subject: 10 Important Tips About Stretching [print this page] 10 Important Tips About Stretching 10 Important Tips About Stretching
You can improve the results of your workout and avoid injury by stretching and warming up your muscles first. There's a number of precautions to take and few guidelines to consider when doing fitness exercises. Here are a few.
1. Stretch before and after working out to improve your flexibility and avoid injuring yourself. Almost everyone knows that stretching before a workout prevents injuries during the exercises, but only few people know that stretching after a workout, when muscles are still warm, can increase flexibility.
2. Hold your stretching position for more than 60 seconds to increase flexibility. Twenty seconds is normally enough for warm-ups, but to develop flexibility, you must hold each position for sixty seconds or more.
3. Avoid Bouncing. Don't stretch by repeatedly assuming the position and immediately returning to a relaxed position. Hold your stretching position for several seconds, then relax slowly. Don't be afraid to do several repetitions, if you like. Bouncing while stretching can damage joints and muscles.
4. Work slowly in increments instead of immediately proceeding to doing the hardest exercise or position.
5. Warm up all your muscle groups before beginning your exercise in earnest. Make it a point to include the neck in your warm up exercises. A good neck exercise is simply pressing against the forehead with your hand and pressing back with the neck muscles. Then you can repeat the exercise pressing against the sides and then the back of your head with your hand.
6. Stretch regularly to continually increase your range of movements and your level of flexibility and strength.
7.Work to improve your own capabilities beyond you most recent best, and avoid competing against others. You could hurt yourself by trying to keep up with others and not working at your own pace. Allow yourself to improve slowly and steadily. Listen to your body. There are days when your body may be too tired and you may have to consider reducing your range of motion.
8. Rest when necessary. When you feel depleted you can start resting, briefly, between sets or stations to recover your energy. You should also avoid working the same muscle groups on consecutive days. Muscles increase in size during the periods of rest when they are repairing themselves.
9. Include an aerobic element in your routine to help build your heart muscle. Aerobic exercise relies on your heart and lung capacity to provide lots of oxygen and so increases them both. A good cardio workout can be had by engaging in running, brisk walking, swimming, rope jumping, and stair stepping
10. Use dance musicto help you maintain pace and cadence when doing aerobic exercise. radios, mp3 players, CD players can all be used as a source for music when doing cardio. A headset will help you avoid disturbing others while you exercise.
Remember that stretching can also be used just to relax a tired body. You don't have to restrict it to exercise warm ups and cool downs. Sometimes a good stretch will just help you unwind.
