Why is stretching so important?
You have probably heard the phrase that stretching is equally important as your training and nutrition. But is this true, or just another gym myth?
What happens when we stretch?
Since there are many theories about what happens when you are stretching, here is the deal. When you are stretching, you are actually stretching your muscles, as well as your ligaments, tendons, and fibers. But why is this so important?
Reasons
There are many reasons for this, but we singled out these three, as the most important ones.
- Improving your training,
With regular stretching, you are increasing the range of movement of your muscles, which can result in greater benefits of your training.
- Injury preventing,
Stretching will help you to “protect” your muscles and ligaments from injuries, in a way that will make them more flexible and prepare them for training.
- Pain relief,
Some studies showed that 15-30 minutes of stretching every day, can help you more with pain-reducing, than pain-killer medicaments. Regular stretching will make the blood flow through your muscles more smooth, which will result in pain-reducing.
More info
From the reasons that we have listed previously, you can see how important stretching is. If you want to know about this topic, you can check a Harvard university study about it here.
