10/08/2022
✍️ What is stretching?
Stretching is the process of stretching the entire body or parts of muscle groups. Stretching movements include: stretching muscles of arms, legs, thighs, buttocks ... Anyone regardless of age, gender, sports training or not, there are natural and unconscious muscle relaxation activities. . Typically, after you wake up, watch TV, sit in front of the computer, you tend to get up and stretch. That is one of the ways to stretch muscles.
❇ Benefits of stretching
+ Reduce muscle tension or contracture.
+ Increased flexibility for joints.
Stretching improves blood circulation to muscles.
+ Improve training efficiency
+ Avoid injury when practicing sports.
Increase the range of motion of the joints. This means you can extend your hand further without injury or difficulty.
Factors affecting muscle relaxation ability
Age: The older you get, the less your ability to stretch your muscles.
Gender: Women are generally better at stretching than men.
Exercise: People who regularly practice sports have better muscle relaxation than people who sit a lot and are sedentary.
What types of muscle relaxants are there?
❇ Static Stretching
Static stretching is popular and easy to do. Just stretch, stretch the muscle as much as possible but still feel comfortable and hold the position from a few seconds to 30 seconds. Static stretching is quite safe, less prone to injury, to help increase the flexibility of muscles and joints.
❇ Dynamic stretching
This form consists of a series of slow, gentle movements. The main effect is to warm up the muscle groups and increase the range of motion of the joints. In particular, stretching is also effective in reducing injuries during exercise.
➡ Activate Stretching
This type is often accompanied by static stretching in yoga exercises. Movements involve stretching a specific muscle group without help from other muscle groups. For example, stretching the leg muscles, hamstrings.
➡ Passive Stretching
This form of stretching requires the support of tools such as walls, rollers, rubber balls…You can lie on a rubber ball, trying to stretch your body as much as possible. However, care should be taken to avoid injury.
Should you stretch before exercising?
In the past, many people used to have the habit of static stretching before exercising. However, many studies have shown that static stretching before exercise impairs performance. A study published in the Journal of Health and Regulatory found that static stretching reduced athletic performance by 8.36% while squatting. It also reduced lower body stability by 22.68%. A review of 104 studies showed a 5.5% reduction in total body muscle strength.
❇ So what kind of muscle stretching should you do before a workout?
You should do a dynamic stretch that includes moving while stretching. You should start slowly and gradually increase the intensity. Some warm-up moves you can do:
+ Quick walk
+ Running in place raising the knee
+ Jump and raise your hands
+ Kick your feet forward.
❇️ Stretching does not avoid muscle pain.
If you think stretching will help you avoid muscle pain, you are wrong. According to one study, stretching did not reduce the course of muscle pain. But you should still stretch to help increase balance as well as flexibility for joints and muscles.
If you stretch, do not ignore the following points:
+ Always warm up before deep stretching
+ Do not lock joints after stretching.
+ Do not hold your breath.
+ Do not bounce during stretching.
