Stretching: Why, When, and How

Flexibility is one of the most important fundamentals of fitness, but many individuals still choose to ignore their stretches. It’s essential to include flexibility training in your routine if you want to be the best you can be when it comes to your workouts.

Why Stretch?

There are many important factors why you should stretch-out after each workout including: counteracting the effects of repeated movement that can lead to injury, increase the range of movement in joints and even reduce the formation of scar tissue if you are recovering from an injury. Stretching can develop your core stability, developing more body control, which will allow you to train more efficiently and gain more results than if you decided not to stretch.

When to Stretch

It’s best to stretch when the body is warm, so after your workout is the ideal time to get the most out of your flexibility session. When your body is warm the muscle fibres are elongated and fluid exudes from in between the fibres where it can then be transported away by the lymph and circulatory system, enhancing the removal of the waste products produced by exercise.

Instead of thinking of stretching as an add-on to your workout, try to think of it as preparation for your next workout session – increasing your range of movement, as well as ensuring that each muscle is elongated, allowing you to train harder and better.

How Long to Stretch

There are many arguments when it comes to how long you should hold a stretch to get the full benefit. Many individuals believe that 15-30 seconds is enough to get the most out of their stretch routine, but the sad fact is that holding stretches for such a short length of time won’t help to increase your flexibility – it might mean you get out of the gym quicker, but your flexibility will never improve unless you hold each stretch for at least 60 seconds each. Holding a stretch for this length of time allows you to relax the surrounding muscles and eventually release the tension in the muscle you’re stretching. The longer you hold the stretch it will seem as if you have come to another level of relaxation and release.

Experiment with stretches and create a routine that works for you. In an ideal world you want to spend up to 20 minutes working on your flexibility 3-5 days each week – if you’re able to commit to a stretch session after each of your workouts you will definitely see improvements in not only your flexibility, but also your workouts.

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