The Only 5 Stretches You Need

The Only 5 Stretches You Need

Why You Should Stretch

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As a fitness professional and athlete, one of the most common questions I hear is, "Do I really need to stretch?" or "What's the least amount of stretching I can do to still be worth it?" The short answer: Yes, stretching is important, and you should spend at least five minutes cooling down after every workout. Here are a few reasons why:

1. You'll prevent injury and relieve pain. Stretching increases your range of motion, taking pressure off the joints and allowing the body to move more fluidly during exercise. As a result, you'll help prevent injury and/or pain that can be the product of an active lifestyle.

2. You'll improve circulation. Stretching improves circulation by increasing blood flow to your muscles. Better circulation helps the body recover faster by removing waste byproducts in muscle tissue.

3. You'll relieve stress. Stretching also helps calm the mind and reduce stress levels. When you're anxious, worried, or worn out, it places extra strain on the body, causing you to feel stressed. By taking a few minutes each day to unwind and relieve this unwanted tension, you will experience a sense of relief and stress will slowly start to fade away.

Do this 5-minute cool-down at the end of your workout, when you wake up, or before you go to bed. Hold each stretch for 30 seconds, and repeat all five stretches 2-3 times.

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Downward Dog

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Benefits:

• Improves flexibility in calves, hamstrings, and shoulders
• Relieves pain in the low back
• Elongates cervical spine, which relieves tension in the body and head

How to do it: Come onto your hands and knees with hands directly below your shoulders and knees directly below your hips. Spread your fingers wide and tuck your toes under. Inhale and lift your knees off the floor, pressing your hips up toward the ceiling. Draw your heels down to the floor or keep a slight bend in your knees. Press your hands firmly into the mat and draw your shoulder blades down. Keep the head between the arms (don't let it hang). Take deep breaths the entire time.

Low Lunge

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Benefits:

• Improves flexibility in hips and quadriceps
• Releases the psoas, which is part of a group of muscles called the hip flexors. Tightness of the psoas can result in lower back pain by compressing the lumbar discs

How to do it: Come onto both knees and step your right foot forward. Make sure to keep your right knee over your heel and your left knee directly under your hip. Reach your left hand up toward the ceiling. Make sure to keep both hips facing forward and glutes engaged. Take deep breaths the entire time.

Lying Piriformis Stretch

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Benefits:

• Improves flexibility in hips and glutes
• Helps keep hip and knee joints properly aligned during activity and helps prevent sudden twisting
• Allows for easy external rotation of the hips

How to do it: Lie on your back, bend both knees, and bring your left ankle over your right thigh. Lift your right foot off the ground, bringing your leg up to a 90-degree angle. Loop your hands in between your legs and slowly draw your right knee in toward your chest. Keep your head and neck relaxed on the ground. Take deep breaths the entire time.

Original article and pictures take www.shape.com site

The New Rules of Foam Rolling

The New Rules of Foam Rolling

Now that you've adopted the habit, familiarize yourself with the updated approach.

Foam rolling has become a widely-practiced activity—and that’s a good thing. But according to Tier 4 Coach Susan Stanley, despite the growing legions of fans, there's a need for mindfulness. It's actually a more nuanced technique than one might think. Some fans warm up using techniques that are best saved for post-workout roll-outs (or avoided altogether); others neglect to mix up their approach and thus risk a foam-rolling plateau of sorts. Here are the four most common mistakes and Stanley’s tips to correct them.

• If the roller you’re currently using is pliant and has a smooth surface, you’ve got the wrong tool for the job. “The objective of pre-workout rolling is to stimulate nerve endings in the muscles in a way that sends a rich proprioceptive message to the brain,” says Stanley. The richer that message is, the better it will prepare your brain to control your body’s movements in the subsequent workout. Firmer rollers with a textured surface (such as the Trigger Point Grid) stimulate the nerve endings more effectively and reach deeper into the muscle’s myofascial layers than do the soft, smooth products most people use. These textured rollers also provide a superior post-workout roll.

• Slow movements are fine when you are using a roller to relax the muscles after a workout, but a faster, more vigorous technique is better in a warm-up. “Remember, you’re trying to wake up your neuromuscular system, not put it to sleep,” Stanley cautions.

• If you’re like most athletes, you move only in the direction of your muscle fibers. Stanley teaches clients to also roll across the “grain”—a technique known as cross-fiber friction—to add another dimension to that proprioceptive message to the brain. “Also,” says Stanley, “using different speeds and techniques like pivoting and pin-and-stretching the muscle and fascia can be much more effective than just rolling over the skin.” Althought these methods are typically done with a ball, you can incorporate them into your rolling routine, as well. In the pin and stretch, you 'pin' the tissue on the roller, then move the limb to stretch the tissue that's being pinned. Pivoting is a way to drive the roller a little deeper, engaging more layers of muscle and fascia, Stanley says. This is achieved by rocking (not rolling) the edge of the roller back and forth on the target spot, or twisting, like turning a faucet on and off, on that spot.

• Admit it: When you roll, you look for painful spots in your muscles and sort of “hang out” on them, trying to get them to relax. But according to Stanley, it’s best to save this kind of therapeutic self-torture for post-workout rolling. “Pain causes the brain to respond with a protective reflex that reduces muscle performance,” Stanley explains. In other words: Less pain, more gain!

Original article and pictures take furthermore.equinox.com site

The Lazy Girls Lower Ab Workout

The Lazy Girls Lower Ab Workout

REAL TALK GUYS.

Sometimes I have absolutely no desire to workout. Like, more often than you would think. Maybe it’s just been a long day at work, or i’ve got something else on my mind, but most often I’m just being a lazy betch.

When I’m feeling lazy but I know I SHOULD work out, I do a lazy girl workout. What’s a lazy girl workout, you ask?

For me, a lazy girl workout that doesn’t really require a lot of sweating, standing, moving, or thinking. Doing an ab, back, or arm workout is usually a lazy girl workout. I can lie down for bench press, sit at the lat pull-down machine, or hang out on the floor and do ab exercises for half an hour.

Super. Lazy.

This Lazy Girls Lower Ab workout is probablyyy not long enough for an actual workout. Literally it’s 9 minutes plus rest time. So I’ll do some easy cardio for 30 minutes (aka, sitting on a bike), and finish up with these ab exercises!

I also love it because these exercises seriously target the lower stomach, which many consider a ‘trouble’ area for losing fat.

If you’re looking for a few other ab workout ideas that are slightly less lazy, this Box Workout That Shreds Fat or Cable Core Workout is probably more up your alley.

The Lazy Girls Lower Ab Workout

Set a timer for 3 minutes. Perform each exercise for 10 reps each consecutively, until 3 minutes is up. Rest 2 minutes and repeat for 3 rounds total.

1. Raised Leg Sit Ups: Start on your back with your legs in the air, and knees bent. Place your hands lightly beside your ears, elbows out wide. Without pulling your head, crunch your chest up towards your knees. Pause for a half second, and then come back down to starting position. Try to keep your shoulders off the ground for every rep and perform each movement slowly and with good form

2. Alternating Leg V-Ups: Start on your back with your legs extended straight out, forming an upside down V. Crunch your entire upper body up, reaching with your left hand to your right foot. Come back down to starting position. Repeat the movement, except this time with your right hand and left leg. Be sure to twist your torso so that it faces the direction you are reaching. Both sides equals one rep.

3. Flutter Kicks: Start again on your back, with legs pointed straight out in front of you. Lift your feet off the ground a few inches, making sure your lower back is planted firmly into the ground. Flutter your feet up and down, similar to kicking in swimming. Don’t allow your legs to move too much, keep the movement small and controlled. Kicking with both feet equals one rep.

4. Upright Bicycles: This exercise is similar to the regular bicycle exercise, except you will be sitting upright rather than lying down. Place your hands gently beside your ears, making sure you are not using them to pull your head. Twist your torso to the left, bringing your left knee up simultaneously. Come back to centre, and keep moving all the way through to the opposite side. As you do, bring your right knee up to your chest. Both sides equals one rep

What About You?!

• Do you have a workout that you like to do on your ‘lazy’ days?

Original article and pictures take borntosweat.co site