Everyone knows they should stretch but its a highly neglected area of fitness. In this weeks article, we aim to convince you to include it within your fitness regime.
So here are our top 5 reasons why you should stretch
1- Decrease stress
Firstly, you may think this is an odd one to start with but a stretch routine is actually the ideal way to target both your physical and mental health.
Stretching routines are slow and help bring you into a calm space. You spend time getting to know your body and how it feels. Where it holds tension and how much better it feels after holding the positions.
Once you have a regular routine and are happy with how to perform each stretch you will find that you look forward to it and the chance to switch off.
2- Reduced Pain and stiffness
The body holds tension and tight muscles can lead to pain. Regularly stretching is a great way to reduce tension and stiffness. As well as preventing pain a good stretch routine can prevent pain by making the tendons more compliant to movement.
3 - Improved range of motion
The human body is made up of joints. Each joint has a range of movement that it should be able to go through. It can do this in a passive way when it is externally manipulated or in an active way by using the muscles around the joint to contract and extend.
A good stretching routine will help to free your joints. Your main joints such as the hips and shoulders can really benefit from mobility training. This is because the modern lifestyle and the effects of sitting and rounding your shoulders contributes to their poor mobility .
4- Improves neuromuscular coordination
Your nervous system transmits signals from the brain to your muscles. Stretching can speed up that process which helps the muscles to work together more efficiently. Stretching can also help to increase your proprioception which how your brain knows where your muscles are. This can in turn help with your balance.
5 - How to fit stretching into your schedule
It really doesn't have to be that complicated. There are plenty of stretches you can do at home even while sitting on the sofa!. You might want to take 5 mins out of your lunch break to release tension in your shoulders or you could plan a longer weekly stretch. Once restrictions are lifted we have a stretch class at Runway Fitness on a Thursday evening. It's 45 minutes long and as well as being a good social you'll leave feeling much looser and calmer.
Until then if you need any tips on stretching please reach out to us at info@runwayfitness.co.uk we would be happy to help get you on the right track and invite you to our stretch class once we reopen
