Stretching Properly Before and After Exercise

Proper stretching, before and after exercise, helps any lifter or weight lifters to improve their fitness and health. And just like driving, stretching also has its set of rules that must be followed and following them strictly is essentially for you to accomplish your goals and be in the best shape of your health. Failing to stretch properly can have its share of not so good repercussions like painful joints and this is something that you should avoid at all costs.

To start with, using static stretching is important for you to maintain flexibility. However, this shouldn't be done before exercise but after and it will really help you to avoid having muscle soreness that can make you move like a corpse. Next, when you are training a strong or favorite part of body, consider doing stretch tight muscles. If you for example have a strong chest and tight calves, it is important that you consider stretching the calves when undertaking bench presses. Also, consider using traction when stretching as this will help you a lot in reducing compression and increasing range of motion as well as impingement of joints.

It is also very important that you are able to be in full control of the muscle area that you are stretching. For example, if you need to get your hamstrings stretched, you should be targeting your muscle belly as you bend the knee, plantar flexing your ankle or rounding the back. In case your knee is locked, ensure that your back stays straight and you will be able to reap the full benefits of stretching. If you are having poor posture, stretching will really help you a lot. Poor posture is essentially caused by the shortening of muscles overtime and this is something that can result from training consistently over a limited motion range.

There are also some don'ts that you should avoid when stretching before and after exercise. For instance, an intense stretch shouldn't be held for more than 15 seconds due to muscle hypoxia. Also, don't skip those highly important strength training exercises which promote passive stretching as they will help you a lot to be fit.

Learning how to stretch properly before and after exercise isn't always an easy thing as such. Fortunately, The Physical Edge provides you all the useful information you need that can help you get the most out of your stretching. 

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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