Making sure that you stretch before and after any physical activity is super important, so make sure it becomes part of your daily routine! Here are 10 reasons why stretching is important:
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1. Flexibility. Achieving and maintaining an adequate range of motion in your musculoskeletal joints is important for several
reasons, including the fact that it appears to reduce your potential
for injury. For example, an insufficient level of flexibility in your
hamstrings and lower-back muscles is thought to be a major factor in
the incidence of lower-back pain. At a minimum, improving your level
of flexibility will enhance your ability to perform certain physical
and sports-related tasks.
2. Timing. As a general rule, the best time to stretch is just
after a brief warm-up. Such a schedule will increase your level of
blood flow and raise the temperature level in your muscles, both of
which are vital for muscle elasticity. Stretching cold muscles may
sprain or tear them. You also should stretch after warming down.
3. Prescription. One of the keys to maximizing your efforts
to increase your level of flexibility is to perform two to six
repetitions of each stretch exercise to the point of mild discomfort,
holding each stretch for 10 to 30 seconds. (Note that no universal
consensus exists concerning how long to hold a particular stretch.)
4. Exercise order. Begin your stretching routine by stretching
the major muscle groups of your body first. Then, stretch the specific
muscles involved in the activity in which you plan to engage.
5. Isolation. To the degree possible, isolate the muscles you
want to stretch. If other parts of your body move while you are
exercising, your stretching efforts will be compromised, and your risk
of suffering an injury will be heightened.
6. Technique. Three basic approaches to stretching commonly
are used. Ballistic stretching (i.e., performing bouncing stretches)
involves the momentum generated by the moving body part to produce the
stretch. The second type of stretching is static stretching which
involves gradually stretching through a muscle's full range of
movement until resistance is felt. The stretch is held for a
predetermined time, and then the muscle being stretched is relaxed,
followed by stretching that muscle even further. The final common
stretching is contract-relax stretching (i.e., proprioceptive
neuromuscular facilitation). This technique involves performing an
isometric contraction of the muscle to be stretched, followed by slow,
static stretching of that same muscle.
7. Pain. You should not stretch to the point of pain.
Flexibility can not be developed while the stretched muscle is in
pain; also, you may injure yourself. At worst, any discomfort you
experience while stretching should be relatively mild and brief.
8. Gender. All factors considered, women tend to be
significantly more flexible than men at all ages (youth to adulthood).
To a degree, these difference can be overcome by engaging in a
properly designed stretching program for an extended period of time.
9. Age. As you age, your level of flexibility tends
to decrease, although such a decrease can be attributed more to an
increase in your level of inactivity rather than the aging process
itself. Most human bodily systems experience some degree of functional
decline, but much of the physiological decline typically seen with
aging results from a decrement in a person's physical activity level.
10. Patience. Don't be discouraged with or forego your
stretching efforts because you are not progressing as quickly as you
would like or are not as flexible as others. Keep in mind that
flexibility is an individual matter, one that varies from person to
person. Stay the course. Eventually, your efforts will pay substantial
dividends.
If your looking for a really great reference point to start with, take a look at this wonderfully informative, yet easy to understand book by Jessica Mathews: Stretching to Stay Young: Simple Workouts to Keep You Flexible, Energized, and Pain Free.
The importance of stretching cannot be emphasized enough and the sooner you implement it into your daily routine the better off you will be. At first it might be difficult to fit in and you may be tempted to skip it and jump straight into your workout but trust me, once you start to see the results of a daily routine and how much better you feel, you will wonder why you didn't start sooner!
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