It looks very plausible that stretching before you exercise doesn’t do much for you. Multiple older surveys suggested this.
Annoyingly, the studies linked in the previous paragraph are 2 decades old, and somehow I can’t find a large, well controlled, trial.
I’m pretty sure I heard that stretching was a lesser but still beneficial alternative to exercise but that’s been in my brain for a long time and I’m not able at this moment to track down a source of this claim.
It’ll just do other things than other forms of exercise. Some train intensely for flexibility and so stretching is most of what they do! Most athletes except gymnasts, aerialists, etc don’t have the same demand for flexibility and so don’t need as much static stretching. But I think most people could benefit from a few stretches, especially as they get older.
I mean… it is exercise. You are moving your body. I think that counts.