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When Is The Right Time For Stretching?

Stretching is a part of the everyday workout, right? If it isn’t but you are looking to make it so, one of the largest mistakes that individuals make, is not knowing when to stretch. It doesn’t matter if you plan to run a marathon, do a ballet recital or you need to warm up for a workout routine for body building. You need to learn when the right time to stretch is. This will help to provide you with the overall health benefits that are required for optimum effectiveness.

Warm up Before Stretching

To give yourself the best opportunity to gain the most from your workout, know when to stretch. Before you begin, start with a small workout or warm up. That is, do about ten minutes on the low intensity setting of a treadmill. Or, get out the exercise bike for a few minutes. The goal here is to just get the blood flowing and the muscles moving.

Why should you stretch after you warm up? The answer to that is simple. Your body’s muscles are considered warm if they have been used at least somewhat. But, if you stretch right off the bat, you don’t give them enough time to wake up, so to speak. Instead, get in a few minutes of warm up on the bike at just a low intensity. Then, stretch. This will make stretching not only easier to do but also more beneficial to you overall. Once you do this then go into the rest of your workout. Now, you’ll be able to easily get into the grove and reduce the risk of injury.

Stretch All The Time

Stretching is not just for your workout though. You should give your body the benefit of stretching every day. That means that you need to go about ten to fifteen minutes of workouts each day. If you do this just three to four times per week, you will see that your overall health benefits will increase and so will your workout days.

Stretching is also important right after your workout. Doing some exercises after the workouts makes for the ideal cool down. It keeps your muscles moving but still allows them to easily stay warm and keep from being injured. Go ahead and add stretching to your workouts. Do them before, after and even on your days off from working out. You’ll see an improvement with each routine that you do.