Muscles and joints can become inflexible through aging or lack of movement, so if any of those two things sound familiar to you, you better start stretching! (That’s everyone, because nobody stops aging. >:D)
A few points to keep in mind while stretching are:- Warm up for 5-10 minutes first. Stretching cold muscles=high risk of injury. Warming up also allows your muscles to relax and loosen up.
- Stretch on a regular basis if you want to see results quicker. You can start off with one or two days a week, then work your way up.
- When stretching, you should feel a pull or tension in the muscle and maybe soreness, but not sharp pain. Hold the stretch until the tension subsides (usually 30 sec). Athletes who participate in sports that require intense flexibility such as gymnastics or dance often overlook this, and that’s partly why there are so many people who get injured doing those sports.
- Try not to bounce. It creates tears in the muscle which will actually lead to stiffer muscles than before. That’s just frustrating, because who wants to work to get worse? I used to bounce a lot when trying to get my oversplits, and yes, the next day, I felt like I didn’t get any more flexible than before.
Surprisingly, another thing that will help with flexibility is your intake of vitamins. A few vitamins and foods that will help are:
- B-3: meats (chicken, tuna, turkey, salmon), Shitake mushrooms, peanuts
- B-5: sweet potatoes, corn, avocados, broccoli, eggs, mushrooms, cauliflower, sunflower seeds, swiss chard
- B-6: meats (chicken, tuna, turkey, halibut), hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, potatoes, chickpeas
- C: oranges, bell peppers, kiwis, brussel sprouts, strawberries, broccoli, cantaloupe, papayas, guavas, cauliflower
- D: SUN, fish (salmon, tuna, sardines), eggs, milk
- E: olives, asparagus, hazelnuts, almonds, spinach, sunflower seeds, swiss chard
I will post specific stretches with pictures and descriptions soon. :)
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