Do you love stretching? If not, then this post is for you! Learning to love stretching is a great way to improve flexibility and reduce muscle soreness. It’s also an easy way to get rid of stress at the end of the day. This blog post will cover 7 ways that will help teach you how to make stretching more enjoyable and something that can be incorporated into your daily life!
Pick stretches that work for you
There are so many stretching exercises to choose from. However, there’s no point in stretching something that doesn’t need it. Sat at a desk all day? Stretch out your chest, shoulders and hip flexors. Play Basketball? Stretch out your quads, hip flexors and calves. No matter what stretch, make sure it’s something that is comfortable for you and will help improve your flexibility and mobilty
Don’t force the stretch or push your body to the limit.
Stretching in a way that makes you grimace isn’t the way to go! Instead find a stretch that is at about 50% of what you can do and hold it for 20-30 seconds, working up in intensity over time. Do each stretch twice with 15 second rests between stretches.
Stretch before bed
Stretching before bedtime is recommended for people who have problems sleeping. This will help relax muscles and allow better sleep quality!
Try some yoga poses
Downward dog or child’s pose for stretching out all of those important muscle groups! Yoga poses are great for stretching out your whole body. If you’re not into yoga yet, try it! There’s a style of yoga that is perfect for anyone and everyone at any fitness level.
Do some stretches while watching TV
Try doing calf raises while sitting on the couch or lying stomach-down on top of an exercise ball during commercials to work different muscle groups without interrupting what’s happening in front of you.
Stretch with friends
Find a stretching partner and motivate each other to perform your best stretches. It’s always more fun stretching with someone else!
Challenge yourself
Can you do the splits? Probably not right now, but what about if you set yourself a challenge over the next month or two. You’d certainly have some serious bragging rights if you can drop into full splits.
In fact, Alex Larsson, has a unique stretching method that works better than yoga that has helped thousands of men and women get into full splits.
Doing this 8-minutes per day routine can make a huge difference to your flexibility in only 4 weeks.
==> 8-minute stretching routine for FULL splits
And finally…
Stretching is a great way to help the body recover from workouts and maintain its flexibility. If you’re not a fan of stretching, we recommend trying out the methods above. I used to find stretching exceptionally boring, until I found ways to incorporate it into my daily life. I’m no yoga fan, but using the methods above I’m more flexible than I was in my teens (I’m 40 years old!). Give them a try for yourself and see how flexible you can become over the next few weeks.
