Stretching, the Cherry on Top of Vigorous Exercise

You thump out a few miles on the treadmill. You work your way through a sequence of strength training exercises. You even add some time on the bike for good measure and you smile with contentment that you made it through your workout. Nothing to do now but hit the shower; this is where many people go wrong. Most aerobic and strength training exercises inherently cause your muscles to contract and flex. That’s why regular stretching is a dominant part of any exercise plan.

The ideal time to stretch is when your muscles are warmed up. If they are not by now warm, then you need to warm them up, this can usually be done by performing some type of brief aerobic activity. Evidently, stretching is a significant part of warming-up before and cooling-down after a workout. If the weather is very cold, or if you are feeling very rigid, then you need to take extra care to warm-up before you stretch in order to decrease the risk of injuring yourself.

Before creating a particular stretching routine, you must first decide which types of flexibility you wish to increase, and which stretching methods are best for achieving the goal. The best way to increase flexibility is by performing dynamic stretches, accompanied with static stretches.

If you stretch correctly, your muscles should not be aching the day after you have exercised. If you are, then it may be an sign that you are overstretching and that you need to go easier on your muscles by dropping the intensity of some (or all) of the stretches you execute. Overstretching will just increase the time it takes for you to increase greater flexibility. This is for the reason that it takes time for the damaged muscles to repair themselves, and to present you the same flexibility as before they were injured.

Stretching is important not only because it will make you fit, less likely to get injured, but it can also help you to preserve flexibility to do all the other activities in your life.