by Dale Kelley
Capital Region Fitness
Flexibility is a joint's ability to move through a full range of motion. Flexibility training (stretching) helps balance muscle groups that might be overused during exercise or physical activity or as a result of bad posture.
I don't exercise, so I don't have any muscle imbalances. Why should I stretch?
Modern lifestyle - oh you know, things like sitting at the computer (!), also causes muscle length-tension imbalances, or a decrease in flexibility (usually of the hamstrings in the case of computer junkies)
Do you have knee, hip, ankle, neck, or shoulder pain? Those complaints often stem from muscle imbalances.
Lack of flexibility and muscle imbalances result in our joints moving in ways they weren't designed to - which can also contribute to or hasten the onset of osteoarthritis.
A safe and effective flexibility training program increases physical performance. A flexible joint has the ability to move through a greater range of motion and requires less energy to do so, while greatly decreasing your risk of injury. Most professionals agree that stretching decreases resistance in tissue structures; you are, therefore, less likely to become injured by exceeding tissue extensibility (maximum range of tissues) during activity.
Reduced Muscle Soreness and Improved Posture
Recent studies show that slow, static stretching helps reduce muscle soreness after exercise. Static stretching involves a slow, gradual and controlled elongation of the muscle through the full range of motion and held for 30 - 60 seconds seconds in the furthest comfortable position (without pain).
Stretching also improves muscular balance and posture. Remember how your mom used to tell you not to cross your eyes because they might stay that way? There's some truth in that!
Over time, the effects of gravity, sedentary lifestyle, tight muscles, and/or poor postural habits distort healthy movement patterns and posture.
Here's an example: Desk workers tend to have tight hamstrings accompanied by knee, neck and sometimes shoulder pain. When you sit, your hamstrings (back of your thigh) remain in a contracted position and your quadriceps (front of the thigh) are stretched. Over time these muscles tend to forget how to get back to where they were supposed to be and remain in this unnatural state - even while your standing up! While this altered length-tension relationship is fine for sitting, it and wrecks havoc on joints (knees, hips, ankles, neck) when your standing up! All of those aforementioned joints then have do things they shouldn't be just to keep you from falling over - all because you have a desk job and have no choice BUT to sit all day!
If you have tight hamstrings stretching can help realign muscles, thus reducing the effort it takes to achieve and maintain good posture in the activities of daily living AND exercising. The more inflexible your are and the more pronounced your muscle imbalances, the harder you have to work to do perform a basic movement like a lunge, chest press, or even simply walking!
Flexibility training is an absolute essential component of a balanced health and fitness program and should be a part of your exercise routine. I spent ten years of my life sitting at a desk - not knowing the damage I was doing. I never stretched. Now I pay the price. Just ask my chiropractor, he'll tell ya all about it!
Dale Kelley
NASM Certified Personal Trainer
ACE Certified Lifestyle & Weight Managment Consultant.
http://capitalregionfitness.com
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