"Flexibility Exercise -
Stretching Done Properly"
Flexibility exercise is particularly important for people
who wake in the morning with a good deal of muscle pain or tightness.
Stretching done properly keeps the muscles flexible, decrease soreness, and diminish the chances of injury. Studies have shown that “long-term stretching can provide overall flexibility.”
You may want to invest in a device called the stretch strap to get the most from your flexibility and stretching efforts.
Stretching
exercises can be started even before you get out of bed. While
lying on your back, simply stretch your arms up over your head. Also, stretch
your legs toward the bottom of the bed.
It is important that you breathe in and out while gently
arching and flattening your back a number of different times.
Bringing your
knees up to your chest, and then back down, can help you if you feel stiffness
in your lower back or hips when awakening.
Also try lying on
your back and bringing your knees to a good bend and then gently rolling from
one side to the other. If you sleep all curled up awakening stiffly, lie on
your stomach and raise yourself up to your elbows gently stretching your back.
Here are some additional flexible exercise tips that you can use...
- Tissue
stretching is good when you are feeling tight. You don't need to stretch every
part of the body but for some joints, you just need to move within the range of
motion you already possess.
- Never force
the stretch but provide gradual pressure moving gently within your comfort zone
until you feel a little bit of tension or a slight bit of stretching while
never bouncing.
- There are
certain stretching exercises where you will want to hold that position for
about 20 seconds as you breathe naturally while relaxing. You can repeat this
several times for effective use.
- Some other exercises will be simply repeated a
number of different times between two different positions while employing a
hold in the stretch between the two positions for about 20 seconds.
- Always use
stretching exercises in cool-down sessions after you exercise. Doing so will help
you to not only avoid soreness but injury as well during intense exercise
sessions.
- You will find
that stretching exercises will also provide you with a great deal of relief
from pain. This is especially true conducting flexibility exercises several
times a day.
- Try using stretching exercises for daily back and neck pain
control both in the morning when you wake and at night before you go to bed.
- Listen to
your body when conducting stretching exercises. Often, when first beginning,
you will find a great deal of tenderness as well as discomfort. If you've been inactive for quite some time or, in many cases,
after a night of sleep. You may find discomfort at first, but do not continue
exercising if you are indeed in pain.
- Breathing
normally is highly recommended while performing any flexibility exercises.
- You
should never hold your breath when stretching. Also, do not breathe heavily in
and out but as naturally and comfortably as possible. You'll discover as you
continue exercising, you will become more relaxed and your breathing rate will
naturally flow as it should.
Follow these tips and you will find that using flexibility
exercises will help you maintain a healthier and less painful existence.
Stretch properly, and improve your flexibility & fitness quickly and safely.
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