Body Building Guru

Stretching Techniques: Performing exercises the right way

Stretching increases the body’s flexibility and improves posture and balance. It is an important component of all exercise regimes and plays a significant role in strengthening the muscles and increases the range of movements of the joints. Most stretching techniques revolve around elongating the muscles, thereby expanding muscle fiber and reducing the risk of injury. Stretching is a must for all individuals as it contributes significantly towards raising the quality of life and enabling you to perform day to day activities with ease. It decreases the body’s susceptibility to injury due to awkward movements, sudden twists, and jerks and falls.

Stretching exercises lengthen shortened muscles back to their best resting position. This helps maintain good posture and eliminates the influence of tight muscles on the movements of the lower back or pelvis that can cause pain. Shortened muscles affect the joints and ligaments leading to recurring injuries, bad posture and pain. Stretching exercises relax the body, increase blood circulation and improve muscular coordination. If athletes skip the stretching sessions prior to exercise they are unable to achieve their full potential. Muscles exhibit maximum power when they are elongated. Various stretching techniques are applied in exercise sessions in order to gain maximum benefits. These techniques can also be applied to day to day activities and to boost performance in other spheres such as gymnastics, dancing, ballet, running etc.

Types of Stretching Techniques:
Dynamic stretching: This technique involves moving your body parts gradually to increase the range and velocity. It comprises of controlled movements of the legs and arms. Dynamic exercises are not accompanied by any bounces or jerky movements but are slow and controlled. This type of stretching improves dynamic flexibility and is quite useful as part of your warm up sessions prior to dance or martial art training. These exercises are performed in sets of 8 to12 repetitions.

Ballistic stretching: This technique makes use of the momentum of a moving body or limb to force it beyond its normal range of motion. It focuses on bouncing into or out of a stretch using the elongated muscles as a spring to pull you out. This type of stretching is not considered useful and may cause an injury.

Active stretching: This type of stretching increases active flexibility and strengthens the agonistic muscles. Active stretches are quite difficult to hold and maintain for more than 10 seconds and rarely need to be held any longer than 15 seconds. The tension of the agonistic muscles helps to relax the lengthened muscle by reciprocal inhibition.

Passive stretching: This is also referred to as relaxed stretching or static-passive stretching. This technique enables you to assume a position and hold it by using some other part of the body with the help of a partner or equipment. It is beneficial in relieving muscular spasms that are healing after an injury. This form of stretching is also great for cooling down sessions and helps reduce post exercise muscle fatigue and soreness.
Static stretching: This involves holding the position on reaching the farthest point during a stretch. This technique helps you relax and makes no contribution to the range of motion. An external force is created by an outside agent either manually or mechanically.

Isometric stretching: This type of stretching technique involves the resistance of muscle groups, isometric contractions or tensing of the elongated muscles. Isometric stretching is one of the fastest ways of developing increased static-passive flexibility and is considered to be more effective than passive stretching or active stretching. This type of stretching helps to develop strength in the lengthened muscles and decreases the amount of pain associated with stretching. It is not recommended for children and teenagers whose bones are in the growing phase.

It is necessary to perform a mild warm up session before beginning any stretching exercises. This increases the temperature of core body muscles and reduces the risk of injury. This can be done by running, walking, jogging, and skipping.

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Stretching exercises for Girls: Healthy secrets for everlasting youth

Stretching is a major component of exercise and is one of the most important aspects of any fitness regime. Stretching exercises lengthen muscles and improve the overall flexibility of the body. These exercises help improve posture and balance and also increase the height of teenagers. There are various types of stretches that can be performed by both males and females. These exercises are great stress busters and can be performed anytime and anywhere. Stretching for girls is a great means of enhancing their overall performance in various other sports and activities such as running, gymnastics, dancing ballet etc. It also raises the quality of day to day life and enables you to perform various tasks effortlessly.

Stretching exercises help increase balance, muscular coordination and improve posture. They help decrease post work out muscle soreness and increase the overall efficiency of the individual in various spheres. These exercises are great for maintaining the body and help increase height. This is because stretching elongates muscle fibers causing them to expand, thereby increasing height and developing the body. Stretching reduces pains, aches and muscular cramping. It helps keep the spine in good health and reduces the body’s susceptibility to injuries. Stronger bones and flexible joints help keep you active at all levels and this is one of the secrets of maintaining good health and beauty.

Benefits of stretching for girls:
•    Regular stretching results in longer, stronger, flexible and suppler spine.
•    It helps develop a well sculpted stomach and back.
•    It helps enhance balance, coordination and concentration.
•    Helps avoid the risk of injury due to awkward movements, swift turns, falling etc.
•    It reduces stress.
•    It increases the body’s stamina and endurance.
•    It strengthens the bones, joints and connective tissue.
•    It reduces muscular soreness and fatigue.
•    It reduces premenstrual cramping in girls.

Stretching exercises for girls:
There are various stretching exercises that can be performed by girls in order to enhance their posture and overall performance. Stretching exercises lengthen muscles and reduce muscular tightness resulting in the relaxation of the mind and body. A number of these exercises help maintain the health of the spinal cord and reduce problems associated with lower back pain.

Before performing any of these exercises it is essential for you to take proper guidance from a certified trainer in order to determine which exercises would be beneficial keeping in mind the specific requirements of your body. Selecting the wrong exercises can result in an injury or damage the muscles. Once you have made your selection, it is essential for you to ask your trainer to guide you on the right techniques that are applied to each exercise. This will enable you to reach your flexibility goals faster and enhance your performance rapidly. Each stretch must be performed after a demonstration given by your trainer.

Exercise tips:
Wear the right apparel: You must wear loose fitting clothes while exercising in order to allow maximum range of motion for the muscles to stretch. You can also wear thermal leggings or cycling shorts for maximum benefits.
Avoid overstretching: It is unadvisable for you to stretch beyond a point where you begin to feel pain. Overstretching may result in an injury or muscular damage.
Hold the stretch: While performing a stretch it is essential for you to hold it in the peak position for 30 to 60 seconds before releasing.
Breathe all the time: Never hold your breath during a stretch. You must keep inhaling and exhaling throughout the exercise. This increases the oxygen supply to various body parts of the body and keeps the heart and lungs in good condition.
No bouncing: It is unadvisable for you to bounce or jerk during stretches. This increases the chances of injury.

Stretching for girls is essential as it helps increase the flexibility of the joints and keeps the body relaxed. It is great for maintaining the overall health and fights problems associated with overweight and sedentary lifestyles. However, before performing any stretching exercises, it is essential for you to consult a registered medical practitioner if you have any major concerns or ailments such as chronic back pain, neck pain, stomach cramps etc.

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