When should i do stretches

Muscles in your legs can get tight after exercising or playing sports. Here are four leg stretches to improve flexibility and reduce the risk of…. Stretching for just a few minutes a day can improve performance and flexibility.

This easy-to-follow routine will help get you started. Repetitive motions, like typing on a keyboard, can create weakness and stiffness in your wrists and fingers.

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See the 10…. Using your own momentum to propel you forward, manual treadmills offer an effective way to break a sweat. See the manual treadmills that our expert…. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Common beliefs about stretching. Sign up to get tips for living a healthy lifestyle, with ways to fight inflammation and improve cognitive health , plus the latest advances in preventative medicine, diet and exercise , pain relief, blood pressure and cholesterol management, and more.

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I want to get healthier. Close Health Alerts from Harvard Medical School Get helpful tips and guidance for everything from fighting inflammation to finding the best diets for weight loss Ballistic stretching is similar to dynamic stretching, but incorporates bouncing movements to push the range of movement to the very extremes of its limits. Another type of stretching, called proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation , or PNF, involves repeated contraction and relaxation of the target muscles in order to allow them to stretch.

Many believe PNF enables a greater range of movement, but this effect only lasts for around five seconds after the end of the stretch. All of these stretching methods will increase flexibility, but based on current evidence, static stretching is still more effective than either PNF or ballistic stretching at improving range of movement, and may even be slightly better than dynamic stretching.

While stretching on its own is unlikely to have much impact on your workout or recovery, a bit of stretching during your warm-up may help to gradually prepare your body for exercise. That being said, stretching for the sake of improving flexibility still provides numerous health benefits , including improved circulation and reduced blood pressure. Public guidelines recommend doing flexibility exercises two or three times a week, incorporating both static and dynamic stretches.

And if you are worried about injuries, your best bet is to focus on a thorough warm-up, which may well include a healthy dose of dynamic stretching, too. Portsmouth Climate Festival — Portsmouth, Portsmouth. Edition: Available editions United Kingdom. Become an author Sign up as a reader Sign in. Lewis Macgregor , University of Stirling.

Exercise Fitness Stretching Workout flexibility.