One of the most neglected aspects of fitness is flexibility. It’s often seen as the poor relation of the other, more ‘important’ and less boring work done in the gym.
We get it. It’s far more fun and interesting to lift weights, to sprint, to swing kettlebells etc. The stuff that makes you feel like you’re doing your body some good. There’s also the time consuming element of it - when you’ve trained hard, you want to get on with your day… not sit there pulling your limbs in different directions!
Sometimes though, you do what you NEED to do, not what you WANT to do!
Stretching has been shown to improve the range of movement in muscles and joints. This is fundamental to helping protect against injury and movement quality issues. It also helps to improve your training - flexible muscles and joints allow you to exercise with great technique, making your training more effective.
So it’s not just a boring inconvenience - it’s a very important element of maintaining your health and fitness, and reducing your injury risk!
Advancing your stretching
It should be a given that you’re doing your basic post-workout stretching. The usual sites such as quads, hamstrings, calf muscles, upper back etc. These are what we’d call your ‘maintenance’ stretches - the day to day movements to keep you flexible.
They’re not really the ‘problem’ sites though. Those are areas that don’t really suffer much in the way of prolonged stillness, resulting in shortened muscles and stiffer joints.
That title belongs to the shoulders, the chest and the hips. Our sedentary lives have been shown to cause us a myriad of problems, but the one we’re interested in is the musculoskeletal pain. The prolonged sitting we do at work, behind a desk, at the wheel, in front of the TV contributes to muscle tightness, which can manifest into joint pain.
The common sites for these are the hip flexors (causing lower back pain), the chest (causing neck pain) and the lats (causing shoulder pain).
In the next section we’re going to show you three very simple stretches to help you prevent these tight spots, reducing your joint pain and helping you to prevent further injury. You’ll also be able to improve your training technique because you’ll have freer movement of the limbs.
Hip flexor stretch
The hip flexors run up the front of the thighs, over the hips and into the lower trunk. They’re responsible for helping lift the legs up, so when we’re sat for long periods, they’re engaged a lot. If they’re not stretched properly, they become tight.
Here’s a hip flexor stretch - do it 4-5 times per week, for 60 seconds per side. It’ll really help you!
The Passive Hang
This is a great stretch for opening up the shoulders, stretching the back, elongating the spine and the elbows. It’s super simple, helps to improve grip strength and has a deep and long lasting stretching effect across the upper body. All you need to do is passively hang - take hold of a bar, relax and dangle. Take all tension out of your back.
Do it 5 days per week, 30-60 seconds per time.
The dumbbell fly stretch
Internal rotation of the shoulders (when the shoulders are pulled together in front of you) is really common. Sat using a computer, driving or eating, you’re in internal rotation. Over time this can cause shoulder impingement, so it’s a good idea to open up your chest. The best way I know is with a dumbbell fly stretch. Hold the dumbbells out to the side for as long as you need to, with your chest at full stretch.
Do this every time you’re at the gym, for a minimum of 60 seconds.
Three stretches you need to be doing… Final thoughts
These stretches will take up literally a few minutes of your week, but the trade off is huge. There’s a good chance that if you’ve been struggling with back, chest or shoulder injuries that muscle tightness and imbalances might be the cause.
Add these stretches into your week and you may even find that your injuries clear themselves up fairly quickly.
Personal Training with AdMac Fitness in Bow and South Woodford
The AdMac Fitness personal training studios are in Bow, E3 and South Woodford, E18.
We have personal trainers with a range of specialities, so we can offer the ideal personal trainer to help you achieve your goals.
For more information on who we are, what we do and how we can help you achieve your health and fitness goals, contact us on… 07921465108 or email us at admacfitness@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!