This is a guest post by Mary Ward
Exercise is undoubtedly important towards a person’s overall health. There’s no limit to the level of information provided out there on how exercise can benefit everything from weight loss to cholesterol levels. So people are starting to get on the train that working out is good for you and is a must if you wish to achieve your health goals. The reality is that so many exercise regimens focus solely on cardio or perhaps mix in some weight training. However to get the most effective and comprehensive workout, you need to incorporate some serious stretching. While some may look to stretching only as a way by which they can warm up or cool down, it’s essential for flexibility which is an aspect of overall health. Here we look at the right way to stretch and how to incorporate it into your workout.
Make it a Regular Fixture
Incorporating stretching into your workout should become a regular activity. This means that you need to find ways to include it and make it routine so you don’t even have to think about it. Stretching at the beginning or end of a workout is helpful, but working it into intervals amidst cardio and weight training can be a great way of ensuring it makes it in as well. Doing a mix of the three elements and working them in through regular intervals makes for a challenging and comprehensive work out overall.
Learn New Ways to Stretch
If you have never tried activities such as yoga or Pilates, now is the time. These are the ultimate in stretching and will contribute to a longer and leaner body and ultimately much more flexibility. As flexibility is an important portion of the health equation, this can be very important but is often overlooked. Think of ways to include a day of yoga or Pilates into your workout routine each week. You may find very quickly that you get hooked and that you want to keep up with these activities far more than you already are. This can do wonders for your flexibility!
Keep It Interesting
There are so many different types and methods of stretching. So try out different techniques from time to time to keep this physical activity interesting. Before you become bored with a certain type of stretching, incorporate a different type or focus on a different area of the body. This will help you to look better, walk with far more confidence, and ultimately feel better in the long run as well.
Mary Ward writes about various health care career topics, including how to choose among surgical technician courses.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Even though my wife is a yoga instructor, this is one area where I fall short. Need to work at it more…
I find it very hard to get the stretching into my workout. After that run or ride I often have to rush to get back to work. That being said, I have found the Yoga stuff in Wii Fit help with this – it “forces” me to stretch.
Assisted stretches and PNF stretches are fantastic for improving flexibility, especially if you aren’t particularly flexible to start with. If you don’t have a training partner or personal trainer to hand, then a towel is a really useful stretching aid.
I agree with greg, I definitely need to work at this more. Quick question, which kind of stretching is more affective for the body between Dynamic and Static stretching?
I’ve seen a lot of talk about this topic this week. especially about the fact that there is no one ultimate workout routine for every one, there are just many variations and one must learn to adapt to one that suits them. It’s probably to do with the fact that to workout effectively, one must follow there natural full range of motion (Using movements that you do naturally day-to-day) and everyone’s will be different. Great post and thanks for highlighting
I’m a bit hit and miss with my stretching. I go through periods where I’m stretching daily then have a block where I completely neglect my stretching. I really need to get a lot more consistent in this area. I still think sometimes it is best left till the end of a workout though. I find after a hard jog some 10 to 15 minutes of static stretching is a really good way to catch your breath.
I have been a huge fan of yoga for years, not so much on the pilates side of things.
I race Mtb’s and when it comes down to it I found most of its benefits when a mistake was made and crashed happen, the extra flexibility definitely helped with the likely hood that I would get up with minimal injury lol.
There are so many advantages of stretching. A couple of stretches that I regularly try to incorporate with some of my clientele include the pigeon pose stretch and an external shoulder rotation stretch.
{ 1 trackback }