Sunday, November 30, 2008

Static Stretching And Why You Should Stretch

By Gina Gardi

Many or today's society have muscular imbalances due to repetitive daily movements leading to pain and injury. Repetitive movements such as sitting for long periods, standing, driving, or anything else that you do all day repetitively places undue stress on the body. Muscular imbalances result in poor joint movement, inappropriate muscle functioning and decreased neuromuscular control. Start with static stretching to improve these imbalances.

Weather you are active or not, young or old, you can benefit from static stretching. Stretching is a great way to improve the range of motion around a joint, improve neuromuscular control, and improve the function of muscles. You can perform them anywhere and without any equipment.

You can perform static stretching exercises during a warm up or cool down or both. During a warm up, stretching prepares your muscles for the activity and prevents injury. Stretching after a workout increases flexibility, improves joint range of motion, and aids in muscle recovery after a workout. It also prevents and reduces muscle soreness after intense workouts.

Static stretching is even more crucial if you are not active or you lead a sedentary lifestyle. It's important to remember to hold stretches for at least 30 seconds and only to a point where you feel slight tension.

The most common types of flexibility training include static stretching, active stretching, SRM with a foam roll, and dynamic stretching. The best place to start is with static stretches. Static stretching requires you hold a stretch for a period of 30 seconds at the first point of resistance. This allows your muscles to lengthen, improving flexibility. It's a great way to correct muscle imbalances.

Self myofacial release is also a form of corrective stretching. By applying pressure to "knots" or sensitive areas of a muscle, this technique allows bundled muscle fibers to be straightened and inline with the direction of the muscle, This in turn leads to lengthening of the muscles. It's a great way to restore your body to it's optimal level of functioning. This can be done by rolling specific muscles on a foam roll. SMR and static stretching can be combined in your warm-ups.

Active stretching and dynamic stretching are another form of stretching. They should be performed only as a warm up prior to exercise and stretches are held for very short durations with several repetitions. Perform static stretching as part of your cool down.

Improving your flexibility will not only feel great but will reduce the risk of injury, counteract aging, improve posture, relieve pain, and improve muscle recovery after workouts. Static stretching is a great place to start. - 15343

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