Building aerobic fitness and lifting is excellent for muscle health, but stretching is another exercise routine you shouldn’t overlook. You might think it is only for gymnasts or runners, but it’s for everyone. If you don’t stretch regularly, your muscles lose flexibility (as you may have noticed over past years) and increase the risk of joint pain and sprains.
In this quick guide, you’ll explore the importance of stretching and the proper ways to do it. You’ll also discover diet interventions like taking multivitamin tablets, fatty acids, collagen, etc., that aid in muscle flexibility and health.
The Ultimate Importance of Stretching
Only doing lifting exercises can increase your muscle size but may do nothing for flexibility. Flexibility is essential to improve your range of motion.
If you don’t stretch regularly, it can lead to:
- Inability to extend your muscles all the way possible. For example, difficulty reaching your back or touching your feet.
- Experiencing muscle and joint stiffness.
- Risk of sprains and muscle damage when you overexert your muscles.
How to Start a Stretching Routine?
With so many muscles in your body, you might wonder how to get started and which stretching exercise to do. Don’t be overwhelmed. Here are some tips to get you started:
- Begin working on the muscles that you use regularly for better mobility. These include calves, hamstrings, hip flexors, and the thigh muscles.
Stretching exercises:
- Child’s pose
- Knee to the chest stretch
- Side lunge
- Hamstring stretch
- Knee hug
- Butterfly stretch
- Also do stretch your upper body muscles like in the shoulders, neck, and back.
Stretching exercises:
- Cross-body stretch
- Tricep stretch
- Standing back arch stretch
- Shoulder rolls
- Neck rotations
Stretching exercises should be done at least three to four times weekly to maintain muscle strength and flexibility.
Don’t Forget these Diet Essentials
Sometimes, muscle injuries like sprains are not only due to a lack of stretching. Lack of proper nutrition can also lead to these issues. Therefore, along with stretching, follow these nutrition tips for overall muscle health:
- Make sure to eat fresh fruits as they are rich in electrolytes, helping with muscle contraction and relaxation.
- Fruits also provide a healthy dose of vitamins needed to protect muscles from damage. If you can’t consume fruit regularly, take multivitamin tablets to fuel your muscle needs.
- Consume nuts, seeds, and fish to get omega-3 fatty acids. You can also take omega 3 capsules to resume muscle inflammation, energy metabolism, and better performance.
- Include the leafy greens in your diet as they are rich in nitrates and iron needed to promote muscle growth. These veggies also boost collagen production in the body, which helps muscles heal and repair.
The Final Word
Stretching is a great way to regain flexibility and avoid muscle injury. With proper stretching, you can reduce instances of sprains and spasms while doing day-to-day tasks or exercising. Additionally, balance your diet with nutrients like electrolytes, fatty acids, electrolytes, etc., to boost muscle performance and health. Time to stretch a little!