Flexibility appears to be an often neglected area of health. Many people I have encountered have passed off flexibility as something only yogis or gymnasts have and the rest of us will always wonder what that must feel like to be limber.
While I was still practicing taekwondo, some of my friends were impressed that I could get my kicks over my own head level. This was surprising to me because head level kicks are crucial is taekwondo and therefore, flexibility is a must!
What I gathered was that most people I connected with had little to no knowledge of flexibility and more importantly, there was no thought being put into it.
Unfortunately for them, improving your flexibility has some major benefits for the body that they will miss out on. And to our advantage, it doesn’t have to hurt and nobody is going to have to pretzel themself up to reap these rewards.
It’s about gradually pushing yourself further. If you haven’t stretched your hamstrings in a while, don’t bother trying to reach past your toes. Start with comfortably reaching to the shins, then to your toes, then around your heels, and maybe later on getting past the toes.
Here are 5 tips for smarter stretching:
1. Stretch After your Workout, Not Before
This is possibly the most important point on this list as it has the best chance of reducing your injury rate and weakening of muscles before workouts. Stretching is meant to be done when the muscles are warm, which means some activity has already been done to activate those muscles and create heat in the body.
We want the muscles to be warm because they are more elastic at this point and more receptive to be pulled longer when stretched. When muscles are cold, they are more prone to being strained and becoming overly tight because they were not ready for the stress they were put under.
2. It Shouldn’t Hurt
Just like any new habit, we can’t really push ourselves to keep at it if we’re shooting for the moon and setting unattainable goals when first starting. Instead, we should start slow and prime our body for the work that it’s about to do.
Stretching through pain leads to overtension in the muscles because they’re not used to being pulled that far. The best thing to do is to find the point where you feel some light tension and then hold it there for around 30 seconds.
Also remember to avoid bouncing. Bouncing offers no benefit to our body while stretching, it just increases the chance of injury and can make your muscles tighter.
3. Incorporate Dynamic as well as Static Stretching
Static stretching is what most people think of when the word “stretching” comes to mind. Sitting down with one leg extended straight and the other bent in, reaching for the toes on the straight leg. This type of static stretching is good when your muscles are already warm, like after a workout. Before any activity, we want something dynamic that offers gentle movement to activate the muscles.
For example, if I’m going to go kick a soccer ball around and run a lot, I would probably walk up and down some stairs to activate my calves and maybe hold onto a wall and swing my legs back and forth like a pendulum to open up my hips and stretch my hamstrings lightly.
4. Make it Specific to You
This is one that I notice many people completely ignoring and it’s worth thinking about because we don’t all use the same muscle groups for our exercise. I like to play soccer which is why you’ll rarely see me stretching my upper body thoroughly. I’m much more concerned with my hips being opened up and my hamstrings, groin, and calves being ready to generate power.
If you are a baseball player, however, it would be much smarter to focus on loosening up your shoulders, arms, and the general trunk of your torso. This doesn’t mean we should ignore other large muscle groups, but it does mean you should consider how to prioritize the muscles that matter most in your discipline.
5. Stay Consistent
Stretching does not have to take up much of your time. I’ve found 10-15 minutes at a time makes a world of difference and noticeably improves the rest of my day. A minimum of twice a week will help you see gradual results over time but you can increase this routine to another time or two per week if you feel comfortable with it.
The bottom line though is that you need to stay consistent on your stretching if you want to see any change in your flexibility. Remember, if you stop suddenly and don’t stretch for a while, your muscles will revert back to their previous level of tension. All the more reason to invest in an achievable routine that you will stick with.
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