You already know that stretching is necessary. It improves flexibility and mobility (one of many key elements of health) and reduces the chance of harm. And when you don’t stretch, the muscle mass can shorten and turn into tight, which may restrict your vary of movement and put you in danger for joint ache or a pulled muscle.

However stretching is simply useful if it’s accomplished accurately. There are a couple of frequent stretching errors that may result in the precise reverse of what you’re on the lookout for, comparable to harm and inflexibility. Listed below are eight pitfalls to keep away from so you may enhance your flexibility and your exercises.

1. You’re Doing the Unsuitable Kind of Stretching

There are two most important varieties of stretching: static and dynamic. Static stretching is what you most likely bear in mind from fitness center class: regularly stretching a muscle and holding a pose for about 30 seconds. Whereas it is a nice method to settle down from a exercise or improve common flexibility, analysis means that static stretching earlier than a power exercise may very well trigger a lower in efficiency.

“Throughout a warm-up, you wish to do dynamic stretching, which boosts muscle activation and prepares muscle mass to be highly effective by a full vary of movement,” says Trevor Thieme, CSCS. Dynamic stretches embody lunges, trunk rotations, leg swings, and leaping rope.

For the post-exercise “cool-down” interval, you may concentrate on static stretching to calm down the muscle mass and launch rigidity. “Each varieties of stretching may also help improve mobility,” Thieme says. “However one excites muscle mass whereas the opposite calms them down.”

2. You’re Bouncing Whereas Stretching

Utilizing momentum from bouncing to power a muscle to stretch previous its regular vary (a.okay.a. ballistic stretching) might really feel prefer it’s serving to you improve your vary of movement. However as an alternative of loosening the muscle, this kind of speedy stretching motion can really trigger the muscle mass to tighten — a contraction generally known as the myotatic reflex or “stretch reflex.” This will result in accidents like muscle or tendon tears, Thieme says.

3. You’re Stretching Injured Muscle tissue

Stretching injured muscle mass is “a giant no-no,” Thieme warns. Muscle strains sometimes occur when a muscle is stretched past its restrict, so stretching it additional can worsen the harm. As an alternative, use the POLICE protocol (safety, optimum loading, ice, compression, and elevation) to assist the muscle heal.

4. You’re Overstretching

Whereas some discomfort is to be anticipated, it’s best to by no means be in ache whereas stretching. “Overstretching can lead to muscle strains or extreme neural rigidity [stretching of the nerves],” says Lindsay Sudell, MOT, OTR/L, CFSS-3, CPT of Merely Stretch LA.

Overstretching may also result in hypermobility, “which is when a joint is simply too unfastened and thus unstable,” Thieme says. Know your limits while you’re stretching, and don’t power your self to transcend them.

5. You’re Not Stretching Persistently

It’s going to take various sporadic stretching periods to attain the pliability of a gymnast. Ideally, your stretching periods must be average and frequent quite than intense and occasional.

“In an effort to obtain bodily, everlasting change, stretching should be constant for six to eight weeks,” says Sudell.

6. You’re Rushing By Your Stretches

“Individuals usually don’t stretch for the suitable length of time,” explains Sudell. She recommends aiming for 30 seconds or much less for pre-exercise stretches. For post-workout static stretching, intention to carry every stretch for at the very least 60 seconds.

7. You’re Not Doing Sport-Particular Stretches

Sport-specific stretches “may be something focused towards actions {that a} specific athlete wants,” Sudell says. For instance, she says, golfers might concentrate on stretches that enhance their spinal rotation and hip mobility, to allow them to hit the ball with maximal energy. Sprinters can heat up with dynamic stretches that simulate operating and explosive actions, like strolling lunges, butt kicks, and excessive knees.

Analysis additionally reveals that static stretches are higher fitted to athletes who want flexibility (like gymnasts or dancers), whereas dynamic stretches are particularly useful for individuals who have to run or soar (like basketball gamers or runners).

8. You’re Ignoring Your Respiration

Deep, diaphragmatic respiration “may also help calm down tense muscle mass, and when paired with stretching, can permit for a good deeper stretch with out rising the chance of harm,” Thieme says.

As well as, respiration enhances the therapeutic impact of stretching, Sudell says. Analysis reveals that diaphragmatic respiration can assist the physique get well after an intense exercise. The correct method to breathe throughout a stretch is to slowly inhale by the nostril, maintain for a second, then launch the breath by both the mouth or nostril, retaining the diaphragm and stomach smooth and relaxed.