Stretching exercises; how to do? To prevent injury during exercise, you should do a good warm-up. Today we will focus on stretching exercises.
The primary purpose of the warm-up is to prepare the muscles for heavy loads. If your muscles are “cold,” they can easily get injured, and you won’t be able to “give your best.” During warm-up exercises, the temperature in the muscle tissues rises, and blood flow increases – this is how the body prepares itself for the upcoming stress. When joints and muscles are warmed up, they become more flexible, and there is no risk of injury.
Generally, a warm-up is usually called several repetitions performed at a low intensity but a high speed. It is this action that can prepare the muscles well.
There are two types of bodybuilding warm-ups:
- General – performed at the beginning of training.
- Special – conducted before the main exercise and consists of several repetitions with light weight.
Doing a warm-up
Before the class starts, you should give yourself about ten minutes for a general warm-up. You can run on a treadmill or use an exercise bike. You can complete the warm-up process with stretching exercises. However, they should not be eager. It should say that the better the warm-up was, the easier it would be to perform stretching exercises.
When performing the main sets with intervals, filling these rest minutes with “stretching” is beneficial – this will make the workout more effective. Moreover, this is not an unfounded statement but a fact confirmed by experiments. Stretching also changes the muscles’ shape, increasing the anabolic background in the body.
Stretching exercises
Most bodybuilders use the fixed point method. It consists in holding the correct position for 30 seconds.
Stretching should be done gradually, step by step approaching the limit. You cannot make very sudden movements. This method is excellent for filling gaps between main sets. The stretching process is understandable, and there is no point in describing it. It is better to choose the exercises yourself, as they are individual for each athlete. It’s important to remember that when you pull or lift weights, your muscles contract. The opposite phase will be the stretch. For example, for the chest muscles, you can grab the rack with one hand and simulate the spread of dumbbells while lying down.