If you played any sports as a kid, I’m sure you’ve heard that you have heard a ton of so called “tips” about how to stretch.
Here are the top 8 stretching myths busted!
- You don’t need to stretch before you exercise
- stretching before a run makes you less efficient, and may make you more prone to injury. Instead of stretching, try a warm up that includes some dynamic motions, like jumping jacks and burpees, to warm up your muscles and get you ready to work
- You can “bounce” while you stretch
- Now I was always told that this was cheating, but it turns out that sometimes muscles can benifit from not forcing a static stretch. For muscles that tend to be very tight bouncing may be just the trick to get them to losen up!
- Don’t hold your stretch for too long
- Stretching for a long time may strain your muscle and cause more damage than good. Try holding stretches for only about 30 seconds, and do them several times spread out throught the day!
- You can bend your knees!
- This isn’t cheating either!
- Don’t skip foam rolling and stretching post-workout!
- Stretching is most effective after muscles have been worked up, so post-work out you may feel tired but its critical to strech out those muscles to prevent tightness and injury!.
- The muscle that’s in pain is not always the problem!
- Sometimes the actual issue is tension within a adjacent muscle. If you feel tight, try stretching some of the surrounding conncted muscles as well!
- Even Flexible people need to stretch!
- Stretching regularly can help maintain flexibility and improve your range of motion!
- Stretching doesn’t need to be painful!
- Stretching should reduce the chance of injury not cause it! Don’t push yourself too hard, there is a difference between stretching and putting ypurself in physical pain.
