Benefits of Stretching
The body is flexible. It is supposed to be flexible. You must be able to bend and reach that something you dropped on the floor. You must be able to zip the back of your favorite dress on your own. You must be able to reach that book you need to read at the top shelf.
These are simple activities. Nothing grand about them, you merely stretched out a bit. However, if there are difficulties in doing such simple motions, then you have to stretch your limits. You already need a stretching program.
What Is Stretching?
Stretching is simply the act of extending to full length the body or simply a part of it. This activity involves straightening or stretching the structure or the limbs.
How Does One Do the Stretching?
Stretching is fairly easy. As mentioned in the introduction, it is involved in the normal activities. It can be done by any people, regardless of age.
However the extent of stretching and flexing differs. The muscles tighten as a person ages. The range of joint movements can be minimized. This can very well obstruct an on-the-go lifestyle. That is why as the person grows older, bending or flexing becomes more limited. This is why stretching regularly, as part of a routine is very important.
Simple stretches can be done everyday. It can be incorporated in the lifestyle and the daily activities. It does not require much of your time.
Stretching exercises can also be done while training. Actually, stretching is an essential part of any training or sport. It must be done first before anything else. Stretching the body and the limbs is a good preparation for a more rigorous activity.
Most athletes would do the sit and reach, wherein they position on the floor, extend their legs and reach the tip of their foot with the tip of their hand. Actually, most trainers actually require their athletes to really do the stretching before playing.
There is actually an ideal length of time in stretching. It is best to do it in 10 minutes. This will give the body enough opportunity to move and flex the muscles, thus preparing it for more complicated and strenuous movements.
Experts however would frown upon going way beyond 10 minutes. Stretching the exercise to 30 minutes or more will already wear out the body. This will not be favorable if one is preparing for a game.
What Are the Benefits of Stretching?
1. Increase the Range of Movement
As one constantly do the stretching exercises, the length of the muscles and the tendons are also increased. This will help in increasing the range of your movement. Thus, the limbs and joints will be able to move, way before an injury can take place. You are definitely physically fit.
2. Increased Ability to Perform Skills
When you have a wide range of movement, the more you will be able to do more things. For example, you can jump high without feeling any pain when you land back on the floor. This will also help you start a new sport or improve more if you are in one. Stretching in this aspect also allows you to have a more active lifestyle.
3. Injury Prevention
One can prevent injury to joints, tendons and muscles with stretching. When the muscles and tendons are well-flexed, they are considered in good working order. This will help in a faster recovery and decreased soreness. The muscles of the body will be able to take more exhausting and rigorous movements with less probability of being injured.
4. Reduce Muscle Tension
If the muscles are given their regular exercises and stretching, it is less likely that they will contract. This will definitely relieve you of any muscle pain or problems.
5. Enhance Energy
Being able to move more will also give you more energy. Stretching will also help enhance your awareness, like knowing that you have a body that is capable of doing many things. As such, you are going to be more driven to move rather than sulk in the corner.
6. Reduces Cholesterol
Research also shows that doing prolonged stretching exercises, like yoga, will help reduce the cholesterol in the body. This of course must be done with a healthy diet at hand. This could prevent and even reverse the hardening of the arteries, allowing you to avoid coronary diseases.
Incorporate stretching in your everyday lifestyle. It has benefits you can not say no to. It also does not require much. It can be your usual activities, bending and flexing every now and then. After all, your fitness is everything so do what it takes to keep the body healthy.
Fitness Training – How to Make it More Effective
1. Number of trainings. What’s most necessary for making a fitness program more effective is establishing a certain number of trainings every week. It is considered that the minimum number of trainings is two (anaerobic) and three (aerobic) every week. If they are combined, their number can be reduced to three trainings a week (two combined and one aerobic). Obviously, an increase in the number of weekly trainings brings better and more rapid results. Their maximum number would be four force trainings (anaerobic) and six resistance trainings (aerobic).
Doing less than the minimum of training could lead to erasing of information and getting out of shape. Training more than the maximum indicated could bring with it the risk of over-training, of physical overwork.
2. Individualize the frequency of the programs. One of the roles of the fitness trainer is to individualize the frequency of the programs, in order to find the best periodicity for every person involved in training.
3. Performing the exercises correctly. Another factor that can increase the effectiveness of a training program is performing the exercises correctly. Wrong technique will quickly determine worse results, even if the program which includes those exercises is well conceived, organized in time and personalized. Besides lack of good results, the person who didn’t acquire good training technique exposes himself to the risk of sometimes very bad accidents (muscular ruptures, hernia, stroke, etc.).
4. Performed automatically. The movements a person learns must get to be mastered and performed automatically, the same as the technique of breathing which accompany them. This way, the sportsman will save mental energy that he can use for getting the right intensity, focusing on the muscle towards which a particular exercise is directed, forced repetitions of movements, etc. Any new exercise require patience and time in order to be correctly assimilated and introduced in the set of exercises mastered by any sportsman.
5. Well-balanced diet and hydration. Besides a well-balanced diet (carbohydrates, proteins, lipids – 4:1:1 – the proportion in grams per kilogram of food principles), hydrating must be given special care. Good hydrating of the body has as a result the increase of the efficiency of a fitness program. The body must be carefully hydrated before, during and after training. The sensation of thirst must not be experienced – this would only be a late signal of dehydration. The types of liquids that can be used can and should vary a lot: soda, plant teas, fruit, fresh juice, isotonic drinks, energizers, etc. Be also careful with the drinks that fasten dehydration. This category of liquids includes drinks which contain caffeine or alcohol. They forcedly increase dieresis, fastening dehydration, which is also naturally determined by the training (especially by aerobic training).
6. Biorhythm. Another factor that must be considered is biorhythm, which is specific to each person. The training must thus be placed at the time of maximum physical efficiency, time which is directly related to the increase of the body temperature
