San Antonio Personal Training

10/3/07

The four components of fitness are:

1) Muscular Strength

2) Muscular Endurance

3) Aerobic Capacitiy

4) Flexibility

Of these four which one do you miss when working out?  I am willing to bet that for 95% of you, it is the fourth component, Flexibility.  All of these components are important, and just as you wouldn't completely skip over lifting weights to improve your musclular strength, you shouldn't skip over stretching to improve your flexibility.  Stretching is important because it allows your body to move through its full range of motion with limited stress on the muscles and tendons around a joint. When I train clients at MPT we always start off with about 5 minutes of a dynamic warmup to prepare for the upcoming workout.  This dynamic warmup is a way to stretch while warming up the body.  We also finish all of our sessions with a static stretching period to help release some of the tension in the muscles from the workout and improve our range of motion.

Here are some basic instructions for how to stretch properly:

1) Don't stretch without warming the muscles up.  Think of the muscles as a rubberband.  If you try to stretch a rubberband as far as it can go as soon as you pick it up, then it will snap.  However, if you pull the rubberband a short distance real fast a few dozen times and get the rubber warm then you can stretch the rubber band a long way without having it snap.  The muscles are much the same way.  You want to make sure you warm them up before you try to stretch them (thus the reason we do a dynamic warmup).  A great way to do this, is to do a few walking lunges, a short 2-3min jog, etc. 

2) You shouldn't feel pain when you stretch.  Stretch to the point that you feel the muscles working, but don't push any further.  If you push to the point of heavy pain you risk straining or even pulling the muscle, so just stretch until you feel the muscle working.

3) One of the biggest mistakes I see people making when they stretch is that they try to bounce (this is called ballistic stretching) and in my opinion this is simply not safe.  When you bounce you put additional strain on the muscle that the muscle may not be able to handle, and again you risk a strain or tear in your muscle or tendons. 

Aerobic exercise, weight lifting and proper eating are all very important components of living a healthy lifestyle.  So is stretching, but it is often ignored.  If you don't stretch frequently, try to spend 10-15minutes today doing various stretches.  I guarantee you will enjoy it, and you will feel better throughout the day.

Make it a great day San Antonio!

Nicholas Wood

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