♥ Exercise stretching can really help getting more out of your workout and seeing better weight loss results.

Almost two out of three people who start with an exercising-program, quit in the first six weeks because of an injury. That, while Injuries can be prevented by choosing training with breaks of 48 hours, like I told you in previous article.  I remember the times that I forgot my exercise stretching  and I got a lot more sore, than the times when I did stretch. Also: exercise stretching can really help getting more out of your workout and seeing better weight loss results. If you’re starting to feel pain while you’re exercising you should stop immediately. Of course you know what pain I mean, not the “Ok, this is hard, I quit”-pain.

There are two types of pain.

The first one, is the usual muscle pain which occurs a few hours after your intensive workout. In most of the times, you’ll feel sore at both sides of your body. However… pain from an injury occurs right after, is heavier at one side, doesn’t disappear in 48 hours and becomes worse when you’re starting to exercise again. You can prevent this with a warming-up, stretching and a cooling-down.

Warming-up: when you start your training slow (by walking instead of running) your muscles’ temperature will rise and your muscles will get more flexible. With cold muscles you can tear your muscles more easily.

Stretching: Exercise Stretching makes your muscles and tendons more lean, which increases the flexibility of your muscles. Lean muscles can practice exercises with much more power and strength, so you can jump higher, pull heavier weights, walk/run faster, and so on.
Stretching also burns calories itself, not as many as after an intensive workout of course, but still. By starting your training with stretching exercises, you boost your overall calorie burn, while also getting a lean muscle mass, which boosts your metabolism and helps your body burn even more calories, even at rest.

Did you know that stretching isn’t only beneficial when you combine it with a workout? Doing some light exercise stretching 10 to 15 minutes before a meal, helps your body slow down, relieves stress and tunes you in your appetite. Altogether, this can help you making better nutritious decisions and keep you from eating more than you should.

Cooling down: When your leg-muscles relax, the blood around your veins will accumulate. If you suddenly quit your workout, the blood will accumulate in your legs, which means the there’s not enough blood that goes to your brains, which causes dizziness. So: just slowly start to decrease the level of your workout and you -hopefully- won’t get dizzy 🙂

What I’m wearing: Nike & Thundersports

How much do you stretch, warm-up and cool-down?
Exercise stretching and you will get better results!