What You Should Know About Stretching

Before starting a fitness program, you must give importance to doing warm-up or stretching exercises to prevent accidents or to enhance the output during the training. There are also a number of measures and tips to serve as guidelines when doing fitness exercises. This will help prevent injury to your muscles and joints during and after your workout. Here a few stretching tips you should take into consideration:

1. To increase your flexibility and to avoid injuries, stretch before and after workout. Almost everyone knows that stretching before workout prevents injuries during the exercises, but only few people know that stretching after workout, when muscles are still warm, can increase flexibility.

2. Hold your stretching position for more than 60 seconds to increase flexibility. While holding your position for 20 seconds is enough for warm ups, holding each position for at least 60 seconds will develop the body's flexibility.

3. Do not go into a stretching position then immediately return to the relaxed position, and do it repeatedly. This is appropriately termed as bouncing while in a position. When stretching, hold that position for several seconds, and then slowly relax. You may do this exercise repeatedly this way. Bouncing or forcing yourself into a position during stretching can strain or damage some joints or muscles.

4. Work slowly in increments instead of immediately proceeding to doing the hardest exercise or position.

5. Make sure that you have stretched or warmed up all muscle groups. For some people, even if they have strong bodies, they tend to neglect the neck when working out of stretching. Stretching the neck muscles can be as simple as placing the palm of one's hand against the front of the head and pushing it. Then, do the same to the sides and the back of the head.

6. Stretch regularly to continually increase your range of movements and your level of flexibility and strength.

7. Workout considering only your capabilities and not of others. Do not force yourself to do exercises that you are not yet capable of just because there are people who can do it. Increase your limits slowly. Listen to your body. There are days when your body may be too tired that you may have to consider reducing your range of motion.

8. Learn to rest. Rest in between sets and stations to make sure that the body has enough time to recover its energy. Also, it is advisable that you don't work the same muscle groups consecutively for two days. The muscles grow during the period when you rest and not when you are working out.

9. Do aerobic exercises to strengthen your heart. Aerobic exercises are those physical activities that much oxygen for fuel. This includes cardiovascular exercises such as skipping rope, running or swimming.

10. Music may help you when you want to train for longer periods or to increase your intensity. You can use mp3 players, CD players or lightweight am radio receivers for this. Just make sure that you brought your headset with you so you wouldn't disturb people who don't prefer music while exercising.

Stretching is an essential part of your workout. Aside from preventing injuries and increasing your overall flexibility, it is also said that stretching is good to alleviate stress and promote relaxation.

Choosing the Right Exercise For You

When choosing an exercise, don't just go with what is popular.
You should choose what works best for you.  What you hate
doing, the cost of membership fees, and whether or not to
buy equipment are all things you need to consider as well
as answer.

Keep in mind that if you choose something that you don't like to do,
you aren't going to keep doing it for a long period
of time.  Give it some thought - if you don't like
jogging, you aren't going to get up at 6 AM and go
running.  If you can't find something you like to
do, choose something you hate the least, which will
usually be walking.

Walking is good exercise because it suits all levels
of fitness.  Anyone can start a walking program at
any time, it's normally the intensity and duration
that differs.  Walking is also a social exercise,
as it isn't difficult to find a training partner
to chat with while you exercise.  Walking with a
partner will also make time go by faster.

No matter what exercise you choose, you should
start at a low level of intensity and build it up
over a period of weeks, which is essential to the
longevity of your exercise program.  If you start
off too strenuous, you could end up with an injury
which will require time to heal.

If you are really in bad shape, you can start
off by walking for 10 minutes each day.  Then
increase it by 5 minutes every 2 weeks.  To make
things more interesting, you should try walking
a different course every few days.  You can also
roster a different friend to walk with you each
day of the week.

If walking isn't your thing, then you may want
to try a fitness center.  They have loads of
variety and normally have trainers on hand to
answer any questions you may have.  When you
choose a fitness center, keep the service they give
you a priority in your choice.

If they aren't willing to treat you well before
you join, then they certainly won't after you
join.  You should also make sure that the equipment
they use is well taken care of.  It's easy to
find out, as all you have to do is listen to the
machines.  If they squeak a lot or make noise,
then chances are they aren't in good condition.

If you are a social person then you should look into golf
or tennis. Both are good social activities in most areas,
and you can even meet new friends.  Tennis is great for fitness
although it isn't for someone who is just starting
out.  If you haven't exercised in a long time,
then golf may be the best activity for you.