Many people just do not understand the importance and benefits of stretching before exercising. If you are wondering what the point of stretching is, there are many things that stretching accomplishes which make it very beneficial. Let’s take a look at just why you should do these exercises.
Some of the benefits of stretching before you exercise are increased energy levels, increased flexibility and circulation, reduced muscle tension and injury prevention. You do need to do warm-ups before stretching though. If not it can cause damage because your body is not loosened up. By stretching before you exercise you are allowing your muscles to be stretched out slowing and gently.
If you do not stretch before exercising you risk causing yourself injury. The reason this can happen is because the muscles are tight. When you jump into exercise without stretching the muscles first they will stretch once you begin to exercise. The problem is that they can get stretched out to quickly which can cause a pulled muscle. These pulled muscles can happen anywhere in the body. If you are doing exercises that mostly use your arms, then you can pull a muscle in your arm. If you are doing exercises that are using your legs more, then you can pull a leg muscle or even your groin muscle. It is very important to get these muscles stretched out before you start working them too much and stretch them too fast.
It is also important to stretch before exercising because it can help reduce the soreness that you can feel after working out and exercising. We all know how it feels to wake up the next morning, after working out, and barely be able to move. It is a horrible feeling and it hurts really badly. This can also cause us to give up on exercising for that day or entirely. If you stretch before and after you exercise it will keep the soreness down to a minimal. The reason is because you are allowing your muscles to stretch slowly before starting instead of quickly and harshly. After exercise stretching will help relax those muscles instead of just suddenly being put to rest.
Stretching is a very important part of exercise and should become routine. It should be something that you just automatically do before you start exercising because it is the best for your body and good for you. Just remember to do a few warm up exercises before stretching as that works best.
