6 Reasons Why Stretching is a Must

It isn’t just about flexibility

Stretching is a kind of exercise in which we simply flex or stretch our body parts and joints in a certain range of motion. We can say that stretching works like a lubricant for our body.

It is a good exercise. Alongside flexibility and fitness, regular stretching will also deliver some great gains like increased blood flow.

So a part of a healthy life should include stretching. Why? Well, it’s a perfect morning head start for all ages. And a ready mind is all you need to get started with this.

There are many benefits gained only by stretching. And frankly, there are many reasons why you should start it.

In this article, I’ll tell you 6 great reasons why you should start stretching. At the end of the article, I’ll also indicate some things you can do if you want to start.

With that saying, here are 6 reasons why stretching should be a must:

1. It keeps your Muscle Flexible and Healthy

Being fit does not mean it’s only about being muscular and strong. Muscle and body flexibility is also a crucial part here. And honestly, stretching can help a lot with that.

So how does it help you, you ask? Well, a regular basis on stretching can bring a lot of muscle flexibility.

Stretching helps you keep your muscles flexible and healthy to maintain the motion of your joints. It keeps you from any kind of muscle strains and damage. Alongside, it prevents any kind of joint pain and stress that makes you uncomfortable.

Without proper stretching, your muscles can shorten and become uncomfortably tight. Also, a tight muscle carries a high risk of getting strained on any sudden activity.

For example, the most common cause can be sitting in a chair with tight hamstrings. You can’t

extend your leg all the way, which probably can inhibit your walking.

2. Get Better Performance

Stretching helps you to get better at physical activities. Proper stretching can cause muscles to be engaged properly in any activity.

No stiffness means no back draws, right? Well, it’s true with stretching. With stretching, your muscles become flexible and more active. It also boosts your blood circulation throughout the body.

So, that means you’re pretty much ready for any activity.

Also, research shows that stretching before any kind of activity boosts your performance up to 40%. A pretty good exercise before any workout, if you ask me.

3. It can Improve Your Posture

It’s true. Stretching can help you to improve your posture.

While some of us accept it, most of us just ignore bad postures. It’s not a good thing and frankly, it can cause muscle pain and discomfort.

With stretching, you can help your muscle and joints to extend the full way. So in this way, you can improve your posture and prevent any kind of pain.

Speaking of pain, many of us are not new to lower-back pain. It’s really disturbing and discomforting. It happens mainly because of bad posture and over-stress in the back.

With stretching, you can prevent this kind of pain by improving your posture.

4. Relieve Muscle Pain and Soreness

Probably the best reason for stretching, to me at least.

Stretching is best for relieving soreness in your muscles, especially the back. But how does it work, you ask?

Stretching can lengthen your muscle, causing it to relax down. It’s probably the best and most effective way to relieve muscle soreness.

Stress on muscle especially from a recent workout can simply cause the muscles to tighten up. It’s one of the common reasons for your muscle soreness and pain.

Proper stretching can cause those tight muscles to be flexed, which boosts blood circulation in that part of the muscle. It causes muscles to relax and alleviate any kind of soreness.

5. It Prevents Injury

Stretching also can be a well-effective warm-up. Stretching makes your heart pump blood flow to your muscles which causes them to warm up.

We all warm up before any kind of activity. Warming up simply means activating our muscles for upcoming events by providing blood flow to the muscles.

Stretching is an effective muscle warm-up exercise. It allows us to flex our muscles and loosen up any stiffness.

An injury is mostly caused by a muscle strain or tearing. Stretching completely prevents that, allowing us to be free in any activity.

That’s why stretching before a workout is also proven to be effective.

6. Helps You Manage Stress

Stretching is also proven to be an effective stress manager overall. It helps you to manage your physical stress as well.

Stress is connected to the body and mind. So when the muscle holds more tension, you feel more stressed and tired.

Stretching allows you to release that tension. There are certain exercises in stretching that flex your muscle and allows the blood flow and oxygen in the muscles.

Well-stretched muscles hold less tension which makes you feel less tired and stressed.

These are the 6 big reasons why stretching is important. There are also many other reasons and certain benefits too.

With that going, I’ll tell you now about things you can do as a beginner.

So let’s get started.

A Beginner’s Journey

Every journey begins with a single step. So as a beginner, you’ll only do some simple stretches to progress.

If you’re not aware, I’ll tell you that at first, you’ll feel it’s hard. But as you practice, you’ll get used to it.

At first, you can start with simple stretching exercises. Here are some lower body exercises:

● Wide Lunge or also known as wide step

● Frog Pose

● Pigeon Pose

● Standing Toe Touch/ Sitting Toe Touch

● Straight Leg Lunge. This may sound unfamiliar. This is done by simply bending the ankle of the leg you bend in a lunge. This will put a stretch on your calves.

These are the simple exercise you can do as a beginner. If your muscles are too stiff and you can’t do any of these properly, I suggest that you do it with someone’s help. Tell someone to slowly push you while you do the exercise.

There are many beginner’s routines you can find online. So you can make your own routine if you want.

And with this, I’ll end today’s topic.

Final Words

Stretching is an exercise that allows us to stretch and flex our muscles and joints. It allows us to stay fit and of course, flexible.

There are many reasons to start stretching and also there are some certain life-saving reasons which make stretching a must to all. A part of a healthy life journey should include stretching.

Alongside research, studies also show that stretching is an important part of daily life and should be taken seriously. So I’ll say it’s definitely worth it to give stretching a try.

Certain benefits gained from stretching might be helpful to solve someone’s problems. Practice alongside regularity is what makes stretching easy.

So I hope this article was helpful to you in any way. Just remember,

“Choosing Stretching Over Stressing Might be a Good Choice”