You already know that stretching is vital. It improves flexibility and mobility (one of many key parts of health) and reduces the danger of harm. And should you don’t stretch, the muscle tissue can shorten and turn out to be tight, which might restrict your vary of movement and put you in danger for joint ache or a pulled muscle.
However stretching is simply useful if it’s performed accurately. There are just a few frequent stretching errors that may result in the precise reverse of what you’re on the lookout for, equivalent to harm and inflexibility. Listed below are eight pitfalls to keep away from so you possibly can enhance your flexibility and your exercises.
1. You’re Doing the Improper Kind of Stretching
There are two fundamental kinds of stretching: static and dynamic. Static stretching is what you most likely keep in mind from fitness center class: progressively stretching a muscle and holding a pose for about 30 seconds. Whereas this can be a nice solution to settle down from a exercise or improve normal flexibility, analysis means that static stretching earlier than a power exercise may very well trigger a lower in efficiency.
“Throughout a warm-up, you need to do dynamic stretching, which boosts muscle activation and prepares muscle tissue to be highly effective by a full vary of movement,” says Trevor Thieme, CSCS. Dynamic stretches embrace lunges, trunk rotations, leg swings, and leaping rope.
For the post-exercise “cool-down” interval, you possibly can give attention to static stretching to chill out the muscle tissue and launch pressure. “Each kinds of stretching may also help improve mobility,” Thieme says. “However one excites muscle tissue whereas the opposite calms them down.”
2. You’re Bouncing Whereas Stretching
Utilizing momentum from bouncing to drive a muscle to stretch previous its regular vary (a.okay.a. ballistic stretching) might really feel prefer it’s serving to you improve your vary of movement. However as an alternative of loosening the muscle, this kind of fast stretching motion can really trigger the muscle tissue to tighten — a contraction often known as the myotatic reflex or “stretch reflex.” This will result in accidents like muscle or tendon tears, Thieme says.
3. You’re Stretching Injured Muscle tissue
Stretching injured muscle tissue is “a giant no-no,” Thieme warns. Muscle strains sometimes occur when a muscle is stretched past its restrict, so stretching it additional can worsen the harm. As a substitute, use the POLICE protocol (safety, optimum loading, ice, compression, and elevation) to assist the muscle heal.
4. You’re Overstretching
Whereas some discomfort is to be anticipated, it is best to by no means be in ache whereas stretching. “Overstretching can lead to muscle strains or extreme neural pressure [stretching of the nerves],” says Lindsay Sudell, MOT, OTR/L, CFSS-3, CPT of Merely Stretch LA.
Overstretching can even result in hypermobility, “which is when a joint is just too free and thus unstable,” Thieme says. Know your limits whenever you’re stretching, and don’t drive your self to transcend them.
5. You’re Not Stretching Persistently
It’s going to take various sporadic stretching periods to realize the pliability of a gymnast. Ideally, your stretching periods must be reasonable and frequent fairly than intense and occasional.
“With a view to obtain bodily, everlasting change, stretching have to be constant for six to eight weeks,” says Sudell.
6. You’re Rushing By Your Stretches
“Individuals typically don’t stretch for the suitable period of time,” explains Sudell. She recommends aiming for 30 seconds or much less for pre-exercise stretches. For post-workout static stretching, purpose to carry every stretch for at the very least 60 seconds.
7. You’re Not Doing Sport-Particular Stretches
Sport-specific stretches “will be something focused towards actions {that a} explicit athlete wants,” Sudell says. For instance, she says, golfers might give attention to stretches that enhance their spinal rotation and hip mobility, to allow them to hit the ball with maximal energy. Sprinters can heat up with dynamic stretches that simulate operating and explosive actions, like strolling lunges, butt kicks, and excessive knees.
Analysis additionally exhibits that static stretches are higher suited to athletes who want flexibility (like gymnasts or dancers), whereas dynamic stretches are particularly useful for many who have to run or soar (like basketball gamers or runners).
8. You’re Ignoring Your Respiration
Deep, diaphragmatic respiration “may also help chill out tense muscle tissue, and when paired with stretching, can permit for a good deeper stretch with out growing the danger of harm,” Thieme says.
As well as, respiration enhances the therapeutic impact of stretching, Sudell says. Analysis exhibits that diaphragmatic respiration can assist the physique recuperate after an intense exercise. The correct solution to breathe throughout a stretch is to slowly inhale by the nostril, maintain for a second, then launch the breath by both the mouth or nostril, protecting the diaphragm and stomach tender and relaxed.