Stretching

Stretching is a low-hanging fruit that most of us can get with ease. You can do it with little to no equipment, and you can get a good stretch in about 10 minutes. I can recommend some stretches that have helped me and the people who I have worked with, but the biggest obstacle to stretching is that stretching isn’t fun. It’s uncomfortable, and it takes some effort if done properly. However, stretching regularly can also have a huge impact (for the better!) on your life. Proper and regular stretching can have effects like greatly reducing/eliminating pain and stiffness, reduced risk of injury, improving posture, and helping your form with certain exercises, which allows you to lift more weight.

I have had a ton of clients come to me and talk about various injuries and joint problems, only to discover that stretching regularly fixed their problems. I’m not saying that this is always the case; however, I have yet to run across someone who did not benefit greatly from stretching more. The reason why so many people mix up injuries and joint problems with tight muscles is that they feel almost exactly the same. For instance, one of the things that almost everyone I talk to mentions is knee pain when they squat or do lunges. While this can be can be a sign of bad knees, it is more commonly a sign of tight leg muscles like your hamstrings or quads. When these muscles are tight, it can cause your kneecap to get pulled up against the bones around it, and produce a grinding feeling.

Stretching also helps with muscle soreness, both as a result of exercise and in general. When you use your muscles, they contract (tighten) in order to pull your bones in the direction that you want to move. The problem is, after extended use like a hard leg workout, a jog, or a workday filled with sitting, your muscles stay partially contracted, aka muscle tightness. When your muscles are tight, they hurt. It might be a sharp pain when you move a certain way, or it might be a dull pain, like when you try to go down the stairs after leg day. In both cases, stretching will almost certainly help ease the pain.

Avoiding injuries is an important aspect of fitness, and one of the best ways that you can do that is to stretch tight muscles. Take a rubber band and stretch it out just enough to feel a bit of tension on it. Pluck it like a guitar string. Now, stretch it out as tight as it will go, and pluck it again. Which scenario do you think is more likely to break the rubber band? Your muscles work in much the same way; if they are tight, they are more likely to break, which is how you get injured.

Injuries can also happen as a result of poor form when exercising, and having tight muscles often causes poor form because your muscles aren’t loose enough to allow you to move in certain ways. Let’s use squatting as an example. In the below pictures, we see an improper squat that increases the risk of injury, and a proper squat that reduces the risk of injury.

The problems that the first squatter has are all typically caused by either weak muscles, tight muscles, or both. Getting into the proper squat requires loose hamstrings, glutes, and quads (at minimum).

Fixing your exercise mechanics doesn’t just reduce your risk of injury; it also helps you lift more weight. Using proper form allows you to move in a more efficient way, so you can get more results with the same amount of effort. You might not think that it makes a big difference; however, I used to squat with form that resembled the first picture. I took some time to fix my form, and went from struggling to squat 405 lbs for a single rep to being able to squat it for 10 reps.

Stretching isn’t fun. There is no question about it. However, if you do it consistently, it makes a huge difference to your life for the better. Here at Bored Man Gets Paid, that’s what we’re all about.