Stretching

Hi everyone!
Did anyone else run yesterday?
Wow, my legs are sore. Rarely do I experience soreness from exercise because it is something I do almost everyday, but my goodness. Every hour or so at work, I would stretch and touch my toes to stretch out my hamstrings. I needed to do that so bad.

And since we have all been working out like crazy, right…? Because it is March Madness Fitness Challenge, I started to think about stretching. When I was at the gym the other day, I was amazed at how many people workout and then just go home. No stretching at all. Maybe they will do a 5 second quad stretch or something, but that doesn’t do anything. It must be the dancer in me. Since I’ve danced most of my life, I’ve learned the importance of stretching.
Stretching is so important you guys!

-Stretching reduces lactic acid build up in the muscles. Lactic acid is what makes you feel sore the next day.

– It allows your muscles to gain/maintain a full range of motion. If you have a really tight muscle that is never stretched, it will be stiff and you won’t be able to move it in it’s full range of motion. You will have limited movement in that muscle. Stretching lengthens the muscle and allows more movement. It also improves posture and proper spine alignment.

– Stretching helps prevent injuries in the future. Working an overly tight muscle will just put more strain on it. Say you are running and try to stop suddenly, and you slide and fall with your legs in a split-like position, you are more likely to tear or rip your muscles if they are tight.

– It increases blood flow to the muscles. Your muscles release oxygen when stretched which is good for you and makes you feel better.

It is still argued whether or not you should stretch before a workout. I’m just going to go with what my ACE fitness certification studies say, which is that if you do stretch as part of your warm up, it should be “dynamic stretching”, which is stretching while moving. For example, doing exaggerated lunges to stretch out the hip flexors and quads. This allows your cardioresperatory system to continue to warm up, rather than just doing a static stretch with no movement.

But most people can agree that it is not necessary to stretch before a workout, and if you do stretch before, make sure your body is already warmed up! If you chose to stretch before, do some light movement to warm up the muscles first. It is not good to stretch a cold muscle.

However, everyone can agree that stretching after a workout is necessary for so many reasons, some which I mentioned above.

This is a stretching routine that I do almost after every workout, especially if it’s leg intensive. This stretching routine primarily targets the major muscle groups in the legs. It is inspired by all the stretching I’ve done in dance. If you are not flexible, use blocks, a chair or any other type of support you need.
Go through this stretch and hold each for at least 20 seconds. I like to close my eyes and relax into each stretch, and I move onto the next part when I feel like my muscle is completely relaxed.
When you get to the end, repeat on the other side.

From: http://www.lungesandlace.com/2013/03/stretching.html