Exercise for Beginners-Flexibility

CONTENTS:

"Flexibility is a joint's ability to move through a full range of motion and stretching helps you have a better range of motion AND it helps balance muscle groups that might be overused during exercise or as a result of bad posture. If you've got a guilty look on your face, you're not alone: Stretching is typically the most overlooked part of an exercise routine. Now that you know how important it is, you won't skip it again, right? Here's why:
Why Should You Stretch?
• You'll improve your performance and reduce your risk of injury
• You'll reduce muscle soreness and improve your posture
• You'll help reduce lower back pain
• You'll increase blood and nutrients to the tissues
• You'll improve your coordination
• You'll enjoy your exercise more and help reduce stress
How to Stretch
1. Always stretch after you warm up since stretching with cold muscles can cause injury. Warm up with 5-10 minutes of cardio.
2. Aside from stretching after your warm up, you should also stretch after your workout. Feels good, doesn't it?
3. Don't bounce! Hold the position until you feel a gentle pull on your muscle. It shouldn't hurt and bouncing could cause you to tear something fragile and vital!
4. Try to hold each stretch for 15-30 seconds to get some long-term flexibility benefits.
5. Stretching between sets when you're weight training can make that second (or third) set a little bit easier!
When you stretch before your workout, you should stretch all of the muscles you'll be using. So, if you're doing a lower body workout, stretch your quads, hamstrings, calves and ankles. Same goes for stretching after your workout; be sure to stretch all the muscles you used. "