Stretching Sore Muscles

I find myself feeling pretty sore the day after and the second day after an intense workout. I do a lot of stretching! Stretching is an important part of your health; it protects you from getting injured while working out, it stregthens your muscles and gives you more flexibility and it releases tension throughout your body.

It is important to remember to stretch periodically throughout your workout. I never stretch cold muscles prior to a workout; I always do about 5-10 minutes of light cardio before stretching. During my strength training, I take 60 sec. pauses to stretch and loosen up the muscles that I'm working hard. It is essential to recognize any fatigue or excessive stress in a muscle so that you don't pull something or get injured.

I finish my workouts with 10 minutes of ab work and stretching. Between my ab sets, I do long periods of stretching of all my muscles. This gets my heart rate back down; its a nice cool down to a hard workout. Even after my ab exercises, I like to spend another 5 minutes just stretching. Remember, don't bounce during a stretch and hold each stretch for at least 15 seconds.

I continue to stretch throughout my day. Here are some examples of when a good time to stretch would be:

1. Take periodic breaks from your desk by getting up, doing a few stretches and grabbing a drink of water. (Don't worry, people aren't looking at you because they think you're weird, they are looking at you wondering what you do to get that hot body!)
2. Stretch while watching television.
3. Make a game of stretching with your kids.
4. Stretch with your husband/wife while winding down for the day. Talk about your day and catch up while relaxing your muscles! ;o)