If you’ve done any basic research on fitness in general you already heard the golden rule of stretching after every workout. I’m proud to say I faithfully warm up before all my workouts and stretch after them too. I’ m talking about going beyond your post-workout stretching on a daily basis.
Lately I’ve been making stretching every evening a priority. It doesn’t get done every night (which is the goal) but it does get done at least 4 times a week. I aim for a minimum of 20-30 minutes and more if I have the time. After a hard workout first thing in the morning and a long stressful day at work I’m usually over due for treating my muscles kindly. This week in particular I’ve been trying to sweat it out every day– and it’s been hard on my body. You work hard to build your muscles but that often creates a lot of tension in the muscle that may not dissipate easily. Especially if you’re a chronic stress-case like I am. Tension may as well be my middle name.
People under-estimate the importance of keeping your body flexible and limber. Besides the obvious benefit of relaxation it’s great at injury prevention, stress relief and learning more about your body in general. I suggest carving out time in your day a few times a week just to stretch. Here is a compilation of a few stretching routines I’ve used and love in order of my favorites:
1) Bodyrock.tv Ultimate Stretch Routine featuring Zuzana Light
2) Blogilates How to do the Splits
3) Loving Fit Total Body Stretching Routine
4) BodyRipped Warm’n Up. Cool’n Down. Stretching Routine featuring Kyla Gagnon
5) Tara Stiles CHILL OUT Yoga Routines
6) Teshia Maher’s Yoga Flow Routines
7) Tone It Up Stretch & Release Routine
8) Official Hang Tight with MarC Cool Down
I’ve done all of these at some point. You could try going through them in order to try them all and see which you like best and build a nice personalized playlist for yourself.
warrior sweat 