Tips on Stretching

Tip # 1 Know Your Limits

The same goes for stretching. If you stretch promptly before and after a session in the gym, you will decrease your chances of serious injury and avoid soreness and pain.
Stretching is not an activity meant to cause pain: its whole purpose is to avoid pain. When you stretch, you might feel a little discomfort or mild tension as you work out some of the stiffness, but if you feel any pain beyond that, you have gone too far.
When you stretch the muscle and tendons to the point of pain, the body employees it defense mechanism called the stretch reflex. The stretch reflex protects the muscles and tendons by contracting them, thereby preventing them from being stretched beyond their limits - consulting with your personal trainer boulder co will be a good idea if you haven't done alot of stretching before.

Training Right Means Stretching

Many people never learn how to stretch properly. Maybe you have done this yourself: you watch other people stretching in the gym and try to imitate what you see. Bouncing will not help you and could do more damage as you try to push too far beyond the stretch reflex. Lean into the stretch gradually, pushed to the point of mild tension and hold for a few seconds.

Not Holding the Stretch Long Enough: if you do not hold the stretch long enough, you may fall into the habit of rushing or bouncing through your stretch workout. Hold your stretch position for at least 15 to 20 seconds before moving back to your original position.
Stretching Too Hard: stretching takes patience and finesse. Do not throw your body into a stretch or try to rush through your stretching routine.

A stretching routine for marathon runner will be very different from a routine for an hour of weightlifting. Pay attention to the muscles you'll need to use in your program and make sure you form for each stretch is attained properly. The whole point of stretching is getting your muscles accustomed to moving through a specific range of motion, so if the muscle is not used to going that far, you may end up with an injury. To avoid the stretch potential and reflex damage to your joints and muscles, avoid pain. Only stretch to the point when you can feel tension in your muscles.

Stretching is one of the most underutilized techniques for improving athletic performance, preventing sports injury and properly rehabilitating soft tissue injuries. Do not make the mistake of thinking that something as simple as stretching will not be effective. Take your time with your stretching routine and later you will be grateful you did.

Tip # 2 Don't Stretch an Injury
Now is not the time to start stretching if you neglected to incorporate stretching into your workout routine and has sustained an injury because of it. That is like shutting the barn door after the cows already left. Once you've healed the muscle strain, ligament sprain or other soft tissue injury, you can start stretching, but definitely not while you're injured.

The moment you realize you've injured yourself, you'll need to take some steps to secure a full recovery later on. One of the most effective methods of treatment is R.I.C.E.R (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation and Referral). Let's look at each step in detail:
R (Rest): it's important that the injured area be kept as still as possible. This will help to slow down blood flow to the area of the body and prevent any further damage.

Ice: this is by far the most important part. The application of ice will have the greatest effect on reducing bleeding, swelling and pain. Apply ice as soon as possible after the injury has occurred.