Stretching

STRETCHING THOSE MUSCLES

What is stretching and why do we do it ? Well the most common answer is to stretch our muscles and warm them up to get them ready for a physical activity such as running, weight training or football.

Stretching is something I have always been told to do before exercising, so as to warm my muscles up for the activity ahead. I have also been told to perform stretches after a workout to warm down my muscles. So that’s fine I accept that and understand the reasoning.

So why is this particular subject debatable, after all isn’t stretching also a natural thing that humans and animals do on a daily basis. I am partial to stretching my arms out while enjoying a long yawn and we’ve all seen cats with their paws out in front of them and their bums up in the air.

The debate is that stretching before or after working out or  playing a sport has no benefits to reducing injury. Other reports say that people who stretch before exercise will fatigue quicker than those that don’t stretch before exercise. So for many stretching is seen as a normal activity that reduces the chance of injury and can enhance performance in any sport. But lots of research contradicts this theory and has supposedly found that stretching prior to sporting activity can reduce performance by up to 5%. This seems to be the same story throughout our society today. We are told that something is good for us and then a few years later we are told that research now tells us that the same thing is bad for us.

So in my opinion it is down to how much you trust these researchers. I have decided to carry on stretching before I start my workouts, after all when you watch any athletes today they are still do there stretches before they commence there sport. Also I believe that for me anyway I feel the benefit of stretching and warming up before I start training apart from anything else it gets my mindset right and phycs me up for a good workout. Stretching after my workout also brings my heart rate back to normal while it seems to relax my muscles.

So that’s my opinion, I don’t know what you think about this subject but you should do whats best for you.