Saturday, January 24, 2009

Avoid Injury with these 5 Muscle Stretching Tips

By Torri Tompson

I'm sure that everyone knows that it is important to properly prepare your body before doing any strenuous exercise. By stretching your muscles, you can help avoid serious injuries that are not only painful, but can also impede your performance meaning it takes much longer for you to lose weight.

It is best to fully stretch both before and after you begin walking on your treadmill. By stretching before your exercise you will help to warm your muscles allowing yourself extra flexibility, and by stretching afterwards you will help to prevent your muscles stiffening up.

Here are some stretching tips to help you prevent injury to your muscles:

1. The first mistake many people make is to try and stretch too far. If you are in pain then you have stretched too far! It is much better to stretch to a position that you find comfortable, and then hold this stance for between 15 - 20 seconds.

2. Always remember to breathe while you are stretching. By practicing some deep breathing exercises while you stretch you will actually be able to give your muscles a much better workout.

3. Stretching is often seen as the warm up phase of exercise, but it's really important to warm your muscles before you stretch them, so it's a great idea to walk around or jog on the spot for a few minutes before you start to stretch.

4. After your workout, you can stretch after you take a warm bath or shower. The hot water will help relax your muscles, and the after workout stretch will feel good.

5. You may have seen professional athletes bouncing while they stretch, but you should never ever do this! Bouncing during stretching exercises can actually cause serious injuries to your muscles rather than prevent injuries.

The most important muscles that you need to stretch are not always your leg muscles. Of course, it is important to stretch your calf muscles, quadriceps, and hamstrings, but you also need to stretch her shoulders, abs, neck, and back. Believe it or not, walking on a treadmill provides a full body workout.

Don't just bend over and hang, trying to touch your toes. Add some additional stretches, such as the splits, lunges, and calf stretches where you stand on the edge of a step or curb and drop your heels to the point right before it becomes uncomfortable.

When stretching you should always make sure your movements and slow and deliberate - it actually helps to keep some tension in the muscles to get the most out of your stretch. And remember, you should never stretch to the point where it becomes painful. - 16650

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