Entitled as such in case you ate too much Halloween candy. OK, because I ate too much Halloween candy. Blast. Still, I'm not really thinking about stretching my clothes -- I'm thinking about stretching my muscles.
Not being a religious stretcher myself, I benefit from regular reminders to stretch. So I was happy to see that Play, the sports magazine of The New York Times, recently covered the topic of stretching in the article "Stretching: The Truth."
It covers similar ground as the June 2008 Experience Life article, "Stretch and Reach: The Unexaggerated Truth About Stretching," though the one in Play sticks mainly to pre-workout stretching and warm-ups. (Heads up: The Play article features a stretch performance expert Nick Tumminello included in his T-Nation article "How Not to Warm Up." It's called the scorpion, and many fitness professionals recommend skipping it because it encourages lumbar mobility -- not a good thing.)
The latest on stretching again (in case you don't want to strain your eyes):
- Don't do static stretching right before your workout. Static stretching immediately before activity does not prevent injury and may, in fact, add to injury risk because
1) it weakens muscle for a short period of time and 2) it has
an analgesic effect, masking pain that would otherwise serve as a
warning sign to ease up.
- Do a dynamic warm-up before your workout. Dynamic flexibility exercises (such as skips, high knees and toy soldiers) actually increase coordination and muscle response time.
- Do stretch after your workout. Stretching after your workout can help you maintain your current level of flexibility.
- Do add a general flexibility program to your fitness regimen. Regular stretching outside of your workouts appears to help prevent injury and boost athletic performance. When a muscle is stretched regularly, it becomes stronger and contracts more rapidly, resulting in increased force and speed.
If any of the above sounds familiar, it should -- I've rambled about the topic before in this blog:
(photo credit: VisasMarr)
Stretching is one of my favorite things ever. In fact, if I could only do one exercise for the rest of my life it would be dancing. But after that, totally yoga;)
Stretching -- it's that one thing I really have a difficult time "remembering" to do. Especially after a workout... So, I'll take this as my friendly reminder Jen...
As for the candy - I'm "still" eating way too much!
"Flexible" is not my middle name, although I am conscious about it I just don't do it enough! Thanks for the tips and the gentle reminder!