WHEN
Stretching can be done anytime and whenever you feel like it. At the bus station, sitting in a waiting room or relaxing on one of our beautiful beaches. Stretching is recommended to do before and after exercising. To reduce the risk of injury and to prepare the body it is good to warm up before starting any stretches.
WHY
Stretching helps to reduce tension and stress, relaxes muscles, body and mind and is recommended to do before and after exercising to help lengthen the muscles and to maintain a healthy range of movement.
Movement is life, stretching enhances the ability of the body to maintain its range of movement in each joint, helps to maintain circulation and enhances the bodies ability to heal itself.
Due to postural habits caused by workplace and day to day life tasks like housework etc. our bodies are put under habitual workload that have a severe impact on the muscular and skeletal system. Due to onesided usage we develop dysbalances in our bodies that impact our wellbeing and need to be counteracted through individually catered stretch routines that suit the individual needs. As with everything also our stretch and mobility training is best monitored specifically around your individual circumstances. There are certain muscle group that have the tendency to shorten more than others, however as we are all have our individual histories of injuries, falls and daily habits it is best to consult an exercise professional to prescribe a targeted stretch routine.
HOW
There are different stretching techniques like dynamic stretching, PNF and many others, however if you are after some general health and wellbeing static stretching is best and safest. Recent research showes that static stretches should be held at least for 60 seconds in post-stretching. If you do pre-stretches and you utilize stretching as part of the warm up (make sure you do some warm up exercises before going into warm up stretching) you don’t need to hold the stretches for not as long.