In many exercise programs, be it weight lifting for building and toning muscles or cardio vascular exercises for increasing stamina and to lose weight, most people do not perform enough stretching exercises even though stretching exercises can be performed by anyone at any age unless that person has some physical restriction to stretch. What is worse, many people do not even stretch before and after exercising. Unknown to most people, stretching also has anti aging benefits.
•Benefits of stretching exercises for muscle growth
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Stretching is an important aspect of exercising and should be a part of any exercise routine and program. There are many wonderful benefits when you perform regular stretching exercises. Stretching exercises not only help you to warm up and cool down before and after your workouts, it can and will actually help your muscles to grow bigger and stronger too. Don’t believe me? Then read on.
Stretching exercises help muscle growth because stretching lengthens your muscles and thus giving your muscle fibers a greater range of motion when lifting weights. So in effect, it recruits more muscle fibers and thus causing your muscles to grow stronger and bigger from your weight training.
By stretching your muscles after an intensive workout will reduce muscle soreness commonly known as DOMS (delayed onset muscle sore) which usually occurs a day after your workout.
Performing stretching exercises before your workout or before a physically demanding sporting activity will also decrease your chances of sustaining injuries and muscle cramps which will certainly destroy the joy of your activity.
When you stretch regularly, stretching exercises will help you gain agility which will make your daily chores much more pleasant and if you play sports, you will notice your agility is much better than others who do not stretch. This will put you in a more beneficial position against your opponents.
•Anti Aging Benefits Of Stretching Exercises
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If you are a baby boomer and age is catching up, this agility will make your life so much more pleasurable because you will be able to avoid stiff muscles and stiff joints unlike your peers who do not stretch. You will be more mobile, agile and suffering from less pain associated with aging and stiff body parts. These anti aging benefits from stretching regularly are priceless. Benefits that money can never be able to buy.
What is more, you can stretch anytime any where as and when you like. Stretching exercises need not be limited as a pre and post workout activity. So start a stretching exercise routine soon and make it part of your everyday lifestyle. You will surely enjoy the pleasures and anti aging benefits that a regular stretching routine can bring you.
Ok, so your one of those people who just has the worst kind of schedule known to mankind. You get up at 5 am so you can get to the office by 7 am to start your day. You have to go to a parent-teachers meeting at your kid’s school right after work, then you have to take your kid to soccer practice after that. You seem to have days like this almost all the time. You never seem to have much time for yourself between all of the things you have to do every day, so how can you possibly find the time to incorporate exercise into your day? Exercise takes time, and time is one luxury you just don’t have.
Well, there is a way to get some exercise into your day and that way is to simply exercise at your desk. No, that was not a typo. Here is a little routine that you can do right at your desk. It doesn’t take up much time and while it will not make you a candidate for the next fitness competition, it will give your muscles enough work to stay firm.
Complete one set of each exercise in order. Do 10 to 20 repetitions of each exercise, and follow with 1 to 2 more sets in order if time permits it.
Chair crunch:
Sit tall in your chair with your feet flat on the floor. Begin to slowly round your upper back downward until you feel your abdominal muscles tighten. Hold for 3-5 seconds, and then return to the start position.
Squats:
Stand up in front of your chair. Sit back into a squat like you are sitting back down in your chair, keeping your weight on your heels and your knees behind your toes. When you are almost touching your chair with your butt, push yourself back to the standing position using your leg muscles.
Calf raises:
Stand in front of your desk and put your hands on the desk for balance. Lift yourself up onto the balls of your feet. Hold for 3 to 5 seconds, and then lower yourself back down to the floor.
Desk pushup:
Stand 4 to 5 feet away from your desk and put of your hands on the edge of the desk. Relax your lower body and using just your arms, lower your chest down toward the desk and stop when your chest is about 3 to 6 inches away from it. Then push yourself back up to the starting position again using only your arms.
Seated triceps lift backs:
Sit tall in your chair. Put your arms down at your sides with your palms facing forward. With your arms strait and elbows locked, slowly bring your arms up behind you until you feel your triceps muscles tighten. Hold for 3 to 5 seconds, then lower your arms back to the starting position.
Seated bicep curls:
Sit tall in your chair. Start with one arm down at your side, palm facing forward in a fist. Put your other hand over your fist and push against it for resistance while bringing your fist up toward your shoulder. Once your fist is close to your shoulder, lower it back down to the starting position maintaining constant resistance with the other hand throughout the entire movement. Complete all repetitions for that set, then switch sides and repeat.
After you have completed each exercise for the amount of repetitions and sets you can do, sit down and straighten your legs. Now gently reach for your toes until you feel you can’t go any further, hold for 10 seconds (do not bounce), then return to the starting position. Next, reach your arms out to your sides as far as you can. Keeping them fully extended, bring them slowly to the front and cross them over each other as far as you can. Hold for 10 seconds, and then return them to your sides. Now, reach your arms over your head as far as you can, hold for 10 seconds, and then return them to your sides.
Taking the time to do this simple but effective exercise routine at the office will help to keep you toned and you can do it even with the worst schedule possible because it can be done during your lunch break and still leave you enough time to eat your lunch.
Enjoy your workout.
Let’s start with this very important rule: NEVER OVERDO THE FIRST FEW SESSIONS. Many beginners to exercising fall for this trap, especially when they do not have qualified trainers with them. They get overly excited and lose patience. They try to produce in two weeks what often takes years to accomplish.
They begin by going all out right from the start doing as much as they can. The next day, their joints and muscles lock up in pain. Then, they get discouraged, stop exercising for a while and give it up altogether. Workouts should start out smooth and easy.
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Here is a warm-up routine to do 1 set of before every workout, but doing 3 sets of these alone can be a pretty good workout; particularly if you are a beginner.
LEG STRETCH
Lean over deeply on your left foot while your right leg is stretched out to your right side. Maintain balance.
Slowly, raise yourself with your left leg to a standing position.
As you stand, spread your feet wide apart.
Repeat this for ten counts.
Do steps 1 to 4 again; this time, alternate the legs’ position (left becomes right, and vice-versa).
This exercise warms up your legs, calves, and abdomen.
LEG SQUAT
Stand erect, chest out, with your buttocks protruding and your stomach in. Put your hands straight out in front of you. Relax.
Do squats by bending your legs to lower your body. Bend your legs until your upper legs (thighs) are parallel to the ground and you are in a squatting position. Keep your body erect as you squat.
Then raise yourself as you straighten your legs back to a standing position.
Do around 5 to 10 squats. Inhale deeply as you go down. Exhale as you stand up.
This exercise warms up your leg muscles, calves, and the muscles in your abdomen.
TRUNK TWIST
Stand with your feet about 3 feet apart. Relax.
Place your hands behind your head with your elbows out to the sides.
Very slowly, twist your body to your right without moving your legs or feet. Try to twist to your right as far as possible. Your face and body should be facing your right side while your legs remain steady. Then hold on to this position for 10 seconds.
Do the same to your left side.
This exercise warms up your legs, back muscles, and abdomen.
ARM ROTATION
Stretch out your arms to your sides. Keep them level with your shoulders.
Simultaneously rotate both arms to the front. Do this 20 times each rotation.
This exercises your shoulders, arms, and back muscles.
ARMS PRESS
Bring your right and left palms together. Have all fingers and palms pressing each other in front of you while pointing the fingers upwards.
Simultaneously push one palm against the other as hard as you can. Keep pushing for 5 seconds. Relax. Then push again for 5 seconds.
Do this ten times. Exhale as you push, and inhale as you relax.
Then press both palms in front of you while having their fingers pointing in different directions one set of fingers pointing to your left, the other set to your right. If your left fingers point to the right, your left hand should be under your right hand.
Push both palms against each other, the left palm pushing upwards, the right palm pushing downwards.
Exhale as you push, and inhale as you relax. Do this ten times. Then change the positions of your palms (left over right) and do the same procedures.
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This exercises your forearms, arms, shoulders, and latissimus muscles (the muscles at the sides that give your body a V shape).
NECK PUSH
Gently move your head to your right side while your right hand gently pushes back against it. Do this once.
Gently move your head to your left side as your left hand gently pushes back against it. Do this once.
Gently move your head backwards as your left or right hand gently pushes back against it. Do this once.
Gently bow your head to the front as your right or left hand gently pushes against your forehead. Do this once.
This exercise strengthens your neck muscles. Never do neck rotations.
PUSH-UP
Do slow push-ups from 10 to 15 counts.
This exercises your arms, chest, shoulders, part of your abdomen, and part of your back muscles.
JOGGING
Jog in place for 3 minutes.
Then jog in place a lot faster for 2 minutes.
Then jog in place with a normal pace for another 3 minutes.
This exercise gives you a good leg and calf warm-up. This also serves as aerobics for your lungs and heart.
There! That ought to do it. After doing the above warm up exercises for some time, you should be ready start doing regular weight training and cardio workouts. Then just do 1 set of these exercises to properly warm up before you start each workout.
A group of muscles that often gets neglected in stomach exercise routines are the transverse abdominal, the core muscles that lie below the rectus abdominus. Most abdominal exercises target the rectus abdominus and the vertical abdominal, ignoring the transverse abdominal. Even crunches, the staple of most abdominal workouts, do nothing for the transverse abdominal. These muscles are actually the most important to target, however, as they connect to both the lower back muscles and the rectus abdominus and for a girdle for the entire abdomen. Any routine aimed at flattening the stomach should include the transverse abdominal as a focus. Using the following exercises, you can work out your transverse abdominal and really make progress on that flat tummy. As with any workout routine, be sure to consult a professional before beginning and always warm up properly to avoid injury.
Pelvic Tilts
This stomach exercise requires lying on your back on a flat surface, such as the floor or a bench. Use a mat or towel to cushion your spine. Bend your knees so that your feet are flat on the floor. Raise your pelvis (and only your pelvis) off the floor, hold momentarily, and then lower it back down. Repeat for an entire set. Maintaining a controlled movement is crucial to this exercise. This will allow you to use your abdominal muscles, rather than your body's momentum, to do the work on the exercise. Also, be sure to keep your upper body on the floor throughout.
Crunchless Crunch
This first exercise is fairly simple but can also be fairly difficult. Essentially, it involves trying to pull the belly button in towards the spine. This can be tricky, as it involves using muscles which you may not be used to activating. To start, either lie or on your stomach or kneel. You might want to try both ways and see which helps you feel the exercise better. Relax your body as much as possible, then try to use only the lower abdominal to move your belly button toward your spine. Hold for ten seconds. If holding for ten seconds feels easy, hold for a longer period. The goal is to hold the contraction until you either cannot feel it, or you feel other muscles working harder than the transverse abdominus. When you feel this, let the contraction out.
Scissor Kicks
This stomach exercise also requires lying on the floor. Position your hands under your butt, keeping your back pressed against the floor. Slowly raise one leg to a height of about ten inches, then slowly lower it back to the floor. As your lower one leg, raise the other. Repeat this motion for an entire set. Maintaining control throughout is important, not allowing momentum to get the better of you. Your upper body should remain on the floor through the entire move.
There are plenty of other exercises targeting the transverse abdominals, but these three ought to be enough to get you started. Stomach exercises like these are key to any tummy-flattening plan, and they are especially good for pregnant and post-partum women.
It is only natural, most people want to look their best, and exercising their stomach muscles is usually a huge part of most fitness programs. If so much time and energy is going to be focused on this muscle group, it is a good idea to know what the best stomach exercises are. There are many resources available for finding the best stomach exercises, and plenty of people to say what they consider the best, so how can a person decide for themselves which truly are the best exercises for working their stomach muscles?
First of all it is important to note that the best stomach exercises are those that a person is willing to do. No matter how effective the exercise is, if a person isn't going to do them consistently the exercise will not benefit that particular individual. It is also important to note that the best stomach exercises do not necessarily require equipment to perform them, although some machines and equipment may work quite well for some people.
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When a person decides on a fitness program that includes stomach exercises, it is best to include stomach exercises that work the different parts of the stomach. If a person simply concentrates on one area of their stomach, there workout will not be as effective. The best stomach exercises, combine working the oblique, which are the side muscles, the lower abdominals, the mid section and also the upper section.
Some of the most popular stomach exercises are crunches. These are a very effective exercise and very convenient since they can be performed anywhere without any equipment. The next stomach exercise that is also very popular and goes along with the basic crunch is the side crunch, which works out the oblique.
Some people consider the best stomach exercises to be included in a Pilate's workout. The reason for this is because in Pilates, the whole focus is on the core of the body which is the abdominal, or stomach muscles. Every movement in a Pilate's workout will work the stomach muscles either directly or indirectly. These exercises can be found on the internet, either the exercise itself or video's that can be purchased.
Another good exercise that some fitness experts considers to be one of the best stomach exercises involves laying flat on your stomach, leg straight and then raising your body up using your arms as your hands are clasped together and keeping your body straight as if doing a push up. Hold this position as long as you can stand. This is an excellent movement to strengthen the whole stomach.
Remember again though that just because one person may consider a specific exercise to be the best stomach exercise that does not necessarily mean it is the best for everyone. Each person's body is different and will respond differently to certain movements. Any one serious about working on the abdominal muscles will find it most helpful to try several different stomach exercises and then determine which one they can both feel and see results with. If one exercise is simply too hard to do correctly, or does not feel like it has done anything for the muscle group worked, that exercise is clearly not the best and the person should find what works best for them.
