IntroI know it’s boring and seems like a waste of time, but stretching before and after a workout has numerous health benefits. If you’re one of the many people unwilling to take the extra 5-7 minutes to stretch, you are depriving yourself of an important part of a healthy lifestyle.
Before you stretch
It’s not as easy as just walking into the fitness center, doing a few shoulder rotations and jumping on the bench press. Before you stretch, you need to ensure your body is warm. Stretching cold muscles can cause serious injury. Warming up your body can best be accomplished by either jogging or cycling to the gym (if you’re close enough) or warming up on the elliptical at a brisk pace for 3-5 minutes. Once your body is warm, it’s time to find a comfortable area to stretch those muscles.
The many benefits of stretching
First, stretching can help you avoid injuries. If you’re a morning exerciser, your muscles have been largely inactive through the night. If you’re an afternoon or evening exerciser with a desk job or any other type of job where you don’t move around much during the day, your muscles are probably fairly stiff, and you might even have some soreness. Throwing weight at your muscles with no warmup and no stretching is like flooring the accelerator on your car when the engine is cold. You might be OK…but then again, you might create a serious failure. When you stretch, your body is relaxing and lengthening your muscles so you can use your full range of motion with a reduced chance of injury.
Second, stretching can improve your flexibility. After you work out, make an effort to stretch every muscle group that you’ve worked that day. These muscles are tight and tired; by stretching, you’re lengthening and relaxing them. Remember, strength training causes your muscle tissue to break down and repair itself. Stretching sends a signal to your body that your muscles should not only grow stronger, but longer as well. The longer your muscles, the more flexible you are.
Do you have joint pain? Stretching can improve your joint strength and joint flexibility. Do you wish you had better posture? Stretching your shoulders and lower back will help you to pull those shoulders back and walk without the hunchback look that has become so common.
Types of stretchingThere are two main types of stretching that we should be concerned with; static and dynamic. Static stretching is the type you’re probably familiar with involving long, deep stretching of the muscles in question. Despite some recent medical studies, passive stretching remains both useful and effective and will not make you more prone to injury if you warm up properly before you begin. There are a few key things to remember: first, don’t bounce, simply hold the stretch. Second, don’t overstretch (stretch too far). Hold each stretch for 10-30 seconds, relax and then repeat. Make sure you breathe easily while you stretch, and remember that it’s best to stretch opposing muscle groups (for example, if you stretch your hamstrings, make sure you stretch your quads).
Alternatively, you can try dynamic stretching, which involves activities that keep you in motion while stretching. Instead of holding the position (as in static stretching), you move into position for the stretch and then relax. This motion is performed for 8-12 repetitions. If you were involved in athletics in high school or college, you probably learned about some of these, including leg swing walks, arm swings and torso twists to name a few. Dynamic stretching shares the same advantages as static stretching, but unfortunately also has a higher risk of injury.
Pre-existing injuries
If you’ve got a bum shoulder or pulled hamstring, it might feel natural to try to stretch it out as much as you can so you can keep working it. What you should really be doing is resting that muscle so it can heal! If you continue to stretch an injured muscle, it will take longer to heal and form more scar tissue than if you had let it heal naturally. It doesn’t matter if it’s a recent injury or a persistent pain from years ago; light stretching is OK, but hard stretching can prolong the healing process.
Summary
It’s easy to see the health benefits of frequent stretching. If you can commit yourself to an extra 5-7 minutes before and after your workouts, you can enjoy a healthier lifestyle without too much extra work.
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