Fit and Healthy Lifestyle Tips Friday is here again.
Today’s Tip: Make Stretching Exercises a part of your routine
I have personally been doing some research on stretching exercises for your knee because of my recent knee issues. Stretching increases your flexibility and lengthens muscles but it does not guarantee that you won’t still have sore muscles and aches. It does help prevent injuries though. When stretching, you want to use mild tension and be very cautious that you don’t overstretch.
I have heard different opinions on warm up stretching. Some say that you should only stretch upon cool down when the muscles are warm and pliable but many say to do both warm up and cool down stretching. What are your thoughts?
Of course, we all know it’s best to talk to a fitness professional about specific stretching exercises that are the right fit for you.
I have learned quite a bit about stretching exercises and hope that by doing them, my knee will be on the mend.
Well, as an ex-athlete this is the (old) new idea on stretching that I was introduced to, and its pretty sound advice (IMHO).
Pre-Activity – “dynamic stretching”. Where you are not trying to elongate and hold a stretch, rather you are flexing and releasing the muscles in preparation for work.
Post-Activity – “static” (non-moving) stretching to elongate the muscles. The classic pose and hold jazz.
The theory is that if you static stretch a muscle and then try to use it, it won’t respond as fast or in the right way and you can risk injury.
Important for you/others with a knee injury!!
The other most imporatant thing is to make sure to not go too far on a stretch and stop hitting the the muscle and then stress the tendons and ligaments… not good.
I don’t do enough of either anymore to be fair, but there is a lot of great research online about it – just google dynamic vs static stretching and there are LOTS of examples to read through.
🙂 …..I can feel my butt getting stiff as I type this!! hahaha time to stretch!
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man, Ive written a few articles on stretching and STILL DONT DO IT ENOUGH 🙂
need to start before I get injured.
need to make the time…
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