I, for one, do not workout **religiously. However, now that I'm in my uhmm – early thirties, I realized that I better do something about my **being fit because climbing a couple of flights of stairs is already a burden for me!
I wouldn’t want to not be able to pick up my kids or grandkids in the future, so I'm starting on a not-so-stressful workou**t. But I learned that it takes more than a dozen jumping jacks to have a (slightly) **serious workout session – and I do need to prepare my body for all that physical strain, with the help of stretching.
According to Women's Health Mag, there are actually three kinds of stretching: dynamic, static and myofascial.
Dynamic
Moving your arms and legs through a range of motion without stopping to hold any single position.
Static
Stretching a muscle as far as you can without pain and then holding it there.
Myofascial
Applying pressure to different muscles by sliding parts of your body over a foam roller.
So when should these stretching exercises be done? The **dynamic **can be performed before you workout, the **static **stretching exercises after – and the **myofascial **exercises anytime.
One final thing: stretching actually helps reduce muscle tension, enhances muscle coordination, increases your energy level and the circulation of the blood to different parts of the body.
I guess I should go out and stretch these lazy limbs after all!
Photo Credit: Flickr