You already know that stretching is necessary. It improves flexibility and mobility (one of many key elements of health) and reduces the chance of damage. And when you don’t stretch, the muscle tissues can shorten and grow to be tight, which may restrict your vary of movement and put you in danger for joint ache or a pulled muscle.
However stretching is simply helpful if it’s executed accurately. There are a couple of frequent stretching errors that may result in the precise reverse of what you’re in search of, resembling damage 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 Mistaken Kind of Stretching
There are two predominant varieties of stretching: static and dynamic. Static stretching is what you in all probability keep in mind from health club class: step by step stretching a muscle and holding a pose for about 30 seconds. Whereas it is a nice strategy to quiet down from a exercise or improve 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 muscle tissues to be highly effective by way of a full vary of movement,” says Trevor Thieme, CSCS. Dynamic stretches embrace 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 muscle tissues and launch stress. “Each varieties of stretching can assist improve mobility,” Thieme says. “However one excites muscle tissues whereas the opposite calms them down.”
2. You’re Bouncing Whereas Stretching
Utilizing momentum from bouncing to pressure a muscle to stretch previous its regular vary (a.okay.a. ballistic stretching) could really feel prefer it’s serving to you improve your vary of movement. However as a substitute of loosening the muscle, any such fast stretching motion can really trigger the muscle tissues to tighten — a contraction referred to 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 tissue
Stretching injured muscle tissues 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 an alternative, 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 may also result in hypermobility, “which is when a joint is just too free and thus unstable,” Thieme says. Know your limits while you’re stretching, and don’t pressure your self to transcend them.
5. You’re Not Stretching Constantly
It’s going to take quite a lot of sporadic stretching classes to realize the pliability of a gymnast. Ideally, your stretching classes must be reasonable and frequent fairly than intense and occasional.
“In an effort to obtain bodily, everlasting change, stretching should be constant for six to eight weeks,” says Sudell.
6. You’re Rushing 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 not less than 60 seconds.
7. You’re Not Doing Sport-Particular Stretches
Sport-specific stretches “might be something focused towards actions {that a} explicit athlete wants,” Sudell says. For instance, she says, golfers could 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 exhibits that static stretches are higher fitted to athletes who want flexibility (like gymnasts or dancers), whereas dynamic stretches are particularly helpful for many who must run or leap (like basketball gamers or runners).
8. You’re Ignoring Your Respiratory
Deep, diaphragmatic respiration “can assist loosen up tense muscle tissues, and when paired with stretching, can permit for an excellent 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 well after an intense exercise. The correct strategy 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, retaining the diaphragm and stomach smooth and relaxed.
