You already know that stretching is necessary. It improves flexibility and mobility (one of many key parts of health) and reduces the danger of harm. And in the event you don’t stretch, the muscular tissues can shorten and turn out to be tight, which might restrict your vary of movement and put you in danger for joint ache or a pulled muscle.
However stretching is just helpful if it’s completed accurately. There are just a few frequent stretching errors that may result in the precise reverse of what you’re on the lookout for, similar to harm and inflexibility. Listed below are eight pitfalls to keep away from so you may enhance your flexibility and your exercises.
1. You’re Doing the Unsuitable Sort of Stretching
There are two principal varieties of stretching: static and dynamic. Static stretching is what you most likely keep in mind from health club class: progressively stretching a muscle and holding a pose for about 30 seconds. Whereas it is a nice solution to quiet down from a exercise or enhance common flexibility, analysis means that static stretching earlier than a power exercise may very well trigger a lower in efficiency.
“Throughout a warm-up, you need to do dynamic stretching, which boosts muscle activation and prepares muscular tissues 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 give attention to static stretching to loosen up the muscular tissues and launch stress. “Each varieties of stretching can assist improve mobility,” Thieme says. “However one excites muscular tissues whereas the opposite calms them down.”
2. You’re Bouncing Whereas Stretching
Utilizing momentum from bouncing to drive 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 an alternative of loosening the muscle, the sort of fast stretching motion can truly trigger the muscular tissues to tighten — a contraction often known as the myotatic reflex or “stretch reflex.” This will result in accidents like muscle or tendon tears, Thieme says.
3. You’re Stretching Injured Muscle tissues
Stretching injured muscular tissues is “a giant no-no,” Thieme warns. Muscle strains usually occur when a muscle is stretched past its restrict, so stretching it additional can worsen the harm. 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, it is best to by no means be in ache whereas stretching. “Overstretching may end up in muscle strains or extreme neural stress [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 just too free and thus unstable,” Thieme says. Know your limits once you’re stretching, and don’t drive your self to transcend them.
5. You’re Not Stretching Constantly
It’s going to take quite a lot of sporadic stretching periods to attain the flexibleness of a gymnast. Ideally, your stretching periods ought to be average and frequent quite than intense and occasional.
“With a purpose to obtain bodily, everlasting change, stretching should be constant for six to eight weeks,” says Sudell.
6. You’re Dashing By means of Your Stretches
“Individuals typically don’t stretch for the suitable period of time,” explains Sudell. She recommends aiming for 30 seconds or much less for pre-exercise stretches. For post-workout static stretching, purpose to carry every stretch for at the very least 60 seconds.
7. You’re Not Doing Sport-Particular Stretches
Sport-specific stretches “might be something focused towards actions {that a} specific athlete wants,” Sudell says. For instance, she says, golfers might give attention to 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 reveals that static stretches are higher suited to athletes who want flexibility (like gymnasts or dancers), whereas dynamic stretches are particularly helpful for individuals who must run or soar (like basketball gamers or runners).
8. You’re Ignoring Your Respiration
Deep, diaphragmatic respiratory “can assist loosen up tense muscular tissues, and when paired with stretching, can permit for a fair deeper stretch with out rising the danger of harm,” Thieme says.
As well as, respiratory enhances the therapeutic impact of stretching, Sudell says. Analysis reveals that diaphragmatic respiratory can assist the physique get well after an intense exercise. The correct solution 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, preserving the diaphragm and stomach comfortable and relaxed.
