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

However stretching is just helpful if it’s performed appropriately. There are a couple of widespread stretching errors that may result in the precise reverse of what you’re on the lookout for, akin to harm and inflexibility. Listed here are eight pitfalls to keep away from so you possibly can enhance your flexibility and your exercises.

1. You’re Doing the Unsuitable Kind of Stretching

There are two most important sorts of stretching: static and dynamic. Static stretching is what you in all probability keep in mind from gymnasium class: progressively stretching a muscle and holding a pose for about 30 seconds. Whereas it is a nice strategy to calm down from a exercise or enhance normal flexibility, analysis means that static stretching earlier than a energy exercise may very well trigger a lower in efficiency.

“Throughout a warm-up, you need to do dynamic stretching, which boosts muscle activation and prepares muscle tissue to be highly effective via 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 possibly can deal with static stretching to chill out the muscle tissue and launch rigidity. “Each sorts of stretching may also help improve mobility,” Thieme says. “However one excites muscle tissue whereas the opposite calms them down.”

2. You’re Bouncing Whereas Stretching

Utilizing momentum from bouncing to drive a muscle to stretch previous its regular vary (a.ok.a. ballistic stretching) could really feel prefer it’s serving to you enhance your vary of movement. However as a substitute of loosening the muscle, such a fast stretching motion can truly trigger the muscle tissue to tighten — a contraction often called the myotatic reflex or “stretch reflex.” This could result in accidents like muscle or tendon tears, Thieme says.

3. You’re Stretching Injured Muscle tissues

Stretching injured muscle tissue is “a giant no-no,” Thieme warns. Muscle strains usually 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, you must 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 can even result in hypermobility, “which is when a joint is just too unfastened and thus unstable,” Thieme says. Know your limits whenever you’re stretching, and don’t drive your self to transcend them.

5. You’re Not Stretching Persistently

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

“As a way to obtain bodily, everlasting change, stretching should be constant for six to eight weeks,” says Sudell.

6. You’re Dashing Via Your Stretches

“Folks usually don’t stretch for the suitable period 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 least 60 seconds.

7. You’re Not Doing Sport-Particular Stretches

Sport-specific stretches “will be something focused towards actions {that a} specific athlete wants,” Sudell says. For instance, she says, golfers could deal with 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 helpful for many who must run or leap (like basketball gamers or runners).

8. You’re Ignoring Your Respiration

Deep, diaphragmatic respiratory “may also help chill out tense muscle tissue, and when paired with stretching, can permit for a good deeper stretch with out growing the chance of harm,” Thieme says.

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