If you suffer with tight muscles (and you likely do), flexibility training can help. By incorporating some stretching exercises into your daily routine, you will look and feel better because being flexible is all about the way you move.
Reasons to Train
Flexibility can be described as the absolute range of limb movement around joints. The object of doing stretching exercises is to improve the range of motion (ROM) in the muscles that are directly involved. Because a longer muscle is a stronger muscle, stretch training will improve mobility. If a muscle is not stretched, it may adaptively shorten, giving you that "tight" feeling.
Stretching properly and regularly will help you feel better and improve your overall health. Also, as you improve your flexibility and range of motion, your body will be better able to prevent injuries to joints, muscles, and tendons during exercise and while doing every day activities.
Avoid Hurting Yourself With Bad Stretching
If you are doing a stretch correctly, you should feel mild discomfort but not pain. You don't want to go too far and overstretch because it causes an automatic reflex in the muscle, as it will try to recoil to protect itself from tearing.
You are likely familiar with many static stretch exercises, which we learned as kids during sports warm-ups. Unfortunately, this old school style of stretching often causes more strains than provide proper stretching. Examples of these include stiff-legged toe touches, a hurdler's stretch, and backbends, all of which can stretch ligaments and tendons (a bad thing) rather than the muscles you intended to target.
Proper Stretch Training
Here are a few examples of how flexibility training for just minutes a day will teach you to practice good stretching techniques:
The first thing to remember is that proper stretching should involve only one group of muscles at a time, i.e., one hamstring at a time rather than both legs at once. With passive stretches, hold the pose for about 30 seconds, but don't bounce. Relax and take slow deep breathes while stretching to release lactic acid from the muscles, and to avoid overstretching. As a general rule, trainers suggest you stretch your back first, then sides, then glutes and calves, and save the quads and hamstrings for last.
Working with inexpensive equipment such as an Exercise Ball can help target the back and abs in flexibility training. For an abdominal stretch, do this: start by sitting upright on a large exercise ball, then roll out far enough to place the ball in the middle of your back. Lean back and gently stretch. For the back, abs, and obliques: lie sideways on the ball and balance yourself by placing the top leg forward and the bottom leg behind you. With your bottom hand on the floor to keep the ball from rolling, reach over your head with your top hand and gently stretch.
The Energy Arts and Flexibility
As an alternative to the stretching exercises as mentioned above, there are other ways to achieve more mobility and suppleness in your body. For those who want something more advanced, the energy arts of Tai Chi and Yoga are excellent modalities for flexibility training and to enhance balance as well as the body's natural healing powers.
Yoga teaches you deep controlled breathing, moving meditation, and how to form "lines of energy" through points in your body. It quiets the mind as internal heat is generated to cleanse the body and be purged as sweat. Using your body as the source of weight resistance, yoga moves through a series of Asanas or poses. Yoga not only strengthens the body, these poses also help to elongate muscles by using proper stretch techniques.
Tai Chi is the most popular form of exercise in the world. It is an ancient Chinese form of martial arts, yet its modern form is gentle and non-combative. Tai Chi is a non-stop ballet of slow, graceful movements that includes shifting weight combined with deep, relaxed breaths. It is especially good for seniors to practice because it improves balance. In regards to flexibility training, the moving meditation of Tai Chi helps there as well, especially for those in pain. Arthritis sufferers gain better mobility as their muscles and joints are stretched and strengthened.
Start Stretching Today
Don't think that because you aren't involved in sports, or you don't lift weights or do aerobics, or do Tai Chi or Yoga, that you have no reason to try to get more flexible. Even the most dedicated couch potato with a sedentary lifestyle should stretch. Tight muscles caused by stress, bad posture, scoliosis (a curvature of the spine where muscles on one side of the back do more work than the other), and just general non-use of muscles are all reasons to do flexibility training on a regular basis. It's a long-term healthy habit that will have you feeling better and looking younger as you move with ease.
About the Author:
Kevin Urban is the editor of HomeGymAdviser.com, a consumer guide to homegymadviser.com home gym equipment - Visit the site for homegymadviser.com home gym ratiing, reviews and workout tips. Copyright 2009 HomeGymAdviser.com
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