Stretching is extremely good for your body and very important to do before AND after a workout. Stretching helps warm up your tendons, muscles and gets your bones to move more fluently so they get used to doing their job before you workout.
Take five minutes before starting your workout to focus on stretching, if you don’t you could really damage tissue, tendons etc. Not to scare you but make you aware of your body and its needs. I can tell you being as an athlete that has sustained many semi-serious injuries that stretching before anything active could be the difference between a broken ankle or a sprained one.
I have had bicep tendonitis, a sprained ankle, a semi-dislocated wrist and an injury which I’m still working on and will probably never really go away is my Patella Fasciitis and IT irritation/tension caused by it(all from being an athlete and overall active person). I stretch everyday religiously now before volleyball practice and workouts, even if i’m not planning on working out that day I stretch first thing in the morning. When I got injured all those times, I didn’t stretch that often but since I’ve been stretching everyday before anything I haven’t received a new injury. Exercising daily also has helps with that. I started working out everyday (give or take one or two days) a little over a year ago and it has improved so many things in my life.
Stretching also improves mobility and it relaxes and relieves stress!! It keeps your body flexible and limber, so why not stretch everyday? nothing but good can come from it.
Foam rolling is also really good, especially for me since I have knee/ IT band issues it’s very helpful to loosen everything up.
Check out my ab/core workout below as well as my “go to” stretches before and after workouts!!
- x15 reverse crunch/leg lit
- x20 cross mountain climbers
- x15 jack knife crunches
- 1:00 plank
x20 wide scissors(on back) REPEAT 3-5x!!!
STRETCHES:
- x6 scorpions(3 each side)
- x3 budha/swan/downward facing dog(flow)
- 10 seconds Pigeon stretch/calf stretch(switch legs and repeat)
- 10 seconds butterfly
- 10 toe reach(each side)
- x6 arm swings/ arm circles backward and forward
Looking Glass Fitness 