Unless you’re doing plyometrics or explosive reps in weight training, it’s probably sufficient to loosen up through light reps of your exercise regiment.
The light reps will loosen you up sufficiently.
One important reason to stretch is to gain flexibility which is in itself important in many sports. I’d trade some of my strength for more flexibility in terms of martial arts. I suspect the same is true for many other sports. And of course it’s a required attribute for sports like gymnastics.
Living here in the Northwest, I hike a lot. It has always seems strange to me when I see the rare hiker stretching before hiking. Come on, it is just walking up hill. Walk slow for a bit if required to limber up, but who stretches before walking?
Yup. My best 10K races are when I either walk or jog right before the race.
Only occasionally if a muscle is really tight do I stretch and even then I only stretch a little.
I think it’s good to do light stretching and warm ups before starting physical activities. It shouldn’t hurt your performance if you don’t overdo it.