Flexibility is youth and this is true if you add flexibility and stretching exercises to your daily activities and do them regularly, after short period of time you will feel more alert and younger.
As you get older, your ability to be flexible gradually fades, your tendons become less elastic, and your range of motion decreases.
Why stretching, where to start, and how to avoid mistakes?
The banalest reason is for your beauty. Athletes know: that without stretching, even well-trained muscles look “stiff,” and the figure looks chunky. But even for those who are not going to exercise seriously, but rather for pleasure and health, stretching will help to become slimmer and more graceful.
Stretching will help keep your joints healthy. Cartilage and ligaments have no blood supply. The only way to bring nutrition to them is through stretching exercises. By exercising regularly, we will keep our joints and spine mobile and youthful.
Stretching exercises improve coordination, and strengthen joints. They make ligaments more elastic. This way we reduce the risk of injury if, for example, we slip and fall.
Stretching exercises are great for improving the mood, one becomes more balanced and self-confident.
And also stretching not only stretches muscles and ligaments but also helps to relieve muscle fatigue, soreness, and even nervous tension. Very useful stretching for office workers who spend many hours in the same position at the computer.
What is stretching?
Static exercises – when you make an effort and, for example, put your hands around your own feet in a sitting position, folding in half. This is what is called “folding.”
Dynamic stretching is the same exercise performed with amplitude: you bend rhythmically, leaning your chest lower and lower to your knees each time.
Static-passive stretching exercises in which the “stretched” state is maintained not by muscle effort, but by the weight of your own body. The classic example is when we sit on the splits, longitudinal and transverse.
The most effective – is paired stretching, when the exercises involve two: stretching helps a partner or trainer. When a person is working on their own, it is more difficult for them to relax their muscles. And under the influence of a partner, it is possible to relax as much as possible and achieve better results in a shorter time. It is true that paired work requires special care. The impact of the partner should increase very gradually. The movements are smooth and soft, so as not to get trauma. And it is better to perform such exercises under the supervision of a coach.
How and when to stretch?
Stretching is a universal exercise. You can do it at any time – both in the morning and in the evening, most importantly, not on a full stomach. It can and should be combined with other exercises, finish jogging or weight training with it. But it is very good to do the complex separately, so you can slowly work all the major joints and muscle groups.
Does it have to hurt?
Stretching is not the most painless exercise, as, indeed, any workout from which we want to get results. Quiet music will help to focus and relax the necessary muscle groups.
When stretching there are two types of pain:
– With the right body position, there is tension, which turns into a pulling, pleasant pain, while the muscles “breathe” and get oxygenated. By the way, correct breathing during the stretching – with deep breaths and long exhalations – helps to reduce such painful sensations to zero;
If during the exercise you don’t observe the correct body position or overdo the intensity, a nerve can be pinched, and you end up with sharp, severe pain. This is the signal to stop, correct your posture, and start stretching again.
Where to start
There are dozens of stretching exercises. The necessary minimum of the simplest exercises will help to work for the main muscle groups (see figure). But it is necessary to take into consideration that stretching is a traumatic kind of activity. Of course, it is better to train under the control of a trainer. But also home exercises, of course, are very useful.
Few basic rules:
In order not to make a mistake and not get injured, you must necessarily follow a few basic principles during training.
It is not necessary to force events and wait for quick results, there are people who are flexible by nature. But for most people, it takes quite a long time to noticeably increase their flexibility.
Stretch regularly. Light stretching can be done every morning to cheer up and wake up, and in the evening to relieve fatigue. But after serious exercises (for example, with the purpose to sit on the splits) you will need time to recover. Such exercises should be performed at least three times a week. Very often muscle clamps are asymmetrically located. In order to maintain balance, it is necessary to work on both sides of the body. To avoid injuries, the muscles must be properly warmed up. If stretching is the final stage of the workout and before it you have already performed strength exercises or cardio load, it means that the muscles are already hot. Otherwise, a warm-up is mandatory. Running and jumping, squats and leg swings are the best. The time for such preparation is 10-15 minutes.
An important moment is the end of the training. It is best to dive into a warm bath after completing the exercise. Water will relax the strained muscles and help them recover. By the way, and during the workout should not be cold, and it is better to protect the strained muscles additionally. Knitted thick gaiters, warm leggings, knee socks – all this will be beneficial and will make the training more pleasant and safer.
By the way, one of the common mistakes is when instead of warming up you suggest warming up the muscles by taking a hot bath. Muscles do get warmed up. But during the physical warm-up, important physiological processes take place: the joints are lubricated with synovial fluid, and tendons and muscles become elastic and protected from injury. So a bath – it’s certainly nice and good. But only after exercise.
