Types of Stretching to Stay Fit

Staying fit even in your busy schedule is quite a tough task. In today’s busy world everyone wants to stay fit, and it is nothing new how exercise helps improve not just your health, it also helps in boosting your mood so that you can perform well throughout your day, and hence no one could ignore the benefits of exercising. There are various types of exercise for staying fit.

Among them stretching is a kind of exercise that helps in keeping your overall body fitness. Today in this article you will get to know about different types of stretching and how you can include different types of stretching in your daily exercise schedule for maintaining your fitness. The best part is you can include stretching even before exercising or after the exercising too.

If you do stretching before the exercise it helps in warming up your muscles, and this directly helps you in preparing for your upcoming exercise routine. While stretching also helps to reduce muscle soreness which is caused by strenuous exercise.      

Incorporating stretching into your daily exercise routine helps with several health benefits such as improving flexibility, reducing soreness, improving circulation, promoting relief from stress, and reducing tightness, which helps in boosting your health and mood.  

First, you need to know what stretching is all about. Stretching is a kind of exercise, which involves stretching the muscles and in turn, this helps to reduce the risk of injuries as this increases flexibility and range of motion, and hence stretching should be incorporated into your everyday exercise routine. Though stretching might be not an exciting part of your workout routine if you get involved in doing stretching then it will eventually lead to a well-rounded fitness routine.    

Now, that you know what stretching is all about and what benefits are related to it, you should know when you should stretch. The most crucial thing that matters about stretching is what type of stretching you want to do. As there are different types of stretching involving different types of body movements, which ultimately prepares you for a workout.    

By now you must have got a clear sketch in your mind regarding stretching the benefits and when you should do them and several other things that are related to stretching, but before you begin with stretching. Remember one thing the moment you stretch you should feel good and it shouldn’t hurt. 

 Hence if you are undergoing joint pain or discomfort, or you are looking for any specific exercise which would dispense relief from the pain in the lower back. For that, you need to require to talk to your physical therapist before you begin your stretching routine. As your therapist would let you know specifically what moves would be best for you as per the requirement of your needs.

Let us know the different types of stretching that you should include in your daily fitness routine to stay fit. There are many types of stretching techniques for the improvement of flexibility, and sudden confusion might arise in your mind, that how each of these different stretchings should be executed.   

The major types of stretching include Static, Dynamic, PNF, Ballistic, and many more. Ahead here there are 15 different types of stretching and along with it is the description which is related to exercises and when you should use them.

  1. Static:

Static stretching also known as isometric stretching is a kind of stretching when you gently stretch the muscle to feel a gentle pull. You need to stretch upwards for about 10 seconds then relax. Stretches should always be pain-free, even if you end up feeling pain then your muscle will automatically want to tighten and protect themselves.

       After a strain in the muscles, your physio might recommend static stretching.  

  1. Ballistic-type stretching exercises:

A ballistic type of stretching exercise is done where you need to stretch your muscle as far as it is comfortable for you to do so. While, at the end range of movement, you bounce or force the joint that little bit further.

The best example related to the ballistic type of stretching is reaching over touching your toes and then bouncing to increase the range. While this type of stretching is mostly not recommended due to the injury possibilities.

  1. Dynamic Stretching:

 

This type of stretching is popular and is particularly done for warming up. Dynamic stretching involves stretching your muscles whilst moving, either by leg swings or by performing sports-specific drills. Your muscles include sensors in them which are called the muscle spindle. They help in sensing how fast your muscles could stretch. If they sense a situation that your muscle is stretching too fast then they trigger up and forbid overstretching. This may cause injury, and now you know how stretch-related muscle strains occur. By including dynamic stretching in your warm-up schedule, the muscles end up adjusting to the demands which are placed on them.    

 

4.       Piriformis Stretch:

Piriformis Stretch is related to the piriformis muscle which is a deep internal hip rotator, located on the outside of the butt.  The primary role related to piriformis is external rotation. Since the piriformis crosses over the sciatic nerve, and if it is tight, it can end up resulting in sciatic nerve irritation. By stretching this muscle you can prevent potential future sciatica, or you can also help treat it.

  1. Triceps Stretch:

If you are thinking of any stretching exercise then triceps stretching is a popular exercise. Triceps stretch includes the upper body stretch and it results in losing the muscles on the back of the upper arms, and this, in turn, makes it great for doing an after-chest or shoulders workout.    

  1. Active Stretching:

This type of stretching involves adopting and holding a pose while you exclusively utilize the muscles within the group which is being targeted. For example, if you flex your ankle back and forth it directly involves the usage of calf muscles as they hold the toes in a pointed position, as the toes are being raised towards the shin. While the muscles perform an opposing function as one gets lengthened and the other one gets contacted.    

  1. Passive Stretching:

This type of stretching is a splendid way the enhancement of your balance, as also your flexibility by holding up a position or a pose with gravity or by hand. As this specific force reached the outer limits of your range’s motion your targeted muscle gets lengthened. The best example is the hamstring stretch which involves bending at your waist for touching your toes and holding up that pose for over 30 seconds before you move forward for a deeper stretch.

  1. Lying Quad Stretch:

This type of stretching is the most popular way of stretching and it is a popular way for lower body stretching. This type of stretching is best if you have gone through a heavy cardio workout. This helps in stretching your entire body and helps in balancing. 

  1. Reclining Bound Angle Pose:

This type of stretching is an excellent option as you can do it even as a gentle warm-up and even at the end of the workout. As it has a passive nature of posture, you can adjust based on how your body is feeling to encourage proper stretching.

  1. Pretzel Stretch:

    This kind of stretching is helpful as it helps in stretching multiple important postural muscles within one stretch, and this eventually is a huge time saver. This stretching especially helps in developing your spine, bottom leg, and hip flexors of your top leg.

 

  1. Seated Neck Release:

It is seen that most people forget to stretch their necks and ignore them. Do you know that if you develop a habit of stretching your neck then it would eventually end up relieving your tension and stress? Neck stretching has a positive impact on the rest portion of your upper body which includes your upper part which is the shoulders and the lower part which is the spinal cord.   

  1. Frog Stretch:

It is a helpful stretching exercise because most of us sit with our legs crossed, which can lead to tightening the hips, and this results in lower back pain. If you develop a habit of doing frog stretches then you would help develop your lower back muscles. As this directly helps in stretching your targeted sports which also includes the hips and groin and thus it is a very helpful stretching exercise for runners.

  1. Figure Four Stretch:

This type of stretching includes the stretching of the hip rotator and flexor muscles. Doing this stretch helps in relieving the symptoms which are accommodated with sciatica and knee pain.        

  1. Seated shoulder squeeze:

Many people have a bad habit of sitting in an inaccurate position and this results in a poor posture and thus it results in releasing tension in the upper back. 

  1. Active Isolated Stretching:

This type of stretching includes several repetitions, and this includes a stretching technique that is held for only two seconds at a particular time. With each time it exceeds the previous point of resistance by a few degrees.  

 

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