19 Mar Stretching Before and After a Workout
The Importance of Stretching Before and After a Workout:
Exercise is one of the pillars of good health. There are several key benefits of regular exercise, which include the following:
- Weight Control
- Improvement or Prevention of Disease
- Mood Enhancement
- Energy Boost
- Improved Sex Life
- Optimal Sleep
- Social Benefits
You recognize the importance, but how do you optimize exercise results? You should add stretching pre- and post- workout, according to the experts in sports medicine El Segundo.
Stretching before your workout has been shown to improve the quality of your muscles and decreasing the risk of injuries, especially muscle strains. Stretching prior to exercise also ensures achievement of full joint mobility during your exercise and this increases in importance as we age. It is important to warm-up your muscles before stretching, as cold muscles can tear easily. Stretching prior to exercise is an adjunct to your warm-up, not a replacement. Your warm up needs to include some easy movements to get the circulation to increase in your muscles. Once warmed up, focus on stretching the muscles that you will be using during your workout routine. These stretches should be slow and controlled to maximize benefits and reduce muscular tension.
After your workout, stretching is an imperative component, allowing you to maximize the benefits of exercise. For post-workout, stretching the general muscle groups used during your exercise has been shown by research in sports medicine and exercise physiology to help improve flexibility, joint motion and enhance performance. Like pre-workout stretching, post-exercise stretching should focus on the large muscle groups that you utilized during your workout.
Stretching can be time consuming. However, skipping it, even periodically, has been shown to quickly reduce the benefits. Your expert chiropractor El Segundo has outlined the following key facets to stretching:
- Hold a stretch without bouncing
- Work each muscle group symmetrically
- Gentle tension, no pain
- Consistency in stretching each workout
- Target major muscle groups
Use these instructions as a guide to achieving your very best results from regular exercise. But, as always, if you are unsure how to proceed, or have questions, Premiere Chiropractic & Sports Medicine near me in El Segundo has the answers and guidance necessary to achieve your goals.