The Benefits Of Stretching

The benefits of stretching.

Written by Holly Culpepper, Fitness Expert.

The most important benefit of stretching is increased Range of motion. Increasing your range of motion, decreases the odds of injury. Over tight muscles can cause imbalance and over time result in injuries that will take twice as long to recover from. Our muscles become tight either from working out, our jobs or from a combination of both. Dynamic and static stretching are the common types of stretching. Dynamic is stretching while moving and static is isolation, holding a stretch for a certain time.

Each type has a place in your workout routine.

Dynamic stretching can help you warm up for a workout and decrease injuries during that workout by preparing the muscle for work. Static stretching is great to do anytime or after a workout while the muscles are warm to increase flexibility. Increasing Range of motion and flexibility also increases performance. Even though all of us are not athletes, workout performance helps you get more out of each workout.

Working out smarter not harder to reach your goals. In a world without stretching, we would have a greater chance of muscle and joint injury preventing us from reaching physical goals and can take a toll on us mentally by zapping our energy. Will all the things out there that drain us do we really need tight muscles to contribute Simple 10 minutes of stretching daily will help you increase ROM AND flexibility, helping you to feel better.

Stretching also has many mental benefits as well.

Stretching can help you relax before bed. Daily stretching can help you make the mind muscle connection. You will see how when you think about how to muscle you find you can control it easier and use it better during exercise. Stretching is a form of selfcare. To start a stretching routine, begin by warming up with dynamic stretching the move into static. If you are already warmed up from activity slowly start your static stretches. Do not stretch to the point of pain, there will be slight discomfort to really tight muscles but there should never me pain to the point you may injure and overly tight muscle.

In review, stretching can help imbalances, warm up and cool down for workouts, make day to day life easier and decrease risk of injury.