Your body is extremely flexible. If you are healthy you should easily be able to lean over and pick up something you have dropped on the floor. You should be able to reach around and zip up your own dress, or reach up and choose a book from the top shelf. These are all very simple tasks that your body is naturally designed to complete.
However, if you having trouble with these simple tasks, you have to stretch your limits; you need to start stretching more regularly to build back up the strength and flexibility that your body deserves.
Simply put; stretching means extended the body, or part of it, to it’s fullest length. It’s extremely easy to do, and is naturally a part of many day to day activities anyway.
All people can stretch, regardless of age, and one of the key benefits is it has the fantastic ability to make you feel more awake, more energetic, as the blood is able to course through your veins to every inch of your body more freely. It is true though that muscles do tighten as we grow older; the range of movements within a joint can be minimized, and this can have a negative effect on an active lifestyle. This is why stretching and bending is all the more important as you grow older, maintaining a stretching routine can mean maintaining your flexibility.
Stretching can easily be done throughout every day with very little effort or time required.
If you are already involved in regular exercise, stretching should naturally be a part of your routine; it must be done first, before anything else, to maximize flexibility and prevent injury. Stretching the limbs is crucial in preparing for rigorous activity.
An easy stretch to do that most athletes would take part in is the sit and reach. Sit down on the floor with your legs extended in front or to the side of you (which ever is more comfortable, or both if you’re feeling adventurous) then reach out to touch or grab your foot with your hand.
The ideal amount of time required for stretching is only ten minutes; this gives the body plenty of opportunity to loosen up and flex the muscles.
Some experts, however, suggest that stretching should be done for way more than ten minutes, up to thirty in some cases. The best advice is to stretch until you feel more relaxed and ready to go. It’s a good feeling that you will learn to recognize.
The more you continue to stick with your stretching routine, the greater the increase in the length of your muscles and tendons. This will subsequently increase your range of movement, making you feel physically fit, and preventing injury.
When you have a wide range of movement you will find you have an increase in skills and abilities; you will be able to jump high and land firmly without any pain, and you will be able to take up new sports you had not had the strength of flexibility for previously. You will have a more active lifestyle overall.
Injury prevention is a massive part of stretching. When muscles and tendons are well flexed, they are thought to be in good working order; they will recover faster and soreness after sports will decrease to an absolute minimum. The muscles of your body, in time, will be able to take on much more exhausting and rigorous activities, with far less chance of becoming injured.
With regular exercise and stretching your muscles are less likely to suddenly contract, which will help prevent you from getting muscle pain or problems.
Being able to move more and feeling more flexible will ultimately give you more ENERGY. Your awareness will be enhanced, you will feel more awake and be more inclined to get up and go, as opposed to sitting down and moping.
Research has shown that prolonged stretching exercises like yoga can help reduce cholesterol levels in the body, particularly when combine with a healthy diet. It could also help prevent and even reverse the hardening of arteries, which could otherwise lead to coronary diseases.
Try to incorporate stretching into your everyday lifestyle. The benefits are limitless and it does not require much time or effort, just bend and flex whenever possible and you will naturally notice your fitness levels improving.