Stretching is very important in any styles of martial art training as well as any type of physical activities.  There are many benefits of stretching such as:

Stretching helps increase our flexibility and when our flexibility is increase, it prevents activity based injuries and increases our performance, they are all somehow related.  When we stretch it increase our blood flow to our muscles which means more oxygen is supplied to our muscles. Think of it this way, when we are sleepy we tend to yawn.  We yawn to obtain more oxygen.  So if you have more oxygen, you are sort of "waking up" your muscles that have been unused or sedated.  When your muscles, joints or tendons more awake and alert, and have more range of motions, you are less likely to obtain activity based injuries as your muscle, joints and tendons are engaged in the activity.  When your muscles are more engaged they will react quicker to certain situation to prevent injuries.

 

The end results  when you increase blood flow to your muscle, you are also increasing your circulation which allows the flow of your blood more smoothly and this decrease muscle soreness.  More oxygen to your muscle, better recovery time.   

What not to do in Stretching

On the flip side, you should know that stretching is not a warm up and people can hurt themselves by stretching if not performed properly. Performing a light 5 minute warm up exercises prior to stretching will eliminate your chance of causing injuries from stretching. 

 

A video of stretches