We love helping people in Massachusetts to develop a fitness routine. You should include all types of exercises, such as resistance exercises for strength and cardio exercises for endurance. You also need to ensure there are core exercises for balance and stretching for flexibility. Including stretching in a workout is vital. It helps warm the muscles before a workout and cool the body after the workout.
Stretching helps the body warm up for activity.
Sleeping lowers the body temperature and completely relaxes the body in all animals, including humans. If you’ve ever watched a cat when it first awakens, you’ve probably noticed it yawns and stretches. People do that too. Yawning increases oxygen intake and stretching increases circulation to warm the muscles and prepare them for daily activities. Stretching also prepares the muscles for exercise.
The additional circulation serves several functions, including protecting the muscles from injury.
Stretching warms the muscles and makes them more pliable. The type of stretch you do, and when you do it, makes a big difference. Before a workout, you should do dynamic stretching. Dynamic stretching involves movement that warms the muscles and slowly makes you more limber. That provides more protection from muscle pulls. Static stretching, like touching your toes, should be done after a workout when the muscles are warm. It increases the range of motion and makes your body more flexible.
Stretching can improve posture and reduce or prevent pain.
If you stretch frequently, pulling your shoulders back and pushing your head toward the sky, it can offset a habit of slouching, making it easier to stand straight. Good posture helps prevent breathing difficulties, constipation, incontinence, and GERD. You can reduce muscle and joint pain or prevent it by stretching. You can prevent or ease shoulder impingement syndrome, back, knee, and neck pain, and headaches when you stretch regularly.
- You’ll be kinder to your heart when you stretch before working out. The mild stretching and movement before a workout slowly increases circulation. It increases the work of the heart slowly and doesn’t spike blood pressure.
- Stretching helps build muscles when you do it after a workout. Increasing the range of motion aids the muscle-building process by improving the range of motion so you can work the muscle on all planes.
- If you have a sedentary job, getting up and moving a few minutes every hour keeps you fitter. It protects the progress you make at the gym. Doing a full-body stretch at that time helps.
- When you have a hard workout, you need a recovery day. Use stretching for active recovery. It becomes an internal massage to help increase circulation, send oxygen and nutrients to build new cells and relax muscles.
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