The Importance of Flexibility


Every session begins with a warm-up. In addition to being a physiological preparation for training, the warm up serves as a ritual to invoke the calm, focused mind set required for your workout.

Contemporary health-related fitness best practice dictates that a warm-up has three phases.

Firstly, light repetitive movements slowly increase the respiratory rate, increasing blood flow and causing the muscles to generate heat.

Secondly, gentle articulation from head to toe lubricates the joints and allows free movement of the body.

Finally, all muscle groups are stretched for at least ten seconds to help prevent injury when practising. To increase flexibility, stretches should be held for anywhere between 30 seconds and five minutes.

The body adapts to demands placed on it and, with regular workouts, improvements in flexibility are inevitable.

There are 3 types of stretches: ballistic stretching, dynamic, and static stretching:

Ballistic Stretches involve bouncing or jerking. It is purported to help extend limbs during exercise, promoting agility and flexibility. However, this type of stretching may also cause injury and is not generally recommended.

Static Stretches involve flexing the muscles. This may help prevent injury and permit greater flexibility and agility. It’s worth noting that static stretching for too long may weaken the muscles.

Dynamic Stretching involves moving the body part in the desired way until reaching the full range of motion, to improve performance.

Safe stretching uses joints only in their natural directions. Stretching provides improved awareness and control over the body and an increased capacity to perform your workout routines. It helps the body to heal more quickly and it calms the mind.

“The stiff and unbending is the disciple of death. The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.” – Lao-tzu circa 300B.C.

The cost of One to One training is only £30.00ph or why not checkout my boot camp and circuit training classes for only £7.00 per session

Contact Becky Now on 0771 5596 250 for more details