Tons of people make the mistake of neither stretching nor warming up before their workouts. Then what happens is, they don't get much out of their workouts. In a workout for skinny guys, stretching is absolutely vital. One, because the underweight guy needs all the range of motion he can get to make sure he hits every part of the muscle possible. Two, if he injures himself, it can cause a big setback on his quest to get in shape.
So Why Is Stretching So Important?
What stretching does is prepares your muscles for the strenuous activity they are about to undergo. It gets blood flowing through your muscles and increases their elasticity for a short period of time. This will not only help you in the short term, but will also help in the long term by allowing you to become more flexible. The more you can move your muscles, the stronger you can ultimately be.
See, stretching allows you a greater range of motion throughout your workout. What this larger range of motion does is, it lets you use more of the muscle than if you were not stretching, therefore you can break down more muscle fibers, and ultimately achieve more gains.
Obviously you'll also want to stretch so you do not injure yourself. If you work out with cold muscles, they are going to be tight, which can cause them to not give you the proper support you need with your workout. This can lead to some very bad injuries that can set you back quite a bit. Always always always stretch before working out.
Now That You've Stretched, You Need To Warm Up
Before you hit the weights hard, grab a weight about half of what you would normally lift and pump out about 10 reps or so. Now do a set of pushups until you feel your muscles being challenged. Now do a few body weight lunges or squats. These warm up routines will get blood flowing through the muscles and will prime them to lift. You'll notice you can lift more once you are properly warmed up.
Proper Stretching
A big mistake I see people making is trying to pump when they stretch. What I mean by this is that they will stretch as far as they can, then back out quickly without holding and try to go further by pumping. This can actually pull the muscle awkwardly and lead to injury. Do not pump when you stretch.
Stretching too far won't get you anywhere either. Just get to a point where you feel mild discomfort, then hold for 10 seconds. After that 10 seconds. relax for a few seconds, and do another of the same for 10 more seconds. You'll notice your muscles become a lot more elastic this way.
Think of your muscles as a rubber band. What is the best way to stretch it? What happens when you pull on a rubber band really quickly and really hard? It snaps! But what happens when you pull on it slowly to the point where you feel tension and you can put it around something? It expands to where you need it, then contracts. This is the same way your muscles work.
The whole warm up stretching process should only take you about 5 minutes. Follow these warm up rules and you'll notice you can lift more and you'll dramatically reduce your risk of injury.
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