Since you were a child, you have been told that stretching is something that you should be doing. It doesn’t matter if you are just getting up for the day or you are going for a five mile run, stretching is something that you’ve been told has to happen. The truth is that this is very true. Although most individuals will say that they know stretching is important, most don’t know why it is. Of course, that could also be that most don’t do it as well. Understanding what happens during stretching will help you to understand why you need to do it.
First, The Science
When your muscles are stretches, the muscle fibers are lengthened. They are pulled out. But, some of those fibers do stay in tact at their resting, or normal, size. When you lengthen the muscle to its fullest state, you keep it from being becoming injured or otherwise compromised while you are function. Because when your body is at rest the muscles are at rest, they are not fully ready to be used. The longer the muscles are at rest, the tighter and shorter they are.
If you consider what you will be doing with your muscles, you will clearly see that you will need full range motion with your muscles. For example, if you need to extend the muscles in your legs so that you can run and they aren’t fully stretched, there are problems. First, the muscles are too tight which causes the lack of full function. Secondly, the muscles are tight which can lead to injury of them if you pull them out too far.
As you can see, it is quite important for you to take the time to stretch. By not doing so, you limit what your body can and can’t do. You also put yourself at a real risk of injury if you try to extend those muscles beyond the point of where they are. The goal is to provide yourself with muscles that are completely flexible, nimble, even and that are able to help you to complete your tasks in the best possible manner. To do this, you must consider adding a stretching workout to your day. You should consider what stretching can do to improve your body’s abilities as well.