EXERCISE PLAN FOR HEALTHY BONES: STRETCHING
Posted: under Healthy bones Osteoporosis Rheumatic.
Stretching relaxes the mind as well as the body, so you get the benefit of stress reduction as well as better balance and coordination, increased range of motion, reduced tension, fewer injuries, greater body awareness, and improved circulation. No matter what else you do in the way of physical activity (or even just everyday motions), stretching will make it easier for you. That’s all generally good for you, plus it will decrease your chance of falling, and so your risk of fracture, no matter what your bone density. Stretching after exercise will also lessen later soreness and stiffness—thereby making exercise more pleasant and easier to stick with.Many of us are stuck with old stretching habits picked up long ago, and odds are they are, at best, not maximally effective. At worst, they could be making you less flexible and more prone to injury. Whatever you do, no bouncing! Just about every weekend jogger I see stretching is bouncing up and down trying to get that nose a little closer to the knee with each bounce, but in reality that’s the worst possible approach. The muscles knot up tighter with each rebound, and the rapid pace doesn’t allow the muscle to stretch at all before it is contracted again.If this sounds like you—or if you have only dim memories of high school gym class lessons in stretching to go on—I recommend taking a stretching class or checking a recent book or video out of the library to update your technique. I favor “active-isolated” stretching, or AI in fitness parlance, which holds that to stretch a muscle, it must be relaxed. Relaxing a muscle requires contracting the muscle or muscles that work in opposition to it. That is, to stretch the hamstrings (back of the thigh), you should be in a position that relaxes them by requiring contraction of the quads (front of the thigh.) In AI, you hold each stretch for just two seconds, but repeat it, slowly, several times. This is the best kind of stretching to use pre-exercise.You should devote 15 to 20 minutes at a time to stretching to cover all the major muscle groups. For the benefit of your bones, be sure to stretch your back and hips well. The abdominals and thigh muscles all participate in rotating your hip, so they should be targeted as well. Make stretching a regular part of your routine, and you should be able to see a difference within three weeks.The second most common stretching mistake—after The Bounce—is using it as a warm-up. The best pre-exercise warm-up is to simply do the exercise you will be doing at a much slower rate to ease the muscles into it. If you are doing just a stretching workout, you will need to warm yourself up a bit first—walk briskly around the block or march in place for a few minutes, swinging your arms— to get your muscles warm before you stretch them. Or try stretching after a warm shower. The best time to stretch is as a cool-down after another form of exercise, when your muscles are already warm and easier to stretch. Then you may want to use a longer, larger stretch than AI techniques provide, with slow progression.*119\228\2*