5 Common Stretching Mistakes You Don't Know You Are Making

5 Common Stretching Mistakes You Don't Know You Are Making

Stretching is good for your muscles. It prepares your muscle for your workout. But you should avoid certain mistakes while stretching to avoid injuries and other discomforts.

Stretching exercises makes your muscles flexible

Highlights

You can perform stretching exercise anywhere, anytime

Stretching can improve your flexibility and balance

Stretching exercises can improve your mobility

Stretching exercises should be an important part of your fitness routine. These can offer several benefits to your body and help you maximise the results of your workout. After a quick warm-up, you must try stretching. It improves flexibility and helps you reduce muscle stiffness. Stretching results in warm muscles which reduces the risk of injury and helps you maintain better posture. These exercises also improve blood flow in the muscles resulting in reduced muscle soreness. But overstretching can be harmful to your muscles. You need to take care of certain factors while stretching to prevent injuries. Here are some mistakes you need to avoid-

Mistakes you should avoid while stretching

1. Not warming up

You should stretch with warm muscles. Warm-up exercises before stretching can increase the flexibility of your muscles and promote blood flow through them. It will also reduce the risk of injuries. So, start with some warm-up exercises then stretching exercises followed by your workout.



Warm-up before stretching to avoid injuries
Photo Credit: iStock

1. Overstretching the muscles

It is normal to feel little tension and pressure on the muscles while stretching but you should not stretch beyond the comfort level. You should not feel pain while stretching. You need to stop when the stretch starts to hurt. Stretching also puts too much stress on the muscles. Avoid stretching the same muscles multiple times a day

1. Stretching injured muscles

Injured muscles need time to heal properly. You are wrong if you think that stretching injured muscles will help in recovery. Give your injured muscles time to heal before making those work harder.

Do not stretch injured muscles for better recovery

1. Not using the proper techniques

The stretches you choose depends on your fitness level and the workout you choose. Choose the right stretching exercises to avoid injuries and other discomforts.

1. Doing static stretches

If you are standing at one place and stretching, you are working on very limited muscles. These stretches are foods in relieving stress and fatigue but fail to prepare you for a workout.

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