,” Syatt says, brushing off the debate as largely beside the point. His own approach is simple: start with slow static stretching when soreness is high, then ease into light dynamic movement as the body warms up.

The bigger benefit, in his view, has nothing to do with soreness at all. “The major benefit, aside from soreness, is injury recovery,” he says. “As you get more blood flow to an injury site, the faster you’re going to recover. If you’re lacking mobility and can’t get blood flow to that area, it makes recovery a much longer process.” Whether the injury is muscular or tendon-related, he says, the same principle applies: movement drives circulation, and circulation drives healing.

The truth about “tight” muscles

“Most tightness isn’t really tightness,” Syatt says, pushing back on the near-universal complaint that hamstrings are perpetually tight or sore. “The reason muscles appear tight is because your nervous system is telling them you haven’t used this range, you aren’t strong here, and if you go there, you’re going to get hurt.”

That shifts the fix. “For people who are constantly saying ‘I’m tight,’ a little more focus on getting stronger in those end ranges will be really, really good.” Static stretching still has a role, he says, since it can calm the nervous system and open up access to a range. But the change that sticks comes from strength.

On hamstrings specifically, strengthening them helps, but only if you train through the range you actually want. “If someone can’t touch their toes doing Romanian deadlifts because their knees are still bent, that might not actually help them touch their toes with straight legs,” Syatt says. “The law of specificity always applies. You need to train through the range of motion you want to achieve.”

And it’s not just the hamstrings. Syatt points to how gymnasts and dancers bend forward without rounding their backs, not because their hamstrings are exceptionally loose, but because their hip flexors and abs are strong enough to actively pull them into that position. His rule applies to any mobility goal, from touching your toes to a full side split: strengthen and lengthen both sides of the movement, not just the muscle that feels tight.

It all traces back to the same idea, he says. “All of these things are important, and the truth is the healthiest people are the ones that have a good balance of everything.” Strength and mobility aren’t competing philosophies. They’re the same skill, trained the same way, at the intensity that actually produces change.