PE 2.01 Flexibility

Stress Relief

Has stress ever caused your muscles to feel tense? Stretching helps us to relax our muscles and our minds.

End with a Cool-Down

After any demanding physical activity, your body needs a chance to recover slowly. First, slow down the pace and decrease the intensity of the activity that you have been doing. If you have been running, slowly change to a jog and then a brisk walk. If you have been cycling fast, bring down the speed in the last two to three minutes. Lowering the intensity of your workout is important to: Slow down your heart After a hard workout, keep moving, but gradually slow down to avoid having blood pool in your limbs. Avoid getting light-headed Walking after a hard workout helps the blood to return to your heart. The heart will pump more blood to your brain, which will prevent you from feeling dizzy or faint. Follow the slowed activity with some static stretches to: Retain or increase muscle range of motion Immediately after overload, a muscle is shortened and contracted, with a decreased range of motion. Static stretching elongates the muscle and increases the range of motion. Reduce post-exercise soreness A "pumped" muscle is full of lactic acid and other by-products of anaerobic activity and intense exercise. Stretching and other cool down activities help revert the lactic acid and possibly reduce muscle soreness felt in the next 24 to 48 hours when muscles undergo repair.

Start with a Warm-Up

Beginning: Warm-Up and dynamic stretching Middle: Physical activity End: Cool-down and static stretching When you are participating in moderate to vigorous physical activities, proper warm-up and cool down are important to prevent injury and improve performance. A warm-up only takes 5 to 15 minutes, but it provides the following benefits: Increases Blood Flow Increases the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles and decreases the risk of irregular heartbeat through a slow warm-up. Increases Muscle Performance Slow warm-up minimizes the formation of lactic acid during exercise and also warms up the body temperature, allowing muscles to stretch farther and minimize cramping. Prevents Injury Synovial fluid is released during the warm-up, lubricating the muscles, ligaments, and tendons to increase flexibility and prevent tearing or injury during more demanding activities. A complete warm-up should include a heart warm-up exercise, a muscle-stretching exercise, and sport-specific exercise when necessary.

Flexibility

Being flexible means your muscles and tendons move and bend easily. This is important in sports and exercise, but it also allows you to be more comfortable in everyday activities like reaching up to a top shelf or bending over to tie your shoes.

Range of Motion

Each of your body's joints has a range of motion, determining how far it can extend. Flexibility training improves your ability to rotate your arms through a swim stroke or move your leg joints to kick a ball.

Dynamic

Involves taking a limb (shoulder, leg, hip, etc.) and moving it back and forth or side to side 8 to 15 times using gradual and controlled movement. Safety: Generally safe, but movement must be controlled to avoid becoming ballistic. Dynamic stretches can be performed as part of a warm-up activity, but only after low-intensity activity has increased body and muscle temperature.

Safety Plan

Only start stretching when your muscles are warm and your body temperature is raised, like after a brisk walk or warm-up activity, or following a workout as part of a cool down. An effective stretch should be held just beyond a feeling of slight resistance, free of pain, for at least 15 to 30 seconds. If held too long or pushed too hard, the muscle or connective tissue can become too loose or tear. Neglecting to stretch certain joints will cause the elastin to fray and lose some of its elasticity. This allows collagen to increase in stiffness and density, limiting your flexibility.

Isostatic

Requires a partner, machine, or wall to help you hold the stretch because it extends the joint beyond its regular range of motion. Sometimes used in gymnastics, dancing, martial arts, and other fields requiring extended flexibility. Safety: The joint is often extended beyond a safe range of motion. It is not recommended that you perform this stretch due to increased risk of injury.

Circulation

Stretching increases blood flow to various parts of the body and helps your body recover after physical exertion.

Ballistic

Stretching that involves bobbing, bouncing, and jerky movements that use the body's momentum and weight to stretch the muscle. Safety: This type of stretching can be harmful and is not recommended because you may far exceed the stretchable limits of the tissues involved and cause injury.

Static

The most common form of stretching. Requires slowly stretching the muscle and joint to its farthest point without causing extreme pain and holding this position for 15-30 seconds. Safety: Performing static stretches without properly warming up can cause injury. The safest time to perform static stretches is after cardiovascular or muscular activity, as part of the cool down.

Dynamic exercises

You should include dynamic stretches as part of your warm-up and static stretches in the cool down after your workout. Pay close attention to body alignment given in the instructions. Stop any activity if you experience strong pain. If you have any questions before completing an activity speak with your instructor. As you begin, hold each stretch for 15-20 seconds and perform each stretch two times. (Note: This would be recorded as "Time: 15 seconds" and "Reps: 2") Dynamic stretches to include in your warm up are: Joint rotation and trunk rotation Arm swings and arm circles Leg swings and leg kicks Half squats and lunges Motion used in your sport or game