#24: Time to Stop Skipping Your Streching

Hey guys,

Ever told yourself you were going to do some stretching after your workout, and then it didn’t happen?

Or maybe at night you’ve told yourself you’re going to stretch in the morning, and then skip it when the alarm rings.

Flexibility is commonly a forgotten or underemphasized component of a fitness regimen, and this week I’m going to talk a bit about stretching just to give the reminder that it’s absolutely something you should be doing.

Weekly Action Point

🧘 I want you to stretch for 10 minutes every day this week 🧘 

Maybe you want to set your alarm 10 minutes earlier and do it to start your day. Or it’s also an awesome way to wind down for bed near the end of the day.

Doesn’t matter when you do it, but make it happen every day this week. Here is a video for you to try out if you don’t know where to start:

Hint: If you don’t like this video or don’t want to do the same video every day, just search “10 min stretch” on youtube and you’ll have endless options.

Benefits of Stretching

Be honest, are you doing your stretching regularly?

If yes, awesome! I would guess that you fall into the minority of people.

But, if you are like many people who do very little (or zero) stretching, I hope for this week to give you some insight on why you should be incorporating it regularly.

In my opinion, many people place flexibility lower on their priorities because it’s something that takes a long time to see benefit from.

Being able to tie your shoes when you’re 80 is a long ways out for example.

You can lose a couple of pounds pretty quickly if you focus, but flexibility definitely falls more into a delayed gratification category.

I get it, you can’t see flexibility in the mirror.

It doesn’t necessarily occupy as much space in your head, and is easily marked as ‘not important’ by many people.

Here are a couple of the many benefits of stretching on a regular basis:

1. Prevents muscle imbalances

   • Regular stretching helps to even the strength between each side of the body, which helps with range of motion and injury prevention.

2. Improves blood flow to the muscles

   • Improved circulation helps with muscle recovery and reduces soreness.

3. Increased strength gains

   • People who are more flexible are generally able to build strength easier. The muscles are working more efficiently and are recovering better, a combo that leads to strength gains.

4. Improved function in daily activities

   • Flexibility is one of the main things that contributes to your ability to do what you want to do. Playing withs kids/grandkids, reaching/bending, sitting or standing long periods, household chores, and a variety of hobbies are all things enhanced with increased flexibility.

5. Extend your healthspan

   • Your lifespan is simply how long you live. Your healthspan is how long you are living, healthy, independent, and doing the things you want. So building off the last point, you will be able to to daily activities later into your life.

6. Stress reduction

   • Stretching/flexibilty has a variety of mental benefits including reducing stress and anxiety. Slowing your body down, moving intentionally, and paying attention to your breath help slow your mind as well.

7. Improves balance and posture

   • Generally improving the functionality of your muscles through flexibility helps to prevent falls and decreases chronic pains that come from poor posture (neck and back pain, hip pain, knee pain, etc.).

Types of Stretching

I just wanted to briefly touch on the difference between dynamic and static stretching.

Dynamic stretching involves moving your body through a set of movements. Things like arm circles, leg swings, and high knees are examples of dynamic stretches.

These are best utilized as a warm up done before starting intense exercise.

Static stretching on the other hand involves holding a certain position for a period of time. These are the things more traditionally thought of as “stretching” like touching your toes, holding a quad stretch, etc.

Static stretching is best utilized for a cool down after a workout or more generally for recovery purposes.

The goal of this week was to talk about the basics of flexibility.

Most of you probably already knew many of the things I touched on this week.

Hopefully, it served as a reminder for something that almost everyone (myself included) can probably do a better job at than they currently are.

Have a fantastic week!

Ben

Ben’s Best

🍽️Food of the week: Burrito meal prep that you can put in your freezer for months to grab when you need something low effort.

fairfiteats

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🧘Here are some of the accounts on Youtube that I love when looking for stretching/yoga/flexibility videos:

• Breathe and Flow

• Tom Merrick 

• Yoga with Adriene

• Yoga with Kassandra

I encourage you to check them out if you need some motivation/ideas!