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I know fest means solid, firm, etc, but none of those makes particular sense in this snippet about stretching:

Überschreitet man diese Grenze, etwa weil jemand sagt: »Du musst da mehr rein«, dann meldet der Muskel ans Gehirn: »Das ist zu viel, ich gehe gleich kaputt.« Das Gehirn meldet zurück: »Okay, du darfst nachher gleich wieder fest werden.«

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  • "fest werden" means not contracting in this case. The paragraph of the article, you cited from, is about the lost effect of stretching, if someone stretches to much. The effect will not be to make the muscles soft and warm. Instead the muscles will become hard and inflexible, which means "fest" here.
    – Allerleirauh
    Oct 26, 2020 at 18:26
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    It's an issue with the text imho, not a problem with language. "Fest werden" just means "to become rigid", and what that is supposed to mean in this context is in the end as unclear in German as it is in English.
    – HalvarF
    May 18, 2021 at 6:29
  • In clear words, it means a muscle cramp (ein Muskelkrampf) after an overload.
    – user41853
    May 18, 2021 at 8:50

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Fest werden means to become contracted in this context. I would translate that as:

»Okay, you'll be allowed to go back into contracted state immediately after (the stretching).«

or

»Okay, you'll be allowed to contract yourself immediately after (the stretching).«

I'd rather use that even in German:

»Okay, Du darfst Dich nachher gleich wieder zusammenziehen.«

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    After reading the fitting part of the linked article, I would guess, that it is not "zusammenziehen". The paragraph is about "what happens, if one streches to hard" and the lost positive effect of "Lockerung der Muskeln" instead they get "fest" again. Now my english is not well enough, to notice, if this "fest" is equal to the "contract", but I assume the common contraction of a muscle is not the same, than the "fest werden" in this article... Sorry for the denglish writing -.-
    – Allerleirauh
    Oct 26, 2020 at 17:50
  • @Allerleirauh Well, I must admit, I didn't read that article to get more context. Unfortunately I can't delete an accepted answer :-(. You may notice the OP about that at their question please.
    – πάντα ῥεῖ
    Oct 26, 2020 at 17:53
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This text refers to a discussion between a brain and a muscle. The only thing it can mean is whatever muscles do after being overly stretched, which is any one of a number of things, including but not being limited to over stretching vessels. This disrupts circulation and makes the muscle short, tight and hard. It is not very healthy and the brain has little say in it. "Tight" in this case, would be a useful word to translate "fest" with, although as far as the muscle can tell, "stiff" would be more like it.

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