Stretching
Stretching is often neglected, as we may feel we don’t have the time or it’s a bit boring. If you want to create balance in your workouts and help keep your body running injury free then stretching is your long-term investment. Your body will love you for it.
Ideally you want to stretch everyday. To gain flexibility, tissue must be stretched daily to maintain steady gain day-to-day. Muscles need recovery between training sessions to repair, but they need daily stretching to become suppler.
When to Stretch?
There is a very outdated notion that we should static stretch before exercise to prevent injury. Stretching cold muscles is far more likely to cause injury than to prevent it. Instead do dynamic stretches and warm-ups. Dynamic warm-ups literally prepare the body to workout. Jog in place, do a few bodyweight exercises if doing a strength workout with weights, leg swings or light exercises to warm-up before going into the HIIT’s or Strength workouts.
Following a workout make sure you stretch. Use one of my stretch workouts or stretch out on your own.
When doing your daily stretching on a rest day, either go for a walk, jog in place, do some jumping jacks, run through sun salutation a few times – something to warm up a little. Understand that when you stretch without a workout you will be a little tighter. Don’t force the stretch. Breathe into it and relax.
