How Flexibility Exercises Help Reduce Your Risk of Injury
Exercising and physical activity are fantastic pastimes, as long as you're vigilant about keeping your body in shape. Strength and endurance are only part of the equation; flexibility is one of the key components to preventing injury and staying in good condition.
You should incorporate flexibility exercises into daily physical activity to keep the muscles loose and ward off sprains, strains, and other painful injuries.
Exercise is also essential to losing weight, so the NuvidaRx Weight Loss - Tallahassee Clinic team offers fitness plans.
Our team consists of several experts in weight loss who offer fitness advice and customized plans to not only help you lose weight but increase strength and flexibility in your body.
What are flexibility exercises?
Flexibility exercises are an important component of any physical activity or exercise plan. While not everyone has the same flexibility, stretching and improving flexibility over time is essential to keep injuries at bay.
When you think of flexibility, stretching pops into your mind, which is accurate. Everyone who exercises should be stretching to stay flexible and prevent painful injuries.
But stretching isn't just a warm-up; it's a vital aspect of training that you should practice daily, even when you're not working out.
Yoga, tai-chi, and other stretching activities are great for flexibility. Examples of flexibility exercises in these categories include the following:
- Downward-facing dog
- Triangle pose
- Sun salutations
- Spinal twist
- Extended puppy pose
There are many more stretches to focus on, depending on your activity level and what type of exercises you're doing. Stretching and flexibility prevent injury and improve mental health, posture, and balance.
How these exercises prevent injury
It's not always easy to see how flexibility training reduces the risk of injury. However, it's a proven strategy for many reasons, which include the following:
Improves blood flow to muscles
Stretching and flexibility exercises promote increased blood flow to the muscles in your body, allowing them to stay oxygenated and warm during exercise. Increased blood flow also improves your overall physical performance, which decreases the risk of injury.
Improves joint range of motion
Range of motion is essential to physical activity, especially in sports like running and swimming. Flexibility allows each joint to move through its entire range of motion, preventing injury from stiff or tight joints.
Allows the muscles to work effectively
When muscles are loose and have increased blood flow, they work better. Tight muscles can sometimes lead to sprains, strains, and tears.
Flexibility training prevents these injuries by preparing the muscles for increased physical activity. It allows them to sustain more stress during exercise.
Tips for flexibility training
Trying to stay in shape and lose weight is a lot of stress on your body, so improving overall flexibility is essential. However, there's a right and wrong way to do so.
Our team provides flexibility training tips to ensure you get the most out of stretching exercises. A few of the suggestions we provide to increase flexibility include the following:
- Stay symmetrical
- Hold stretches
- Avoid bouncing
- Focus on large muscles
- Allow some movement
- Perform flexibility exercises daily
- Focus on sport-specific stretches
It's also crucial to remember stretching and flexibility training shouldn't be painful. You may feel slight discomfort as you increase flexibility, but you should never feel pain.
Suppose you begin to feel pain, back off and start over, taking it slow to prevent injury. When you're back in the stretch, hold it to the point you only feel the stretch, not the pain.
To find out more about our fitness plans, don't hesitate to call our office at 682-217-5757 or request an appointment online using our convenient tool.