When one is trying to increase their flexibility in their muscles and joints in Woodbury MN it is very important to follow the Do's and Don'ts of stretching.  According to the American College of Sports Medicine it is beneficial to stretch the major group muscles about 2-3 times a week and about 60 seconds per stretch.  There are 2 types of stretches that are beneficial to the body; static and dynamic stretches.  Static stretches are the kind that you hold at the point of full extent, which causes no harm, unless you are putting yourself through pain.  Dynamic stretches involves slow movement of the muscle groups fluidly from one end of the range of motion to another.

Stretches in Woodbury MN

The Do's:

1. Do use static stretching to maintain flexibility; however, do it after your workouts. Static stretching before activities and increase your chances of injury. Stretching after your workout will help with the next day muscle soreness.
2. Do use dynamic stretching during your workouts if muscle groups are tight. According to WebMD, dynamic stretches are a good starting warm up to get the blood flowing in the muscles.
3. Do use traction when stretching to increase your range of motion. Using resistant bands strapped to an immovable object and hooking the opposite side to your foot or ankle if you are trying to stretch a lower extremity for example.
4. Do control which muscle group you are stretching. You are not only trying to target the muscle group itself, but the fascia (tissue that covers the muscle) is also important to target.
5. Do stretch often if you have pain and poor posture. For example, if you sit all day at work it is very possible that you will have upper back pain from hunching over at your desk; therefore, stretching your neck muscle groups will help decrease any neck pain and headaches and will also help with your neck and shoulder range of motion.
6. Do stretch your spine in between compression workouts such as squats and lunges and shoulder presses. Hanging from a bar can help with this.
7. Do use closed-chain stretches versus open-chain stretches to reduce your chances of injury. Closed-chain puts pressure on your palms and or soles of the feet which produces a strong reflex extension to promote a greater range of motion while creating stability. Open-chained stretching allows your hands and feet to be mobile while stretching, for example, stretching the hamstrings while your foot is up on a bench and you are bending at the waist to stretch.

The Don'ts:

1. 1. Don't hold an intense stretch for longer than 20 seconds, especially if you are in pain. Stretching just to the point of pain is where the full range of that muscle group should end until more flexibility can be reached.
   2. Don't miss strength training that uses dynamic stretches. Strength training in a full range of motion will increase your flexibility. For example: abdominal strengthening with a stability ball will increase your back range of motion, when your body is all the way back on the ball you will get a stretch on the abs and then using your abdominals to pull yourself up to a seated position will then give you a back stretch.
   3. Don't hold your breathe while stretching, this will cause the muscles to tighten up."Yoga" breathing is the best. Breathing in slowly through the nose and out slowly through the mouth will help get the proper oxygen to the muscles and it will help relax the body.
   4. Don't believe the myth that if you strength train you will lose flexibility. This is false; however, if you do not stretch properly while you are strength training, that will not help your flexibility in any way.

And finally, I can not stress this enough…Do not use static stretches before you work out.You can cause an injury because with static stretches should come relaxation, and if you are going to be doing fast motion you want your muscles awake and stable, not lazy and relaxed.