Stretching is a great way to help to loosen muscles, it is easy to do, doesn’t cost you anything but time and can be done almost anywhere. By stretching regularly, you can increase your flexibility, decrease pain and help to improve your posture. Here are my 3 tips for stretching;
1. 30 seconds or longer
2. Frequency and routine
3. Extra with activity
1. 30 seconds or longer
To achieve the best results from stretching, majority of research says that you need to stretch for at least 30 seconds. Of course, you can always hold stretches for longer. There isn’t a limit to this. In some yoga classes, they will hold stretches for up to 5 minutes. Basically, you can stretch for as long as you want as long as it’s for a minimum of 30 seconds.
2. Frequency and routine
Stretching is a great way to help loosen muscles and increase flexibility. This isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight, and you won’t see results if you only stretch every once in a while. For stretching to work, you need to be stretching regularly over a period of time. Depending on how tight your muscles are to start with you may need to stretch several times a day. For maintenance stretching you may only need to stretch once a day. Generally, the more the better.
If you can make stretching a part of your routine, you are more likely to do more stretches regularly. An example of this would be doing stretches while you’re at your desk at work. Or you might do a stretch while you’re cleaning your teeth or waiting for the kettle to boil. The more you can make your stretching routine part of your daily routine, the more stretches you’ll do and the longer you’ll keep it up for.
3. Extra with activity
Stretching regularly is great for keeping muscles loose and improving flexibility. The more physical activity you do the more stretching you need to do. If you are stretching everyday you’re already doing really well. On a day where you are more physically active, it’s a good idea to try to do more stretching than you would normally. The reason for this is when you’re physically active your muscles will tighten up more, so you need to do some extra stretching to balance out how much your muscles will tighten up.