Flexibility

Definition: Flexibility is a joint’s ability to move through a full range of motion.

Flexibility  will teach you three basic stretching techniques and the very important principles and guidelines of a safe, effective flexibility-training program. In addition, you’ll learn how to include stretching with your cardiovascular exercise and strength-training programs, without taking up much of your valuable time.

Warming up and cooling down should be an part of any type of exercise or sport, particularly aerobics, for its dangerous and in efficient to leap immediately from rest to maximum activity. When you are at rest, your blood circulates more or loss evenly through the body, facilitating the healthy functioning of all vital organs. When a specific part of the body is called into action a greater blood supply carrying oxygen is sent to the working parts.

Warm up and stretching is essential to signal your body that a certain group of muscles will be in need of increased supply of oxygen.

 Flexibility training (stretching) helps balance muscle groups that might be overused during exercise or physical activity or as a result of bad posture. It’s important to clearly understand the many benefits that result from a good flexibility program.

Stretching reduces muscle soreness , refer to the Strength Training content ahead . Recent studies show that slow, static stretching (explained in the next section) helps reduce muscle soreness after exercise. Moreover, stretching improves muscular balance and posture. Many women’s soft-tissue structures had adapted poorly to either the effect of gravity or poor postural habits. Stretching can help realign soft tissue structures, thus reducing the effort it takes to achieve and maintain good posture in the activities of daily living.
 

A key benefit, and one we wish more women would realize, is that stretching reduces the risk of low back pain. Stretching promotes muscular relaxation. A muscle in constant contraction requires more energy to accomplish activities. Flexibility in the hamstrings, hip flexors, quadriceps, and other muscles attaching to the pelvis reduces stress to the low back. Stretching causes muscular relaxation, which encourages healthy nutrition directly to muscles; the resulting reduction in accumulated toxins reduces the potential for muscle shortening or tightening and thus reduces fatigue.

Another great benefit is that stretching increases blood supply and nutrients to joint structures. Stretching increases tissue temperature, which in turn increases circulation and nutrient transport. This allows greater elasticity of surrounding tissues and increases performance. Stretching also increases joint fluid, which is a lubricating fluid that promotes the transport of more nutrients to the joints’ particular cartilage. This allows a greater range of motion and reduces joint degeneration.

Another benefit is increased neuromuscular coordination. Studies show that nerve-impulse velocity (the time it takes an impulse to travel to the brain and back) is improved with stretching. This helps opposing muscle groups work in more  coordinated fashion.

First, a safe and effective flexibility training program increases physical performance. A flexible joint has the ability to move through a greater range of motion and requires less energy to do so, while greatly decreasing your risk of injury. Most professionals agree that stretching decreases resistance in tissue structures; you are, therefore, less likely to become injured by exceeding tissue extensibility (maximum range of tissues) during activity.

Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the energy expended by the body at rest. This continual work makes up about 60-70% of the calories we use and includes the beating of our heart, breathing, and the maintenance of body temperature. Your BMR is influenced by a number of factors, including age, weight, height, gender, environmental temperature, dieting and exercise habits. 
The BMR is most accurately measured at rest (but not asleep) in a special environment, but it can be estimated as we are doing here.

How flexible are you?

The ability to move joints freely and without pain through a wide range of motion is an important component of physical fitness. Flexibility benefits all physical activities and helps prevent pain and stiffness after exercise. Busy working or raising our families, most of us don’t take the time to exercise and stretch regularly.

No one test can measure total-body flexibility. However, tests can be used to assess flexibility in the hamstring and low-back areas. These areas where injury commonly occurs due to loss of flexibility. A simple toe-touch test can be used. People should stand with their legs straight and feet together and bend forward slowly at the waist. A person who cannot touch their toes without bouncing or bobbing needs work to improve their flexibility in the muscle groups stretched by this test.

The Test

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