The Benefits Of Stretching And Warming Up As Part Of Your Workout Routine
Do you want to know why you always see people stretch and warm up before they start to exercise? Did you know that warming up and stretching is equally important to a workout just as is the exercises that you do? Basically when you stretch before an exercise workout, you are actually attempting to increase your health as well as your mobility. Also by stretching after a work out can maximize the benefits from the actual workout. Stretching before a workout can help warm up the body's soft tissue and eliminate the risk of becoming injured when you exercise. Stretching does increase you blood flow, the benefit of this is that your entire body will have an increase airflow.
Experts also recommend stretching to help improve your muscle tone as well as avoid any unnecessary cramping or stiff muscles after a workout. By doing a stretching routine before the workout you can actually improve your posture, muscle strength and blood circulation. The warm up part of an exercise routine, you can include exercises like toe stretch where you are stretching your back as you reach for your toes, the body stretch by standing with your legs apart and bringing your body from side to side as well as front to back position.
Experts recommend that you at least 5 to 10 minutes of a warm up every time you exercise. Stretching can also include going for a 10-minute brisk walk, running in place or creating large movements with your body. How much time you hold a stretch is debatable, you should hold that position until your muscles start to feel relaxed. Never stretch until your muscles ache, it would defeat the purpose of stretching and warming up.
Here are some additional benefits of Stretching and Warming Up before working out.
- Reduce Muscle Tension, the longer you exercise and the high the workout intensity gets, you are pushing your muscles. By stretching and warming up first you can eliminate the tension and this will help you have a successful, pain free workout.
- Decrease the Pain of Menstruation. Some women have barely intolerable cramps at the start of their cycle. By exercising, you can help alleviate the pain and increase your energy levels.
- Increasing the Development of Body Awareness, stretching lets you feel muscles that you did not know that you had. By adding a warm up, you can increase the benefit of exercise for the entire body rather than just one trouble area.
Some people believe that stretching is warming up and the truth is, it is not. Stretching helps prepare the muscles for a workout and the warm up gets the body in gear while waiting to start the real exercise. The warm up of course is less intensive than the work out and this is why doing a combination of stretching, warm ups and the exercise routine, your body will reap the benefits and soon you will find yourself feel better than you ever have.