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Warm muscles, tendons, and ligaments are more flexible and stretch easier. To go straight into a workout with “cold” muscles can lead to painful injury such as tears. It is not fun to workout if you are hurting yourself. I sure don’t enjoy the “no pain, no gain” theory, nor do I believe it.

Stretches should be gradual, not forceful or done with a bouncing motion. They should be gentle and steady.

You want to hold each stretch in a “static” position anywhere from 10-60 seconds, allowing each muscle to slowly stretch. Doing slow deliberate stretches can also help relieve stress. Allowing yourself the time to shut off outside stresses, and focus physically and mentally on your bodies movement sometimes might be the perfect break you need.

Take the time to focus on each muscle group in-order to gain the most benefit. When doing this I want to also be aware of my breathing. I breath deeply being conscious of how I am breathing. I feel the oxygen feeding my muscles and as I exhale I feel the release of stress and toxins leaving my system.

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