What are stretching mistakes and how you can avoid them?
As the proverb goes, “better be safe than sorry”, and so shall be for the exercise. It is not something new that exercise is the best medicine. You can prevent several diseases by exercising regularly. There are various types of exercise that you should include in your routine to maintain your fitness.
Among many types of exercise, stretching is a fundamental exercise for maintaining overall fitness. Even studies have also shown that there are various advantages of stretching. Stretching provides many benefits such as avoiding injuries due to the pulled-up muscles, improvement of performance in sports, and also provides comfortable movements as you age.
When done with the correct method stretching can be relaxing and provides an increase in flexibility. However, if you want to experience all the benefits of stretching then you need to follow the process of stretching properly.
Though this might sound simple but making mistakes in stretching is too common. If you end up following an improper technique then you would eventually land yourself in pain. Today in this article I have enlisted the common mistakes that you need to avoid if you amalgamate stretching into your daily exercise routine.
# 1. Quitting warming up:
You might think that stretching itself is a warm-up exercise before you do the actual physical exertion. The fact is you need to warm up before you begin to stretch. A warmup before stretching is an essential requirement as it will help in increasing your body’s temperature. This in turn would prove your muscle with more flexibility and this would help to generate blood flow to the muscles and connective tissue.
You should begin your warm-up with a light aerobic activity which includes jogging in a particular place, jumping jacks, or a brisk walk. Doing this would prepare your muscles to get more stretched. The ambition of this warm-up is to increase your heart rate and respiratory rate to increase blood flow. Following this activity will loosen the muscles, and increases the benefits of stretching by avoiding injuries that are caused by a cold stretch.
#2. Using improper stretching techniques:
Doing the proper stretching at the proper time is required to avoid injuries. Many people end up getting injured because of the wrong stretching done at the wrong time. Hence choosing the correct stretching for your fitness level and for the activity will help you to prevent injuries during workouts.
Another important factor is choosing the right stretch for the right muscle which you actually wish to target.
#3. Overstretching your muscles:
Stretching can never result in any kind of pain. When you exert too much energy or go too deep into the stretch can end up in a torn muscle. There might be a slightly uncomfortable feeling during stretching, but it should never end up hurting.
To avoid the pain you need to stop exerting too much energy and stop pushing your body past its limits. To avoid ending yourself injury you should always stay in the natural range of your motion. If you observe any tightness in one muscle area, then you need to repeat your stretches multiple times without pushing them too hard.
#4. Bouncy stretches:
Coming to the fourth reason is bouncy stretches. When you bounce too aggressively while stretching can lead up resulting a pulled muscle. Even if you choose to bounce while stretching it can end you to cause stretch too deeply. If you bounce while you stretch you can also cause you to stretch too deeply.
Instead of bouncing, you should gradually elongate to stretch. You need to hold the stretch for 10 to 15 seconds, and then release and repeat. Other than that you should practice dynamic stretching, in that you should move through your full range of motion, instead of bouncing.
#5. Not enough stretching:
Stretching is essential for everyone. The ultimate aim of stretching for an average person is to maintain flexibility and mobility for the joints and muscles. If you do not stretch enough this can cause your muscles to get short. Due to this, there is an increase in stiffness and discomfort. If you include moderate stretching in your daily routine helps in moving with ease and therefore there is a reduction in chronic pain.
For athletes, it is essential for them to do proper stretching for preventing injuries and performing at their highest level.
#6. Holding your breath while stretching:
It is a fact that breathing ends up making stretching more effective. There are many people who unintentionally hold their breath as they do stretching and this can cause their muscles to become tense and get resisted.
Breathing is responsible for increasing blood flow and delivering oxygen to the muscles. If you breathe deeply and slowly through the nose while you stretch your muscles will get relaxed and get more receptive to stretching.
#7. Stretching an injured muscle:
Stretching an injured muscle is not going to help with the pain and can also prolong the healing process. Even injured tissues also need a break for healing. If you are suffering from injured muscles, then you should forbid stretching the impacted area.
You need to rest the injury and apply heat or ice as per the requirement for recovery. Once your injury gets healed then you can slowly re-introduce a low-intensity stretching of the muscles to get them back into the normal way.
#8. Static stretches:
If you stretch a muscle for a longer period of time it will increase the elasticity of the muscle. This results in less recoil and responsiveness which makes the muscle weak before a workout.
#9. Stretching only some parts of your body:
This is the worst habit that you should avoid. If you only stretch some parts of your body before then this would end up hurting your muscle eventually. It ends up resulting in a miserable situation if you only stretch some specific parts of your body. Hence stretching is not related to only gym, it is how you spend the rest of your days.
Even if you want to head for a simple arm workout, you need to make sure that you always end up giving an extra stretch loving parts for your body. By doing this it will make you more comfortable during the day and this in turn would help providing the safety and enjoy ability for the actual workout.
#10. Stretching until it hurts:
Each body has its own advantages. If you end up forcing a stretch past its limits then you would eventually end up hurting yourself. As at some point you would feel slight discomfort and this can even lead into a dangerous sharp pain.