Stretching provides many benefits to your overall health and well being. If you plan to do an intense workout, you should include several levels of stretching throughout that routine. Stretching encourages your muscles to grow and allows for them to do the best job they can for you without becoming injured in the process. When it comes to a good workout, you need what stretching can give you to provide yourself with the overall best possible workout.
But, What Do You Do?
While each type of stretch is likely to be somewhat different depending on the type of activity that you plan to do following it, there are some important concepts that you should understand and control from the start. For examples, you should always include static stretching in your workout. Some do this before workouts, some after. Static stretching allows your muscles be gently and slowly stretched while every aspect is kept under control. This allows for your body to provide overall benefit without the risk of being hurt.
You should also insure that you are stretching all muscle groups the right way. The right way is to stretch the opposing muscles groups. For example, stretch your hamstrings and your quads, stretch your biceps as well as your triceps. You should never do just one because it will cause the muscles to be unbalanced which will increase your potential for injury and reduces the amount of flexibility you can get from your overall stretch.
When it comes time to do the stretching don’t over do it. You shouldn’t stretch to the fullest length that you can right away. Instead, extend your muscle and slowly continue to stretch, slightly farther at a time. This will allow you to gradually stretch the muscle which helps to avoid injury when you are stretching. IT should take you thirty seconds to get into the full stretch and then you can hold that stretch for about thirty more seconds.
Learning how to stretch for your particular activity is essential to the well being that you need from that stretch. Stretching your arms is not going to be as beneficial as stretching your legs in a run. When you incorporate stretching into your overall workout like this, you will encourage your body to gain the fullest possible benefit from the workout you plan to do.