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Snow, Ice Disrupt Trips Home for Millions of Chinese Ahead of Spring Festival 

This photo shows an aerial view of the railway marshalling yard of the Zhengzhou North Railway Station amid snowfall in Zhengzhou, in central China's Henan province, on February 4, 2024. (AFP)
This photo shows an aerial view of the railway marshalling yard of the Zhengzhou North Railway Station amid snowfall in Zhengzhou, in central China's Henan province, on February 4, 2024. (AFP)
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Snow, Ice Disrupt Trips Home for Millions of Chinese Ahead of Spring Festival 

This photo shows an aerial view of the railway marshalling yard of the Zhengzhou North Railway Station amid snowfall in Zhengzhou, in central China's Henan province, on February 4, 2024. (AFP)
This photo shows an aerial view of the railway marshalling yard of the Zhengzhou North Railway Station amid snowfall in Zhengzhou, in central China's Henan province, on February 4, 2024. (AFP)

Freezing rain, snow and ice have snarled traffic in central and eastern China as billions of people travel home ahead of the Spring Festival holiday in blistering cold weather that has swept through parts of the country over the past week.

Hunan and Hubei provinces have borne the brunt of the severe weather, which worsened over the weekend, slowing highway traffic to a crawl and cancelling hundreds of trains.

The travel disruptions coincide with the biggest mass travel migration in the world as millions flock home to see their families for the Chinese New Year.

Over the past few days, videos across Chinese social media showed images of people stranded on trains and or trapped in cars on snowy highways in several cities, including Jingzhou.

One driver was trapped in a car for three days, business outlet Yicai reported on Monday, and a passenger going to Wuhan was stuck on a train after it lost power supply amid freezing temperatures, social media videos showed.

Hundreds of trains have been delayed or suspended, and throngs of passengers were stranded at railway stations in Wuhan, local media said. Runways at the Tianhe Airport in Wuhan were temporarily closed Tuesday, state media CCTV reported.

Photos from China Meteorological Administration showed bent and broken trees scattered across roads in Hunan, felled by freezing rain. In 10 provinces, about 129 sections of highways were closed, according to Beijing News.

At least two people have died in snow-related accidents. One person in Hubei and another from the southern province of Hunan were killed as awnings in farmers markets collapsed under heavy snow, according to a state media reports.

The severe weather is expected for another few days, according to China National Emergency Broadcasting. Several cities upgraded weather advisories and emergency response plans.

Authorities in Hubei said they aimed to clear out tunnels and bridges, where thick ice has caused choke points.

The province has instructed hundreds of highway toll stations to take traffic control measures, including letting vehicles through for free.

China's Central Meteorological Observatory predicted more rain, snow and freezing weather in the south for the first half of this week, but said conditions would improve starting Thursday.

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Should You Stretch before Exercise? After? Never? Here’s What to Know

Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
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Should You Stretch before Exercise? After? Never? Here’s What to Know

Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)

For many people of a certain age, high school gym class began with reaching for their toes. Then, over the years, we were told it was better to stretch after exercise.

It turns out, both those things can be true, but the differing advice has created some confusion.

Stretching can help make you more flexible, improve range of motion in your joints — and feel good. David Behm, who researches human kinetics at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Canada, offers this advice on when to stretch and how to do it safely:

Warm up first

It’s almost always good to stretch, but it’s better if you warm up first, said Behm, author of "The Science and Physiology of Flexibility and Stretching." He recommends a light aerobic activity such as jogging, walking or cycling for five or 10 minutes.

Follow that with some static stretching, the traditional way of reaching and holding a position (think back to that gym class). You can then do activity-specific dynamic stretching, in which you warm up the muscles with repetitive movements like leg lifts.

Behm says one minute is "the magic number" for how long to do static stretching per muscle group without fatigue.

Expand your definition of 'stretching'

Should you always stretch before exercising? If it's traditional stretching, not necessarily.

The better question, Behm says, is, "Should people increase their range of motion? Should people have better flexibility? And that is yes, because it helps prevent injuries. It helps with health. But you don’t have to stretch to achieve that."

Resistance training, for instance, can be an effective form of stretching, he said. Doing a chest press increases range of motion in your deltoids and pecs, whether with barbells, dumbbells or machines, so there is no need to stretch beforehand. Just make sure to start with a small amount of weight to warm up and then add more to train.

"You probably don’t have to do extra stretching unless you’re a gymnast, a figure skater, or even a golfer who needs a great range of motion through that swing," Behm said.

Nor do you need to stretch first if you’re going for a leisurely run. Simply start with a slow jog to warm up and then increase the pace.

Don't do it if it hurts

After exercise, "light stretching is OK, as long as you don't reach a point where you're feeling pain," Behm said. Since your muscles will be warm by that point, overdoing it makes you more likely to injure yourself.

Foam rollers can help with muscle recovery and have been shown to increase range of motion as well as stretching.

Do some static stretching before sports

If you’re playing a sport, Behm said, static stretching beforehand helps reduce muscle and tendon injury.

"If you’re going to do an explosive movement, change of direction, agility, sprint, any of these explosive activities that involve your muscles and tendons," he said, "you’re going to be stronger if you do static stretching."

People can especially get in trouble when they go back to a sport they used to play, whether it's tennis, surfing or any sort of team activity.

Also, stretch both sides equally. Lacking flexibility on one side also can lead to injury.

Sounds simple. Why all the confusion? Different studies over the years have either encouraged or discouraged stretching before exercise. Behm says that partly because some studies didn't reflect real-life conditions, or were designed with elite athletes in mind, not regular people.

"If you’re Usain Bolt, it makes a difference," said Behm. Not so much for the rest of us.