"Your Free E-course Part Four
Stretching and Flexibility"

Hi

Thank You for subscribing to our FREE 6 part E-course on Aikido, Health and Well-Being... We hope You enjoy it! Here is Your fourth Installment...

When done properly, stretching can do more than just increase flexibility. Unfortunately, even those who stretch do not always stretch properly and hence do not reap some or all of the benefits.

Some of the most common mistakes made when stretching are... improper warm-up, inadequate rest between workouts, overstretching, performing the wrong exercises, exercising in the wrong order.

Stretching is not warming up. It is, however, a very important part of warming up. Warming up is the process of raising your core body temperature. A proper warm-up is divided into three phases... general warm-up, stretching, sport-specific activity

It is very important that you perform the general warm-up before you stretch. It is not a good idea to attempt to stretch before your muscles are warm. Warming up can do more than just loosen stiff muscles; when done properly, it can actually improve performance.

On the other hand, an improper warm-up, or no warm-up at all, can greatly increase your risk of injury.

It is important to note that active stretches and isometric stretches should not be part of your warm-up because they are often counterproductive. The goals of the warm-up are an increased awareness, improved coordination, improved elasticity and contractility of muscles, and a greater efficiency of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

Active stretches and isometric stretches do not help achieve these goals because they are likely to cause the stretched muscles to be too tired to properly perform the athletic activity for which you are preparing.

The general warm-up should begin with joint-rotations, starting either from your toes and working your way up, or from your fingers and working your way down. This facilitates joint motion by lubricating the entire joint with synovial fluid. Such lubrication permits your joints to function more easily when called upon to participate in your athletic activity.

You should perform slow circular movements, both clockwise and counter-clockwise, until the joint seems to move smoothly. You should rotate the following (in the order given, or in the reverse order)... fingers and knuckles, wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, trunk/waist, hips, legs, knees, ankles, toes.

After you have performed the joint rotations, you should engage in at least five minutes of aerobic activity such as jogging, jumping rope, or any other activity that will cause a similar increase in your cardiovascular output (i.e., get your blood pumping).

The purpose of this is to raise your core body temperature and get your blood flowing. Increased blood flow in the muscles improves muscle performance and flexibility and reduces the likelihood of injury.

Immediately following your general warm-up, you should engage in some slow, relaxed, static stretching. You should start with your back, followed by your upper body and lower body, stretching your muscles in the following order... back, sides, neck, forearms and wrists, triceps, chest, buttocks, groin, thighs, calves, shins, hamstrings, instep.

Unfortunately, not everyone has the time to stretch all these muscles before a workout. If you are one such person, you should at least take the time to stretch all the muscles that will be heavily used in your workout.

Once you have performed your static stretches, you should engage in some light dynamic stretching... leg-raises, and arm-swings in all directions. Some people are surprised to find that dynamic stretching has a place in the warm-up. But think about it: you are "warming up" for a workout that is (usually) going to involve a lot of dynamic activity. It makes sense that you should perform some dynamic exercises to increase your dynamic flexibility.

The last part of your warm-up should be devoted to performing movements that are a "watered-down" version of the movements that you will be performing during your athletic activity. Such sport-specific activity is beneficial because it improves coordination, balance, strength, and response time, and may reduce the risk of injury.

Stretching is not a legitimate means of cooling down. It is only part of the process. After you have completed your workout, the best way to reduce muscle fatigue and soreness (caused by the production of lactic acid from your maximal or near-maximal muscle exertion) is to perform a light warm-down. This warm-down is similar to the second half of your warm-up (but in the reverse order). The warm-down consists of the following phases... sport-specific activity, dynamic stretching, static stretching.

Ideally, you should start your warm-down with about 10-20 minutes of sport-specific activity. In reality however, you may not always have 10-20 minutes to spare at the end of your workout. You should, however, attempt to perform at least 5 minutes of sport-specific activity in this case. The sport-specific activity should immediately be followed by stretching: First perform some light dynamic stretches until your heart rate slows down to its normal rate, then perform some static stretches.

Sport-specific activity, followed by stretching, can reduce cramping, tightening, and soreness in fatigued muscles and will make you feel better. If you are still sore the next day, a light warm-up or warm-down is a good way to reduce lingering muscle tightness and soreness even when not performed immediately after a workout.

Many people are unaware of the beneficial role that massage can play in both strength training and flexibility training. Massaging a muscle, or group of muscles, immediately prior to performing stretching or strength exercises for those muscles, has some of the following benefits... increased blood flow, relaxation of the massaged muscles, removal of metabolic waste.

Because of these benefits, you may wish to make massage a regular part of your stretching program... immediately before each stretch you perform, massage the muscles you are about to stretch.

One thing many people seem to disagree about is how long to hold a passive stretch in its position. Various sources seem to suggest that they should be held for as little as 10 seconds to as long as a full minute (or even several minutes). The truth is that no one knows for sure.

A good common ground seems to be about 20 seconds. Children, and people whose bones are still growing, do not need to hold a passive stretch this long. Holding the stretch for about 7-10 seconds should be sufficient for this younger group of people. A number of people like to count while they stretch.

Proper breathing control is important for a successful stretch. Proper breathing helps to relax the body, increases blood flow throughout the body, and helps to mechanically remove lactic acid and other by-products.

You should be taking slow, relaxed breaths when you stretch, trying to exhale as the muscle is stretching. Some even recommend increasing the intensity of the stretch only while exhaling, holding the stretch in its current position at all other times.

The proper way to breathe is to inhale slowly through the nose, expanding the abdomen (not the chest); hold the breath a moment; then exhale slowly through the nose or mouth. Inhaling through the nose has several purposes including cleaning the air and insuring proper temperature and humidity for oxygen transfer into the lungs.

The breath should be natural and the diaphragm and abdomen should remain soft. There should be no force of the breath. The rate of breathing should be controlled through the use of the glottis in the back of the throat. This produces a very soft "hm-m-m-mn" sound inside the throat as opposed to a sniffing sound in the nasal sinuses. The exhalation should be controlled in a similar manner, but if you are exhaling through the mouth, it should be with more of an "ah-h-h-h-h" sound, like a sigh of relief.

As you breathe in, the diaphragm presses downward on the internal organs and their associated blood vessels, squeezing the blood out of them. As you exhale, the abdomen, its organs and muscles, and their blood vessels flood with new blood. This rhythmic contraction and expansion of the abdominal blood vessels is partially responsible for the circulation of blood.

Also, the rhythmic pumping action helps to remove waste products from the muscles in the torso. This pumping action is referred to as the respiratory pump. The respiratory pump is important during stretching because increased blood flow to the stretched muscles improves their elasticity, and increases the rate at which lactic acid is purged from them.

We hope You enjoyed this article. The link to Your next installment titled 'Nutrition and Health'... will arrive in 2 days... please look out for it!

Warmest Regards

Tony Wilden
Aikido Instructor/Healer
Aikido Health Centre
www.aikido-health.com

Homepage

I use Pure Organic Vitaforce on a daily basis. It is the very BEST nutrition product that I have found in 30 years of research. I highly recommend YOU to take a look now and click the Superfoods link...

Please enter the Password.