You already know that stretching is essential. It improves flexibility and mobility (one of many key elements of health) and reduces the chance of damage. And if you happen to don’t stretch, the muscle groups can shorten and change into tight, which may restrict your vary of movement and put you in danger for joint ache or a pulled muscle.
However stretching is barely helpful if it’s carried out appropriately. There are a number of frequent stretching errors that may result in the precise reverse of what you’re in search of, similar to damage and inflexibility. Listed here are eight pitfalls to keep away from so you may enhance your flexibility and your exercises.
1. You’re Doing the Incorrect Sort of Stretching
There are two foremost sorts of stretching: static and dynamic. Static stretching is what you in all probability bear in mind from fitness center class: steadily stretching a muscle and holding a pose for about 30 seconds. Whereas it is a nice approach to settle down from a exercise or enhance basic flexibility, analysis means that static stretching earlier than a power exercise may very well trigger a lower in efficiency.
“Throughout a warm-up, you wish to do dynamic stretching, which boosts muscle activation and prepares muscle groups to be highly effective by way of a full vary of movement,” says Trevor Thieme, CSCS. Dynamic stretches embody lunges, trunk rotations, leg swings, and leaping rope.
For the post-exercise “cool-down” interval, you may deal with static stretching to loosen up the muscle groups and launch pressure. “Each sorts of stretching may help improve mobility,” Thieme says. “However one excites muscle groups whereas the opposite calms them down.”
2. You’re Bouncing Whereas Stretching
Utilizing momentum from bouncing to power a muscle to stretch previous its regular vary (a.okay.a. ballistic stretching) might really feel prefer it’s serving to you enhance your vary of movement. However as a substitute of loosening the muscle, such a speedy stretching motion can truly trigger the muscle groups to tighten — a contraction referred to as the myotatic reflex or “stretch reflex.” This may result in accidents like muscle or tendon tears, Thieme says.
3. You’re Stretching Injured Muscle tissue
Stretching injured muscle groups is “an enormous no-no,” Thieme warns. Muscle strains usually occur when a muscle is stretched past its restrict, so stretching it additional can worsen the damage. 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, you need 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 also can result in hypermobility, “which is when a joint is simply too free and thus unstable,” Thieme says. Know your limits whenever you’re stretching, and don’t power 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 needs to be reasonable and frequent quite than intense and occasional.
“So as to obtain bodily, everlasting change, stretching have to be constant for six to eight weeks,” says Sudell.
6. You’re Dashing By Your Stretches
“Individuals usually don’t stretch for the suitable length of time,” explains Sudell. She recommends aiming for 30 seconds or much less for pre-exercise stretches. For post-workout static stretching, intention to carry every stretch for a minimum of 60 seconds.
7. You’re Not Doing Sport-Particular Stretches
Sport-specific stretches “could be something focused towards actions {that a} explicit athlete wants,” Sudell says. For instance, she says, golfers might deal with 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 fitted to athletes who want flexibility (like gymnasts or dancers), whereas dynamic stretches are particularly helpful for individuals who have to run or soar (like basketball gamers or runners).
8. You’re Ignoring Your Respiratory
Deep, diaphragmatic respiration “may help loosen up tense muscle groups, and when paired with stretching, can enable for a fair deeper stretch with out rising the chance of damage,” Thieme says.
As well as, respiration enhances the therapeutic impact of stretching, Sudell says. Analysis exhibits that diaphragmatic respiration can assist the physique get better after an intense exercise. The correct approach to breathe throughout a stretch is to slowly inhale by way of the nostril, maintain for a second, then launch the breath by way of both the mouth or nostril, holding the diaphragm and stomach smooth and relaxed.
