Strike a Pose
One of the most overlooked components to fitness is flexibility. People tend to skip the stretching before they start their exercising and go straight to the workout. Yet tons of studies support the short and long-term benefits of stretching. I think we all may be a little guilty of skipping this component, even ME!
Here are three reasons why you should stretch on a regular basis:
Decreases Stress
Stretching decreases stress, anxiety, and tension you may have in your muscles. Combining stretching with breathing techniques may also help reduce these factors. I am an early riser when it comes to working out, and sometimes I even will spend one morning doing nothing but stretching and working on breathing and find that it helps tremendously!
May reduce risk of injury
When you exercise on a daily basis, your muscles will tend to get tighter and you may also find yourself feeling more soreafter you are done. Stretches are often used as part of a warm-up to help increase your body temperature and prepare your body to move easier (not being so tight.) When you are cold your muscles have a greater risk to be ruptured or strained while your exercising.
One of the biggest strains I hear people talk to me about is lower back pain. I myself have also gone through lower back pain and was to the point where it hurt to walk. So I started stretching slowly (multiple times throughout the day) and within a week I could tell a huge difference. I never wanted to go through that pain and now make it a priority to stretch before I exercise, even if I am only walking.
Having an improved quality of life
This factor is HUGE to me. I can not stress enough how stretching and having a daily (or even 3-4 times a week) exercise routine has helped my attitude in the most positive way. Sometimes I would wake up and not want to do ANYTHING, I honestly just wanted to lay in bed all day. I was tired, stressed, and thinking about certain things gave me anxiety that I didn’t want to deal with. I made my own routine that fit with MY schedule on MY time.
If you are having these feelings, or even just sore, or tight, let’s chat and figure out a routine for YOU that fits YOUR lifestyle.
Everyone is different, so we all shouldn’t have the same routine. What is working for me or anyone else out there may not work for you! Contact me to discuss changes that you would like to make a lifestyle change!
