If you are anything like me I often see stretching as an annoying chore and a lot of the times skip it completely. I would happily spend another 5 minutes on the treadmill rather than lying on my back doing ‘nothing’.
However, thanks to Sheree and my seemingly tight hamstrings it is some-what glaringly obvious that we have to look after our muscles and in not doing so could not only be counter-productive but could also leave us in pain for a number of days to follow and hamper performance.
Body Balance
I remember the first ever time I tried body balance; being young and naive I assumed that if my heart rate wasn’t beating at 160 a minute and I wasn’t swimming in my own sweat I couldn’t possibly be working out. However, a number of years later with my growing wisdom I decided to give it another go in an attempt to increase my flexibility. We all lead such speedy frantic lives now and we want to do everything in a hurry. However, if possible I suggest trying to fit a session of body balance into your fitness regime. The 10 minute relaxation section at the end when the lights go off and you can even bring along your own pillow and blankey makes all the ‘down-ward dogs’ and ‘tree poses’ all worth while. Relaxation allows the nervous system to catch up and an ability to relax makes you both mentally and emotionally stronger, both equally as important as physical strength.
When to stretch?
There is no excuse really, myself included; in not stretching as there is no need to stretch every single body part just the particular body part you may have trained. Spending 10-15 minutes at the end of a one hour workout can actually help speed up muscle growth and will reduce the chances of DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness- all you need to know about this is it hurts and can last anything up to 72 hours!)
The debate still continues over the effectiveness and need for stretching before a work-out but more and more evidence seems to suggest that in doing so will not actually reduce the risk of injury nor will it help with flexibility. So, there we have it, no excuses really as we only need to be doing it post work-out on the body part we’ve worked out!
How to stretch?
Flexibility is essential for ‘normal’ joint health and can improve posture and quality of life by enabling the range of motion is at its greatest possible. There are several ways to performing stretches including
- Static
- Ballistic (not recommended so I’m not even going to tell you how it’s done)
- Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) –(don’t worry, all will be revealed)
Static Stretching
This is probably the most common form of stretching and the one most associate with the term flexibility- can I touch my toes? Static stretching is slow and constant and should be held for up to 30 seconds, in addition static stretching should be done to the point of mild discomfort but not to the point of pain.
Joy’s Top Tips
- Never bounce whilst holding a stretch as this will increase the risk of injury
- Hold stretches for a minimum of 10 seconds but the longer the better
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