Young and old will certainly remember our school days, when during physical education lessons, before starting training we were asked to do stretching exercises.
Muscle stretching has long been an activity performed and connected to practically every type of sport. Sometimes, in sport as in everyday life we find ourselves practicing stretching in a completely natural and unconscious way.
Even the lengthening of the spine is actually a stretching exercise aimed at giving a boost of blood flow to the muscles of our body, as well as to the brain.
The lengthening of the spine also has the purpose of mitigating muscular stiffness, promoting in the individual the awareness of his own organism.
In this article we will give you some important tips and suggestions for practicing stretching correctly and effectively: here is everything you need to know about this muscle warming activity.
Is it better to stretch pre or post workout?
There are many athletes and people in general who wonder whether it is better to practice stretching before or after training sessions. To answer this question in an exhaustive way, we want to point out immediately that practicing stretching exercises before a training session can be extremely important and sometimes decisive in preventing the appearance of muscle injuries. Stretching also helps to improve the overall performance of one's muscles and consequently sports performance.
For all those people who like to train early in the morning or in the evening after a long day spent at their desk in their office, stretching is a very important activity before training, to warm up and prepare contracted muscles for physical work.
In general we can say that it is important to do stretching exercises, both before and after physical activity: the important thing is to always practice warm stretching, that is, after a few minutes of preventive physical activity which will serve to warm up the body and muscles.
We have stated that stretching is important and useful even after physical activity: a drop in body temperature will in fact bring our organism into a state of stasis and relaxation, allowing a return of blood from the extremities of our body to the center, expressing itself in a more balanced blood circulation. Practicing stretching after a training session also helps prevent drops and muscle injuries.
What is it for? When to do it?
Stretching is undoubtedly one of the most effective exercises for increasing the flexibility of the body's joints. Stretching is also an activity that allows the person to greatly improve their posture. There are many sportsmen and in particular runners or runners who combine physical activity with the most varied stretching exercises.
For an athlete who does competitive activity, training frequently and intensely means having the body's muscles very often contracted: to combat muscle contractions, stretching exercises represent one of the most valid allies for athletes.
Stretching before or after running?
Stretching before running has many benefits for the muscles: stretching exercises prepare the body and muscles for the training session, increasing the flexibility of the joints, as well as the body and muscle temperature. Another very important aspect of stretching is represented by the fact that these exercises are able to give an important boost to our metabolism, increasing and accelerating the supply of energy to the muscles of the body.
For runners in particular, dynamic stretching exercises are recommended (moving exercises that do not require maintaining a static position). In this way the athletes will not risk excessively ironing the muscles, which are still partially cold. Only 10 minutes of stretching will be enough before a running training session. After the run, we can instead devote more time to stretching (about 20 minutes of exercises). In this recovery phase we can also make use of other tools, such as for example a medicine ball, or even some elastic bands.
What types of stretching are there?
With reference to the different types of stretching, we immediately specify that the exercises that can be practiced are many. Regardless of the different types of exercises, for each stretching position, it will have to be held for a time of about 25, 30 seconds, without performing a tightening and without excessively straining the muscles. Let us always remember that the practice of stretching will never and in any way hurt and cause pain in the muscles.
While performing the exercise it is also important that our gaze remains fixed forward and that our breathing is kept as regular as possible. To achieve good results and improvements, it will be important to perform stretching exercises with constancy. Let's see below the main types of practicable stretching exercises.
Static stretching
Static stretching should be understood as an exercise involving muscle elongation characterized by an extremely short duration. Usually these exercises are characterized by the duration of a few seconds (approximately 4, 7 seconds).
Static stretching exercises are performed after the training session and have the main purpose of returning the muscles to rest. Performing static stretching exercises before training could in some cases compromise performance: this type of stretching tends to slow down the muscle response, effectively preventing a rapid contraction of the latter.
Ballistic Stretching
Ballistic stretching is another of the many types of stretching that can be practiced. In this type of exercise, the movement of only one part of the body is carried out, subjected to impulses and sudden movements, practiced in order to bring the affected joint, beyond the natural active ROM.
This type of stretching must be performed very carefully and for the first few times, followed by a trainer who will illustrate the exercise precisely. The latter could sometimes be more dangerous than useful, since it is not a technique of muscle stretching suitable for everyone, due to the fact that ballistic stretching, if practiced incorrectly, can be the cause of muscle injuries (in the case the maximum elongation capacity of the muscle was exceeded).
Stretching PNF
The PNF stretching (acronym for Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) is a type of exercise through which muscle relaxation is induced through programmed and selective stimulation.
This exercise is practiced with the help of two methods.
- Keep & Relax
- Contrai and relaxes
Dynamic Stretching
We could define dynamic stretching exercises as a gradual increase in the extension of the joint: the aim of these exercises is to reach one's own extension limit, in order to warm up the muscles and increase flexibility.
The gradual nature of these exercises consists in the repetition of a series of movements, initially performed slowly and subsequently, when a certain ease has been achieved, performed more quickly and with greater extension.
Myofascial
Myofascial stretching is an activity specifically designed and conceived with the aim of overall normalizing muscle tone, while at the same time giving greater elasticity to the fascial system that covers our body.
The main goal of this particular stretching exercise is to generate relaxation in the hypertonic muscle chains, while stimulating the viscoelastic properties of the connective tissue, by means of a guided static stretching.
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Image credits:
Girl stretching. Image of Drazen Zigic on Freepik
