Do I really need to stretch at all?
More than likely at one time or another all of us have either wondered or questioned the real importance of stretching. It seems like as far back as I can remember (grade school gym class), we were taught that stretching was a part of exercising. What happened to that idea? Well…life gets busy and more often than not we are all looking for ways to maximize and our time. When we do decide to exercise, stretching is one of those things that take time, but that also doesn’t appear to be necessary or essential at that exact moment. After all, time is precious, and if we’re slightly cautious we won’t get injured…right? WRONG! The problem that I see most often in my personal training business is postural distortions and muscle imbalances, and a lot of those problems are due to overly tight muscles. Simple stretching is an easy way to help prevent larger problems such as back injuries. Have you ever turned to grab something from a cupboard, or bent down to pick something up off of the floor and “tweaked” your back? I know I have, and I also know that it wasn’t that specific movement or activity that caused the injury. Most likely it was the lack of proper stretching and strength building for months prior. In addition to the lack of stretching and proper strength building exercises, the muscles become overly tight and de-conditioned. The frustrating part is that sometimes we don’t have any noticeable symptoms that alert us to the problem until it’s too late. Our daily lives are filled with anaerobic activities such as bending, reaching, and twisting. If we aren’t careful and diligent in stretching and conditioning our bodies for that every day living that we do…we will pay the price in terms of injury or postural problems later on.