Avoid Injury with these 5 Muscle Stretching Tips

I’m sure that everyone knows that it is important to properly prepare your body before doing any strenuous exercise. By stretching your muscles, you can help avoid serious injuries that are not only painful, but can also impede your performance meaning it takes much longer for you to lose weight.

Ideally, you will stretch right before you begin to walk on your treadmill and again afterwards. Stretching before your workout will help with your flexibility, and stretching afterward will also help prevent injury.

Here are some stretching tips to help you prevent injury to your muscles:

1. Don’t stretch until it hurts. Some people push their muscles to the point of pain, thinking that it provides a better stretch. Instead, stretch to a position that is comfortable for your body and hold it for about 20 seconds.

2. When stretching you should always breathe – some people believe that holding their breathe will help, but this is not the case. By actually doing some deep breathing exercises you will be able to give your muscles a much more thorough stretch.

3. Stretching is often seen as the warm up phase of exercise, but it’s really important to warm your muscles before you stretch them, so it’s a great idea to walk around or jog on the spot for a few minutes before you start to stretch.

4. After your workout, you can stretch after you take a warm bath or shower. The hot water will help relax your muscles, and the after workout stretch will feel good.

5. You may have seen professional athletes bouncing while they stretch, but you should never ever do this! Bouncing during stretching exercises can actually cause serious injuries to your muscles rather than prevent injuries.

The most important muscles that you need to stretch are not always your leg muscles. Of course, it is important to stretch your calf muscles, quadriceps, and hamstrings, but you also need to stretch her shoulders, abs, neck, and back. Believe it or not, walking on a treadmill provides a full body workout.

Try to be a bit more creative than just bending over and trying to touch your toes. Add in some other stretching exercises such as the splits and lunges. You can even work in some calf stretches by standing on a step and then dropping your heels – be sure to stop before it becomes uncomfortable though.

When stretching you should always make sure your movements and slow and deliberate – it actually helps to keep some tension in the muscles to get the most out of your stretch. And remember, you should never stretch to the point where it becomes painful.

Treadmill walking to lose weight is a terrific first step after you have those muscles stretched! Get treadmill workout strategies as well as detailed reviews of the best treadmills here.