10 Things
You Should Know About Stretching

Before fitness training, one must give
importance to doing warm-up or stretching exercises to prevent
accidents or to enhance the output during the training.  There
are also a number of precautionary measures and tips to serve as
guidelines when doing fitness exercises.  Here are some of
them.

1.  To increase your flexibility and to
avoid injuries, stretch before and after workout.  Almost
everyone knows that stretching before workout prevents injuries
during the exercises, but only few people know that stretching after
workout, when muscles are still warm, can increase flexibility.

2.  Hold your stretching position for
more than 60 seconds to increase flexibility.  While holding
your position for 20 seconds is enough for warm ups, holding each
position for at least 60 seconds will develop the body’s
flexibility.

3.  Do not go into a stretching position
then immediately return to the relaxed position, and do it
repeatedly.  This is more appropriately termed as bouncing
while in a position.

When stretching, hold that position for
several seconds, and then slowly relax.

You may do this
exercise repeatedly this way.  Bouncing or forcing yourself
into a position during stretching can strain or damage some joints
or muscles.

4.  Work slowly in increments instead of
immediately proceeding to doing the hardest exercise or
position.

5.  Make sure that you have stretched or
warmed up all muscle groups.  For some people, even if they
have strong bodies, they tend to neglect the neck when working out
of stretching.  Stretching the neck muscles can be as simple as
placing the palm of one’s hand against the front of the head and
pushing it.  Then, do the same to the sides and the back of the
head.

6.  Stretch regularly to continually
increase your range of movements and your level of flexibility and
strength.

7.  Workout considering only your
capabilities and not of others.

Do not force yourself to do
exercises that you are not yet capable of just because there are
people who can do it.  Increase your limits slowly.
Listen to your body.  There are days when your body may be too
tired that you may have to consider reducing your range of
motion.

8.  Learn to rest.  Rest in between
sets and stations to make sure that the body has enough time to
recover its energy.  Also, it is advisable that you don’t work
the same muscle groups consecutively for two days.  The muscles
grow during the period when you rest and not when you are working
out.

9.  Do aerobic exercises to strengthen
your heart.  Aerobic exercises are those physical activities
that much oxygen for fuel.  This includes cardiovascular
exercises such as skipping rope, running or swimming.

10.  Music may help you when you want to
train for longer periods or to increase your intensity.  I am going to do an interesting piece about this later make sure you come back You
can use mp3 players, CD players or lightweight am radio receivers
for this.  Just make sure that you brought your headset with
you so you wouldn’t disturb people who don’t prefer music while
exercising.

Apart from preventing injuries and increasing
one’s limit, it is also said that stretching is good for a tired
body and also for a stressed mind and spirit.