Schoen Julie - Keep Calm and Stretch: 44 Stretching Exercises To Increase Flexibility, Relieve Pain, Prevent Injury, and Stay Young!

S tretching is one of the most overlooked solutions for many of the ailments that are byproducts of our modern lifestyles. Just by stretching every day you are ridding the body of pain, keeping the body feeling young and healthy, preventing injuries, healing injuries, and managing stress.

Here are the top 10 reasons for why you should start stretching now!

1. Stretching increases flexibility and range of motion in the body so you can stay active
2. Stretching increases the amount of energy you have
3. Stretching relieves pain in the body, including pain you may have been dealing with for years and years
4. Stretching prevents injuries by keeping the muscles flexible and long
5. Because your circulation improves and increases when you stretch, stretching helps to heal injuries fast
6. Stretching helps to improve muscle coordination and balance, preventing injuries that could be caused by falling
7. Many stretches help to relieve pain in the lower back by increasing the flexibility of the hamstrings, hips, and gluteus muscles
8. Stretching lowers blood pressure
9. Stretching helps to relieve tension in the body which translates to less tension and stress in your life
10. Stretching improves your posture which helps to keep you looking confident and lean

T here is a common complaint heard among people who have been consistently stretching for weeks, maybe even months, and that is: I am not getting any more flexible!

And while there are many reasons that can explain this frustrating phenomenon, including improper form and stretching only large muscle groups over and over again, one of the most common explanations is that you are not practicing stretching with resistance.

Resistance is key to getting more flexible. In fact, it is impossible to make progress stretching if you are not doing it. Resistance, although it may seem counterintuitive, actually helps to lengthen the muscles by contracting opposing muscles. For example, if you want to increase the flexibility of your hamstrings, you will hit a wall if you are not simultaneously increasing the resistance of the quadriceps. For this reason when I work with yoga students that have very stiff hamstrings, I encourage them to engage the quadriceps by lifting the kneecap as they stretch forward.

Contracting the opposing muscles actually helps you to lengthen the muscle you are targeting!

Another facet of stretching with resistance is that you want to find balance between pushing and pulling. You actually make more progress in improving flexibility by opposing the stretch. For example, when performing a simple shoulder stretch by bringing the arm across the body, you want to not just pull your arm forward, but you want to oppose the stretch with resistance by pressing your arm away from the body at the same time.

Any time you are using a body part, such as a hand or foot, to intensify the stretch, it is crucial to resist that body part by pressing into it with whatever is being stretched. This is the only way that you will start to see major improvements in your flexibility.