Stretching

Stretching is something that most people tend to avoid and look at as a nuisance, and I myself am one of those people. Working out takes a lot of your time already, so why would you want to take up more of your time with 15 minutes of stretching before and after working out. well it turns out their is a lot of importance to stretching.

Stretching helps to prevent injuries in muscles and tendons while performing physical activity, it helps to keep you more flexible, it improves your performance in athletics, and it helps relieve muscle soreness. Stretching can do all of these great things, but it can also have negative effects if done at the wrong time. Their are two certain types of stretches you should do at different times before and after exercise.

The first type of stretching is called dynamic stretching, which should be done before exercise as a warm up. Dynamic stretching involves moving the joints and muscles in your body in full ranges of motion. These are very light stretches on your body and don’t cause your muscles to get too lose before working out. Some examples of dynamic stretches are a lunge with a twist of your torso, walking while lifting your knee to your chest, and high kicks. Doing movements like these before intense exercise insure that your joints and muscles are warmed up.

The second type of stretching which is the most common known is static stretching. You most likely learned static stretching at a very young age and thought it was the only kind. Static stretches are when you hold a stretch at the point where you feel tightness in your muscles and joints. Static stretching is important in the recovery of your muscles because   after working out your muscles get tight and static stretching helps loosen them.

It is important to only due light stretches before working out because your muscles are not as strong when they are loose. Think about something elastic such as a rubber band, the more you stretch it the more flexible it gets, but at the same time it also gets weaker and might even snap. After working out, your muscles get tighter which makes it important to do heavy stretches in order for you to return back to your original or even an improved flexibility.