Flexibility
is part of your fitness too. There are central pillars to a happy and
healthy body and flexibility is certainly one of them. Many people focus majority of their time doing cardio and even resistance training, but neglect their flexibility.
As we age, our
muscles become more and more prone to injury because they lose their
elasticity. Remember being a kid and bending over backwards at times and
not feeling a thing? I am not recommending doing that any more, but I
certainly advocate adding routine stretching into your fitness regimen.
I
used to have pretty chronic lower back problems, which I eventually
realized, probably stemmed from very tight hamstrings. I now stretch my
hamstrings every chance I get (as well as stretching the rest of my body)
and I have almost completely eliminated lower back pain!
By stretching, you help to increase circulation to your muscles, by allowing your muscle fibers to open up. This helps during recovery as well as increasing range of motion. By increasing your range of motion, you not only improve your athleticism, but you decrease your risk of injury as well.
Stretching to improve your range of motion also helps make your connective tissues (tendons, ligaments, etc.) soft and supple so that they can withstand the rigors of everyday life, not to mention intense exercise.
Quote of the day:
"Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure."
-Earl Wilson
No comments:
Post a Comment