Stretches: Are They Necessary or Can You Skip?

Stretching sucks! I hate it! No but I literally hate it. I’m tall so I’m not flexible (that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it)! If you’ve ever been with me to yoga class then you know I’m the only one who isn’t relaxed and zen. Instead I’m drenched in sweat, all tangled up and extremely frustrated. But as much as I hate it, I know it is necessary.

Unfortunately, I have learned the hard way (more times that I’d like to admit) that stretching is a must! Especially if you work out and lift as much as I do. If not it's pretty much counterproductive to what you’re doing at the gym. Stretching keeps the muscles flexible, long, strong and healthy and it's important for the gym to maintain a range of motion in the joints. Without it, the muscles shorten and become tight. And guess what? That means injury, no muscle gains and your out of the gym for weeks…even months.

Stretching also relaxes us and allows our body to go back to a parasympathetic state (relaxing) after a workout. Why is this important? To allow for our bodies to adapt and recover.

So when should we stretch? After your workout and NEVER before! You want to do a proper warm-up at the beginning of your workout and a proper cool down and stretching after. What is a proper warm-up? You can watch it here.

As for a cool-down and stretch? You want to walk or bike after your workout and slowly go, decreasing the intensity so that you can remove the lactic acid buildup from your body. After you’ve done that for about 10 minutes then you can go on and stretch.

Here is a great guide by Weightloss Factories: