Date: November 9th, 2011
Category: Corporate Wellness, Fitness, Health
People often skip stretching because it seems boring and unrewarding; it doesn’t make you sweat and it doesn’t burn 5,000 calories. But if you take the time to do a proper pre and post workout stretch, you will feel much better and improve your performance not just in your workouts, but in your everyday life.
Pre-Workout Stretching:
Before your workout is not a good time for static hold stretching. This is a time to warm-up and increase blood flow to the muscles. Static stretching is best to do after a workout because you want to stretch muscles that are warm. Think of your muscles like taffy, when taffy is cold it is brittle and resistant to stretch, but when it is warm it easily stretches. Stretching a cold muscle may result in injury, just as taffy can snap in half when cold. Active and dynamic stretching or foam rolling can be done before a work-out. An active or dynamic stretch is similar to a static stretch but incorporates movement. For example: A static quad stretch becomes active by kicking your leg back repeatedly instead of holding the leg in place.
Post-Workout Stretching:
Do static stretching and more foam rolling after your workout. Post-workout stretching improves flexibility which, in turn, will help you function better in everyday life. But you don’t necessarily need to stretch everything. Stretch what muscles are tight. Some common tight muscles include: hamstrings, hip flexors, quads, glutes and back (due to sedentary jobs and lifestyles). If you also have tight calves from wearing heals or from an activity like running, you should stretch your calves and so on. Listen to your body, if it’s tight stretch it!
Foam Rolling:
Foam rolling is also known as self-myofascial release. Foam rolling helps to repair fascia, the connective tissue around your muscles from head to toe. Think of it this way, when you pull the skin off a chicken breast, fascia is the white filmy membrane under the chicken skin, covering the meat. When you exercise, this fascia along with muscle tissue can become stuck together, creating adhesions, which restrict muscle movement. Adhesions also occur if you aren’t stretching enough, if you have an injury or from disuse. In order to break up these adhesions we need to foam roll.
How to Foam Roll:
Using a foam roller (the larger ones are more versatile), roll over the tight muscle slowly for 20-30 seconds. The intensity of the rolling should be appropriate to age and condition, but it should be a little to moderately uncomfortable. If you hit a spot that is extremely uncomfortable you’ve hit a trigger point. Hold the roller on the trigger point for 30-45 seconds. Make sure you’re holding on these sore spots, not rolling, continuing to roll on these spots may increase tightness and pain.
If you have a sedentary job or lifestyle:
When you spend hours in a sitting position in front of a computer at work, in meetings, or driving a car, your hips, hamstrings, and quads have no way to move. Your weight sits on your glutes, your chest muscles tighten and pull your shoulders forward, your neck, shoulders, and back tense up as your posture begins to slump and hunch forward. Poor posture limits your fascia’s elasticity and creates muscle imbalances. Try getting up from your computer once every 2 hours and walk around, do some squats, do some active stretches, just move! If you need to, set a reminder alarm on your computer to make you get up and move. Not only does stretching help you feel your best, it can also have a positive impact on overall employee wellness if you share your new knowledge with fellow colleagues!