How To Stretch Your Way To Better Health & Flexibility
Want to touch your toes, bend your back into a bridge or even do the splits. Or maybe you suffer from lower back pain? Stretching and yoga are great exercises for flexibility, pain relief and overall health!
How do you feel after a good stretch? Looser? More flexible? Yoga is a great way to improve flexibility and loosen up your body, improving blood flow and reducing your risk of injuries during your regular workout! It’s so good for you but people often skip out on stretching so much and focus more on cardio and weights because they want those physical gains, faster. But you’re forgetting how important flexibility training can be in your routine.
Flexibility training is probably one of the most underrated and undervalued component of conditioning and physical fitness.
THE KEY IS STICKING TO IT! Especially for the first crucial weeks where we tend to give up!
Benefits Of Yoga
Yoga for flexibility increases the the body’s range of motion. Being more flexible, enhances your athletic performance and abilities, makes you more agile and reduces your risk of injuries.
Yoga improves your balance and helps relax you. It can also help reduce back pain.
Stretching also speeds up metabolism. That’s because yoga and stretching improves the blood flow to your interns organs and muscles.
If you suffer from sore muscles and lower back pain, yoga can help reduce pain and inflammation, improve posture and coordination and relieve stress and anxiety. In addition to these health benefits, various medical studies suggest that regular stretching enables the body’s internal organs to function properly because of improved blood flow.
Stretching helps keep your body moving and flowing properly.
But, the benefits of yoga for flexibility can only be enjoyed if proper training is done. If not done properly, you can hurt yourself.
If you want to try yoga and improve your flexibility and health, include the following in your workout routine:
- Warm-up exercises. These exercises help to loosen up your muscles, improve blood flow and prepare for flexibility training.
- Do not bounce (ballistic stretching) when performing static stretches. Medical experts suggest that ballistic stretching may cause immediate and residual pain. In the long run, it may lead to serious muscle damage.
- Try to hold your position for at least 15-30 seconds to achieve long term flexibility benefits.
- Cool down exercises. Do some cool down exercises after your workout to return the muscles to their resting stage.
- Stretch gradually. Stretch only to the point where mild muscle tension is felt. If there is pain, then you might be doing it wrong. Move into each pose gradually and exhale while doing it.
Warming up is a crucial part of any workout program. Start with a five to ten minute brisk walk or jog even before you warm up. It’s important to warm up your muscles. Stretching cold muscles may lead to pulled or torn muscles. Health experts believe that the possibility of getting injured may decrease if the tendons and muscles are more conditioned.
Warming-up exercises may also bring the following health benefits:
- Increase the heart and respiratory rate
- Boost the amount of nutrients and oxygen delivered to the muscles
- Prepare the body for a more strenuous workout
- Make it easier to burn more calories
- Extend your workout routine
Yoga and other flexibility exercises may improve your health and fitness at any age!
Individuals who want to engage in flexibility training should seek the approval of doctors and other health professionals. Some medical conditions may prevent certain individuals from performing flexibility poses and stretches.
Stretching Exercises
Here are some simple stretches to start off with. Spend 5-10 minutes a day, stretching and you’ll begin to notice a positive change in how you feel!
Yoga For Flexibility
If you want to try some yoga for flexibility and health, here are some great free yoga sessions to try. You just need. Mat and 15 minutes! Remember to be safe when working out to prevent injuries and always make sure it’s safe for you to workout by talking to your doctor if you are concerned.
You don’t have to lift weights and run miles to improve your health and wellness! If you want to feel better, stretching can help. Suffering from lower back pain? There’s a stretch for that! Feeling tense? Try a stretch. Want to do the splits? Start stretching! Try yoga for increased flexibility and improved health!
