It’s one thing to go to the gym and workout, but it’s another to go to the gym and remember to stretch before or afterwards. To some people, stretching may seem unnecessary, but it’s actually quite the opposite. It’s probably one of the most essential things when it comes to muscle growth and the overall health of your muscles.
As you may or may not know, stretching is the act of straightening and extending the muscles within one’s body. But, while everyone knows about stretching, not everyone does it, which is crazy to me because there are literally 650 total muscles in the human body.
Since having that many muscles that help our bodies move every day, it would seem like common sense that it would be beneficial to stretch a little every day to help them do their jobs correctly.
There a many different stretches, and types of stretches that you can incorporate into your daily routine to be able to help your body in more ways than one. The common stretches that sometimes get confused are called static and dynamic stretches.
Static stretches are when you hold a position in place for a period of time, without movement. Which then allows your muscles to loosen up, while increasing flexibility and range of motion. This type works best at the end of your workout because your muscles are most likely going to be tight from the workout you just did.
Dynamic stretches are more active movements that work to get your muscles warmed up and ready for exercise. This type works best in the beginning or before your workout because it will get your body moving and the blood flowing through your body.
“In general, dynamic stretches are better…it more closely resembles the movement you’ll be doing during the exercises included in your workout. And it’s an excellent way to warm-up the muscles and joints you'll be using, by increasing the blood flow in them.” - Dr. Patrick Anderson, DC
And with that, here are some of the reasons you should stretch each and every time you exercise or just move your body in general.
Reason 1: Increases Your Range of Motion
For virtually every exercise that you do, the range of motion that you’re able to achieve is an important element to getting the most out of the exercise. If your range of motion isn’t where it needs to be, it can throw off a lot of things that will make it more difficult to achieve your fitness goals.
By stretching your muscles, doing static and dynamic stretches, you will find that you’re going to start to see an increase in your range of motion when doing certain exercises.
Personally, for me, once I started doing more ankle and hip stretches after my workouts, I started to see a big change in my range of motion when I was squatting. Especially since I'm now able to get closer to a parallel position at the bottom of my squat. (I’m still not fully there, but it’s been improved)
“The more flexible you are, the more you’re going to be able to perform a variety of movements that require different movements and angles” – Dr. Patrick Anderson, DC
Reason 2: Increases Blood Flow to Your Muscles
When someone has increased blood flow into their muscles, it is what makes them have the “pump” that people strive for.
By stretching it increases circulation within your blood stream, which then effects your muscles and how they physically feel when you’re doing other exercises. And with that it will help you be able to correctly execute the exercises to the best of your ability.
“The increase of blood flow helps warm the joints up, but also getting oxygen to the muscles you’ll be using.” – Dr. Patrick Anderson, DC
Reason 3: Helps Reduce Soreness
I don’t know one single person who enjoys being sore after a workout. Feeling the constant pain while doing just about anything with the muscle that’s sore is arguably one of the worst, but best pains there are.
But, by stretching after a workout, it helps make it so the muscles you were just using, that just became really tight and condensed, are able to stretch out and lengthen back out.
And a way to stretch and release tension from your muscles at the same time is foam rolling. I personally LOVE foam rolling, I do it after every workout, and it’s one of the only things that I feel really helps reduce soreness especially in my legs. Although it can be very painful depending on the state of your soreness, it will be worth it when you wake up the next day.
“Lactic acid builds up after you break up the muscles when you’re exercising…and it’s actually better to exercise when you’re sore, because when you work out, that lactic acid moves around which then helps reduce the sore feeling.” - Dr. Patrick Anderson, DC
Feel free to watch the short videos below to get some ideas on what to stretch, and some new ways to stretch, if you're wanting some inspo!!
Along with the three tips I just gave, my uncle who I talked about in my previous posts, Dr. Patrick Anderson, has also suggested a type of stretch that is very beneficial to our body’s overall health and wellness.
The stretch he highly recommends is called the PNF (Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) stretch, which is static in nature. With this stretch it works to strengthen, improve range of motion, and boost flexibility. While performing the stretches, you’re having to hold the different aspects for a few seconds before continuing, and if you wanted to learn more, along with see some examples of how to do the different focused muscle groups, then click the video below!
Thank you for reading this week’s post, I hope you’ve learned something, and are going to either start stretching more or try out new stretches and stretching methods!
As always, follow me in Instagram and Twitter to get more content from me and to actually see more of me and my face! And tune in for my next post where I talk about the Do’s and Don’ts for Being Involved in College!
Comments