Although stretching may not be the most enjoyable exercise, flexibility exercises are crucial to a well-rounded fitness plan. You may increaseflexibility, decrease tightness, and ultimately improve the effectiveness and safety of your workouts, whether they involve strength or aerobic exercises, by including some stretching exercises in your plan.
Alex Carlson, DPT, clinical director at Professional Physical Therapy in Sicklerville, New Jersey, tells SELF that tight muscles “may impose unnecessary tension on the nearby joints during normal daily function, or they themselves can become injured.” Our muscles become less elastic and shorter as we age, she continues. “In order to continue using our abilities pain-free, we need to actively work to preserve and lengthen our muscles.”
Stretching isn’t exactly glamorous, and it’s unlikely to make you feel as good as a run or Hot class. People don’t like to do it since it takes time and is uncomfortable, according to Cyrelson. But you can’t merely perform cardio and strength training without putting yourself at risk for pain and damage. Your muscles will become imbalanced if you constantly contract your muscle, which shortens them, and never stretch them, which lengthens them. Your risk of injury rises when your body is out of balance because some muscles and joints may overcompensate for others that are too tight to function properly. This causes discomfort and tensions.
Why is stretching important?
Stretching has an alot of advantages. One benefit of stretching is that it increases flexibility, which can enhance both your short- and long-term range of motion. This is crucial because, as previously noted by self, a greater range of motion can result in improved muscle recruitment during exercises. For instance, having more hip and knee mobility will enable you to squat more deeply. In the end, having a larger ROM will enable you to perform more exercises—and do them correctly.
To stress how crucial stretching is for daily living, Le Stretch inventor Charlee Atkins, CSCS, tells SELF that she prefers to use the word mobility rather than flexibility. Improving your mobility makes these regular chores easier—”you can move more freely,” Atkins says. “For me, it’s about daily things that grow tougher the older you get, like bending down to tie a shoe, walking up stairs, picking your kid up from the floor, or even just getting up off the sofa.”
Stretching can help relieve achiness, which can be brought on by muscle tightening from exercise or from spending all day bent over a desk. Additionally, it can let you know if there are any muscular imbalances, such as if one side is tighter than the other as you enter one of your preferred hip flexor stretches.
These 5 Best Flexibility Exercises for Stretching:
1. Hamstring stretch while standing
- With your feet hip-width apart, your knees slightly bent, and your arms at your sides, stand tall.
- Keeping your head, neck, and shoulders relaxed, exhale as you bend forward at the hips and lower your head toward the floor.
- Hold for 45 seconds to two minutes with your arms around the backs of your legs.
- When finished, roll up while bending your knees.
2. Less stress and lessening of muscle tightness
- Our daily lives are characterized by stress. However, it might occasionally seem overpowering. When you experience high amounts of stress, your muscles may stiffen up, giving you the impression that you are carrying the tension inside of you.
- Relaxing tense, tight muscles can be accomplished by stretching them. As a result, you might feel less stressed and more at ease.
3. stretched-out piriformis
On the outside of the but, the piriformis muscle is a deep internal hip rotator. According to Atkins, outward rotation is its main function. Although they are tiny, deep internal rotators contribute significantly to hip movement and are frequently disregarded. Since the piriformis crosses the sciatic nerve, Cyrelson claims that if it is tight, this could irritate the sciatic nerve. Stretching this muscle may help treat or prevent pain in the future.
4. Increased blood flow
A 2018 animal study claims According to a reliable source, stretching every day helps boost circulation. Your muscles may recover from a workout more rapidly if there is more blood flow to them. Improved blood flow may also lessen the likelihood of post-workout stiffness and tired muscles.
5. Triceps Extend
A fantastic stretch to perform following an exercise for the chest or shoulders is the triceps stretch, one of the most well-known upper-body stretches. It relaxes the muscles on the back of your upper arms.
- Kickbacks, diamond push-ups, etc.
- Dips.
- Triceps extensions overhead.
- Pushdowns on ropes.
- Bar squats.
- Bench Presses with a Close Grip.
