Stretching exercises are an important part any physical training regime and for some reasons are the most neglected exercise regimes by most people. It can decrease the likelihood of suffering an injury, help correct poor posture, expand your motion capacity, and raise the general effectiveness of your performances in a variety of exercises. However, the problem is that there are many different stretching exercises and routines to choose from. Well, in this article, we will give you a detailed guide on how to create a flexibility workout at the gym and below we will highlight some common questions and answers to assist you in getting on the right path of your fitness program.
1. Understanding Flexibility:
It is defined as the ability to move different joints and may be enhanced through proper stretches. Flexibility is one of the most important top elements of fitness since it allows you to do so many motions correctly and without sustaining any injury and enhances one’s performance in sports and almost any physical activities.
Types of flexibility:
a. Static Flexibility: This is the movement of an articulation when the two bones that make up the joint are not in use. Yet, it is usually expressed by static flexion which resembles stretching done after muscular activities such as running.
b. Dynamic Flexibility: This means the extent of movement of a joint when in use. Flexibility exercises are done when preparing for exercise to raise the temperature of the body part targeted in exercise.
c. Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF): This is a further step from practical stretching where the muscle is manipulated consciously and unconsciously in order to enhance flexibility.
2. When to Stretch:
Stretching can be divided into two categories: pre-workout and post-workout.
a. Pre-workout stretching: Special stretches are done often before exercise to prepare the muscles for exercise, escalate the heart rates and facilitate the circulation of blood. This assists warm up the organism to the impending task of working out while also helping to avoid accidents.
b. Post-workout stretching: They are done after a workout to increase flexibility, recover from your workout session, and to bring down your rate of heartbeat.
3. Constructing a Flexibility Routine at the Gym:
To summarise, flexibility has been established to be crucial and the best time to do stretching is definitely in the gym – so it’s about time we designed a gym based flexibility program.
a. Warm-up (5-10 minutes)
The basic warm up is the dynamic stretching. These stretches should be completed at a gradual movement without jerking and they should also be felt in the muscles and never be painful.
i. Arm circles: Straddle with your feet just as broad as your shoulders and you put your hands at the back your head. Take time to make small concentric circle motions with your arms for 30 seconds and then switch to vigorous circle motions for the next 30 seconds.
ii. High knees: Run on the spot while raising your legs to your stomach level. Perform for 30 seconds.
iii. Butt kicks: Run on the spot and at the same time, bring your heels towards your buttocks. Perform for 30 seconds.
b. Few exercises cover Upper Body Stretches, which take approximately 5 minutes.
All these stretches should be done and held in between 15 — 30 seconds.
i. Overhead reach: Start with the stance where your feet are parallel to one another and width of each roughly the same; raise your arms over your head and clasp your hands. Place your hand back on your head and pull them towards the ceiling, keep the stretch for 15-30 seconds.
ii. Chest stretch: Place your hands at the level of your shoulders and place them on an open doorway. Bend at the hips and lean forward taking your palms and placing them flat against the wall. Hold for 15-30 seconds.
iii. Shoulder stretch: Take one arm and put it across the chest while another hand tries to press the arm down. Switch arms and do the stretch again.
c. Lower body muscle stretch (5 mins)
All of these stretches should then be held for between 15 and 30 seconds at a time.
i. Quad stretch: Standing on a civic of leg, make a round with one heel going to the gluteal muscles. Bend the other leg and keep it straight also, and hold this position for some 15- 30 seconds. Switch legs and do it once again.
ii. Hamstring stretch: Stand on your right leg and left foot while holding the ball with your left hand. Leaning toward the toes bring the legs up and hold it in that position for 15-30 seconds. Change the leg position and do the same stretch.
iii. Calf stretch: Proprietary position can be taken standing close to the wall or any firm pole with one leg placed ahead of the other. Bend your forward as much as you can keeping the back heel in contact with the ground and experience a stretch in the calf muscle. Just be sure to maintain some tautness of the leg muscles for 15-30 seconds then change legs.
d. Core & Hip Stretches/Core Strengthening (3)
Any of these stretches should be held between fifteen to thirty seconds.
i. Child's pose: Squat down and place your buttocks on your ankles. Take your upper body close to your thighs, and let your arms hang down towards the ground. Keep this position for 15-30 seconds.
ii. Pigeon pose: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and bend at the knees and lower your body till your knees are touching the ground. Get into a push, leaning forward and placing the weight of your body on your arms while trying to move the hips backwards as far as possible. After this switch legs and repeat the process.
iii. Cat-cow stretch: Begin the exercise in a quadrilateral position where your forearms are directly on the floor with hands below the shoulders and legs below the knees. If I want to do it I inhale while my chest and the tail bone goes up, then when doing the reverse I exhale while my belly moves back to the floor. Hold it for thirty seconds and do this.
e. Cool Down (5 minutes)
As the last part of the stretching, always do the light slow static stretches to relax the muscles. Each of the stretches should be held for about 15-30 seconds.
i. Butterfly stretch: Squat down and make the soles of your feet touch each other. Make sure to grasp your feet with your hands and force your knees downwards slowly.
ii. Seated forward fold: Lie down flat, bend your knees, and try touch your toes with your hands. Bend your knees and try to have your upper part of the body as loose as possible.
iii. Corpse pose: Legs straight and close together, arms and hands laying out parallel to the body with the palms facing up and the eyes shut. This should help bring a sense of relaxation to every muscle in your body for 1-2 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. How often should I stretch?
Effective stretching should preferably be done at least three times every week though stretching daily might be effective as well.
2. What should the duration of each of these stretches be?
However each stretch ought to be held for 15-30seconds. Nonetheless, some of these technically enhanced stretching types like the PNF stretch can demand hold for as long as 90 seconds.
3. Does stretching mean I can’t exercise anymore?
I have tried to emphasize that stretching should actually form part of your exercise regime, not a stand-alone. Flexibility training needs to be combined with strength training in order to get the best of both training concepts.
4. Stretching muscles help to become more flexible, right?
Stretching exercises are important in increasing flexibility of your body muscles especially those extremities, but this needs discipline and time. Since there are always preexisting conditions then one may get different results based on their genetic capability, age, and muscle strengths.
5. Can stretching make injuries never happen again?
Stretching can decrease a chance of getting an injury because it lengthens muscles and allows an individual to have a flexible balance and friendly muscles. However, stretching should not completely replace other preventive measures such as working out with correct form, taking enough rest, doing strength training among other precautionary measures.
Conclusion:
Developing a flexibility routine at the facility can be fun as well as incorporating the exercises in your routine. Thus, combining dynamic and static stretches into your schedule for practice will increase your mobility and flexibility, decrease your chances to get injured as well as increase your performance results. It is also important to remember not go all out on stretching and instead take your time to do warm up stretches and slowly progress to the harder ones, all the while paying attention to your body in order to avoid injures. If you are interested in attaining a more balanced, flexible, and healthy body then having a consistent flexibility routine will prove beneficial.
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