Lots of sporting activities are ballistic stretches in disguise — high kicks in dance or martial arts, for example. If you are involved in these types of activities, you may wish to include ballistic stretching in your workouts.
However, because of the velocity involved in ballistic stretching exercises, there is a significant risk of injury. For this reason, most people do not need to do ballistic stretching exercises and should limit themselves to dynamic stretching. Uses: Ballistic stretches are best used in the warm-up. However, if you do use ballistic stretching, make sure your muscles are warm. Do some gentler dynamic stretches before going "full ballistic. DO warm-up before stretching — cold muscles do not stretch well, and if you try to stretch a cold muscle, you are more likely to injure yourself.
Spend a few minutes warming up the area you are about to stretch. Some light cardio will get the job done. DO ease into your stretches gradually — if you try and stretch a muscle too quickly, you will trigger the inverse stretch reflex. This will cause your muscles to contract and shorten instead. Ease into each stretch to minimise the effect of the inverse stretch reflex. DO relax your entire body — to get the most from your stretches, make sure you relax your whole body and not just the muscle group you are working on.
For a stretch to be effective, you need to relax your face, neck, and shoulders, breathe slowly, and imagine the target muscle lengthening. DO stretch often and consistently — even very enthusiastic stretching once a week won't do much for your flexibility, although it may feel good at the time.
Flexibility decreases gradually over time, and it will take regular and consistent effort to restore it. Commit to stretching often and consistently. Stretching several times a day is an excellent idea if you have very tight muscles. DO focus on the muscles that are the tightest — stretching your entire body might seem like a good idea, but it can be very time-consuming.
Make better use of your time and effort by focusing on your tightest muscles. This will reduce the length of time you need to spend stretching per day, making the entire process more palatable. DO break up long periods of sitting with corrective stretches — long periods of sitting cause the majority of flexibility issues that most people have. It places your hip flexors and hamstrings in a shortened position for hours at a time.
Try and stretch your hamstrings and hip flexors several times a day to break up long periods of sitting. Your posture and your lower back will thank you for it! DO follow a stretching routine — in the same way, you should follow a routine in the gym, you should follow a stretching routine too. Having a routine ensures you that you don't miss out any important muscles. If you design your own stretching routine, put your stretches in a logical order so that one exercise links to the next.
For example, work up or down your body, or do standing stretches followed by seated stretches followed by lying stretches. DON'T force or hurry a stretch — when it comes to stretching, more haste means less speed.
Your muscles will resist if you try and stretch them too hard or too fast. You may also injure yourself. Calm your mind, move slowly, and ease gradually into each stretch. Picture your muscles relaxing and lengthening. DON'T hold your breath when stretching — holding your breath creates tension throughout your body and also increases your blood pressure. It's very easy to focus so much on whatever stretch you are doing that you forget to breathe. Breathe slowly, deeply, and evenly to maximise relaxation and get more from your stretching.
DON'T stretch beyond your comfort point — no pain, no gain is a common gym slogan, and you need to be prepared to work hard when you lift weights or do cardio.
However, stretching beyond your comfort point is not a good idea. If your limbs shake or you feel pain or burning in the muscle you are working on, you have probably stretched it too far or too fast, increasing your risk of injury. Ease off if you feel any discomfort in the muscle you are stretching. DON'T forget about the position of the rest of your body while you stretch — you'll get better results from your stretches if you maintain good posture and don't put the rest of your body into an unnatural or uncomfortable position.
Don't focus so much on the muscle you are stretching that you forget about the rest of your body. You may end up undoing the benefit of many stretches if you do, e. DON'T feel you have to stretch all your muscles the same way for the same duration — flexibility can vary from one muscle group to another, and even from left to right. Adapt your stretching to reflect your personal needs so that you get the best possible results in the least amount of time. Mix and match stretching methods to reflect your requirements, spending more time on tight muscles and less time on those that are already adequately flexible.
DON'T bounce while you stretch — unless you are doing ballistic stretches, it is not a good idea to bounce when you stretch. Bouncing will trigger the inverse stretch reflex which makes your muscles contract and shorten rather than relax.
Cardio and strength training are undeniably important, but so too is stretching. In fact, if you want to keep on exercising for many years to come, stretching is arguably the most important thing you need to include in your workouts. Tight muscles can have a big impact on how you look, feel, and move — and none of those effects are good!
The good news is that stretching is easy and doesn't require any special equipment. It's the sort of thing you can do while watching TV or any other time you have a few minutes to spare. At the very least, you should break up long periods of sitting by stretching your hip flexors and hamstrings. Time spent stretching is time well spent. You might not notice any benefits initially, but in a couple of weeks, you'll start to see and feel how regular stretching can have a positive impact on your posture and exercise performance.
Why you need to stretch Fitness adaptations are specific to the type of exercise and training you do. Additional benefits of stretching The most obvious benefit of regular stretching is improved flexibility, but there are some additional benefits that are worth mentioning: Mental and physical relaxation — stretching is as much about the nervous system as it is your muscles.
The science of stretching To understand why stretching is so important, it's worth learning a little about what happens in your muscles when you stretch. In time, your muscles will adopt that new, lengthened position, even at rest.
Types of stretching There are several different types of stretching, and you should use the right one at the right time to get the best results. Static stretches — maintenance Static stretches are stretches that you hold for a predetermined length of time with little or no movement. Static stretches — developmental Developmental static stretches are similar to maintenance stretches except they are held for longer.
Dynamic stretches Dynamic stretches involve smooth, progressively larger movements and often don't look like stretches at all.
Simple things like reaching for food on the top shelf of a cupboard or just sitting up tall into the correct alignment could potentially become difficult.
Starting to incorporate stretching into your programme early on and making this a regular daily activity can have a profound effect on wellness and mobility. Developmental stretching focuses on increasing the length or flexibility of a muscle, usually performed at the end of a Pilates class with focus on increasing the range of movement around a joint.
These stretches are typically held for seconds and then developed further for another 20 seconds. As mentioned above, hold for seconds, progress it further for 20 seconds but then repeat the sequence times. Developmental stretching will also work well embedded into a programme specifically designed for certain postural types such as lordosis and kyphosis.
Once a postural analysis has been carried out, you would then be able to design your programme based around the guidelines for postural correction as appropriate.
For example, a kyphotic posture would result in the client having tight pectoral muscles and rounded shoulders. A pectoral stretch would therefore be required to improve flexibility around the joint. It would be most effective as an assisted stretch on a one-to-one basis with a qualified Pilates professional or Personal Trainer, again working in stages to increase flexibility.
In the short term it can help alleviate muscle tension and reduce the likelihood of muscle soreness experienced after exercising. In addition to these benefits it can have a wonderful calming effect too. Slowly reducing the heart rate and blood pressure and allowing the muscles to relax and recover.
When we are engaged in static stretching we should also think about our breathing. Focus on the breath coming in and out slowly. This helps the muscles relax so we can go deeper into the stretch without discomfort.
Static stretching following your workout can then also double up as a bit of mindfulness training! At the end of a training session we would always recommend at the very least you carry out a few maintenance stretches.
Maintenance stretches are focussed mainly on maintaining your range of motion with less emphasis on actually improving your range of motion. Holding a stretch for just seconds before moving onto the next one. Long deep breaths whilst holding the stretch. Developmental stretching has a much greater emphasis on developing range of motion. A stretch is held for 10 seconds, whilst continuing to focus on your breathing after 10 seconds and on the out breath you then increase the stretch a little more.
This can be repeated multiple times, we recommend times which would result in a total duration of seconds for one developmental stretch.
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