One of the most common questions people who introduce stretching into their rhythm of life is, “When is the best time to stretch?”
The answer can be different and depends very much on the goal for which you are stretching, so in this article we will try to explain it.
Stretching in the morning
If you want to make it easier for yourself to move throughout the day, prepare your muscles for everything that awaits them, or improve circulation for better functioning on a daily basis, then stretching in the morning will be a good decision. Since after several hours of sleep, the muscles definitely shorten and the body is less mobile, stretching in the morning can seem more intense than stretching in the later hours of the day. Also, the range of motion may be lower due to stronger sensations, colder muscles and more lubricated joints due to the long rest of the previous hours. After stretching, the body will receive all the possible optimal conditions for further movement and work.
Stretching in the afternoon and evening
After a hard day, after sitting for a long time, with your shoulders bent and your hips closed, stretching is one of the best things you can give your body. It will allow you to faster eliminate accumulated substances inside the muscles, improve the supply of oxygen to the muscles and brain, especially if stretching is coordinated with adequate breathing. It will have a relaxing effect on the nervous system and definitely improve sleep.
In a review of Chinese and American studies from the medical journal Sleep Medicine Reviews, meditative movements such as yoga and tai chi before bed were shown to improve sleep quality and also improve the overall well-being of an individual’s physical and mental health. In fact, yoga has been shown to be very beneficial for those who struggle to fall asleep at night due to sore muscles or a restless mind.
In a survey by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, more than half of people who practiced yoga before bed said it helped them sleep better.
Stretching before training
One of the ways to warm up and prepare the body for training can be one of the forms of stretching. Most often, dynamic stretching is recommended, if you are doing it independently, but also assisted stretching such as there is in our center. In these cases, what we suggest is that the muscles are not brought to the extreme limits of stretchability so as not to relax too much, but to some 60 or 70% of the maximum. In this type of stretching, the PNF technique is used, in which muscle activation is performed in the form of static contraction, which is extremely good for “waking up” the muscles before training.
Stretching after training
It is common knowledge that post-workout stretching will play a role in faster muscle recovery and reduced subjective feelings of fatigue, which most individuals who use post-workout stretching can attest. According to recent research, stretching should be done an hour to 2 hours after training, especially after some heavy strength training. Namely, after strength training, muscle tone remains very high and immediate stretching will affect the fascia (muscle sheath) the most, and only when the tone relaxes a little, it will allow the whole muscle to stretch.
Stretching when your body tells you that you need it
Intuitive stretching is always welcome because our body is giving us signals of what it needs. In this case, the only important thing is that, at that moment, the muscles and the nervous system need stretching and relaxation. Listen to your body, you will certainly feel incomparably better.
