Stretching (stretching) for beginners at home: a set of exercises * Crossfit

A very important part of any workout is exercises aimed at increasing the elasticity of muscles and ligaments. Daily stretching has a beneficial effect on flexibility, ease of movement, and helps relieve tension from joints.

Stretching the groin and leg ligaments improves blood circulation in the pelvic organs and is indicated even for pregnant women. If you devote at least ten minutes daily to classes, you can achieve remarkable results: gain grace, flexibility, sit on a twine.

The benefits of stretching and who needs it?

Physiological gradual stretching of ligaments and muscles is necessary to keep the body in good shape and gradually prepare it for training or help it recover faster after exercise.

With age and under the influence of various factors, for example, sedentary work, pregnancy, illness or injury, joint mobility and ligament elasticity decrease. When it comes to good stretching, it doesn't always mean splits or difficult yoga asanas. Sometimes it is the ability to tie shoelaces effortlessly, bend over, reach for a shelf.

Flexibility exercises sometimes seem boring and unnecessary, but they are extremely important:

Pregnant women, to prepare for the birth of a baby, to avoid perineal tears and prepare the ligaments for the movement of the fetus through the pelvis.
For women after childbirth for a speedy recovery, elimination of diastasis, strengthening the muscles of the pelvic floor and back.
Joggers, especially for long distances.
For those who are fond of bodybuilding and want to build muscle harmoniously.
Men who are engaged in heavy physical work to relieve spinal clamps, reduce back pain and prevent diseases associated with excessive stress.
Anyone who spends a lot of time sitting leads a sedentary lifestyle.
Those who want to recover faster from injuries of the skeleton and muscles, after illness and surgery.
Elderly people, in order to maintain body mobility for a long time, good blood circulation, joy of being active.
For adolescents and young adults, to maintain beautiful posture, grace, attractiveness and muscle tone.

Flexibility is an individual property. Someone naturally easily sits on the twine, raises their legs to head level, bends over and stands in the bridge. Someone needs to train purposefully for a long time, even for the sake of modest results.

Women's ligaments are more elastic than men's. However, one thing is for sure - with age, a less flexible person will find it even more difficult to perform activities associated with sprains, and the likelihood of injury will increase. Therefore, it is better to start systematically practicing stretching as early as possible in order to maintain mobility and lightness until old age.

The benefits of stretching are difficult to overestimate. Everyone who goes in for sports knows how important it is to alternate strength and cardio with complexes aimed at stretching muscles and ligaments.

Stretching is necessary to:

Prevent muscle tears, reduce the risk of injury and pain after a major workout.
Remove the clamp from the musculature after a serious load.
Increase the flexibility of the body, help it stay in good shape.

Stretching is shown not only to athletes or those who follow the figure, regularly visiting the gym. Simple complexes can be performed at home.

Stretching types

Exercises for the elasticity of ligaments, joints and muscles have a different focus, intensity and are divided into:

Active, when a person himself exerts traction efforts, for example, bending over to a straight leg at the bar or performing a forward bend.
Passive, performed by a massage therapist or kinesitherapist while the patient is in a relaxed state.
Dynamic, typical for yoga or wushu, when the tension of one muscle group and ligaments smoothly flows into another.
Static, when there is a prolonged stretching of one muscle group in one position.
Ballistic, in which with a short, sharp jerk, a person tries to pull the preheated ligaments as much as possible.

Each type has its own indications and contraindications, execution technique and precautions. It is imperative that you familiarize yourself with them before starting a workout.

Physical and psychological preparation

If you want to seriously engage in stretching and achieve certain results, for example, learn how to sit on a twine or stand on a bridge, you should carefully approach the preparation.

In order not to burn out and not abandon training, you need to take into account the following psychological points:

Accept your gender, age, body condition and health. Do not overestimate the requirements for yourself, but also do not underestimate the bar. Prepare not to compare yourself with others, only with yourself in the past.
Find yourself adequate reward for your workout. Let it not be a cake or tea with sweets, but a mark on the calendar of achievements, a photo on social networks, communication with like-minded people, a rest on your own.
Identify and write down triggers that will encourage you to exercise. For example, bending over each time you walk past a mirror, or setting an alarm for a five-minute stretch.
Don't wait for immediate results. Notes in a special diary or calendar will help you not to be disappointed. If progress is recorded, there will be strength to continue.

In addition to moral, it is worth paying attention to special physical training:

Be sure to stretch your muscles and ligaments in advance. For this, articular gymnastics is well suited, which must be performed systematically, starting with the neck and ending with the feet.
The tension of the ligaments should be controlled by increasing the load when they relax and no longer feel discomfort.
Help the body to be in good shape with massage, light cardio.

The best time to do stretching exercises is in the morning.

Execution technique

Stretching is often painful for beginners. Pain is inevitable, but it must be bearable, one that you can gradually get used to. There should be no sensations of torn ligaments and sharp unbearable sensations.

For beginners, there are a number of rules, following which, you can train without fear of injury.

Attention should be paid to:

Sufficient warming up of all muscles and ligaments. To do this, you need to do several intense warm-up complexes, increase blood circulation and bring yourself into a heated state.
Warming up small muscles. It is worth starting a workout with bends, stretching, and only then move on to splits, butterflies and frogs.
Even and deep breathing during exercise.
Relaxation that comes from within. The exercise should be performed on exhalation, imagining how the muscles gradually soften and stretch. Without the connection between the brain and the body, the result cannot be achieved.
Smoothness of movement. You can not make sharp jerks, jumps, coups.
The nature of the pain. They can be uncomfortable, but should not be the same as when injured. Tearing pain in ligaments and joints cannot be tolerated.

Complex for training

For those who are not familiar with stretching and choreography, who have never done yoga and do not know where to start classes, these simple but effective exercises are suitable.

Kitty

You need to get on all fours, straighten your back parallel to the floor. Then slowly bend up and down, fixing the extreme positions for a few seconds.

Stretching the buttocks

To perform the exercise, you must lie on your back. Bend one leg at the knee, and raise the other to yourself, helping with your hands, while leaving it straight. Gradually, the other leg can also be straightened.

You can pull the buttocks by performing forward bends from a sitting position.

Calf muscles and hamstrings

Lunge forward, leaving your feet on the ground with your heels firmly pressed to the floor.

Bending forward from a standing position pulls well the entire back of the legs, including the calves. The main thing here is not to forget that you cannot round your lower back and bend your legs.

Front of the thigh

These muscles stretch perfectly if you grab your toes with your hand and pull your leg back towards your buttocks.

The same exercise can be performed while lying on your back, if at the same time bend your knees and move your feet towards the head, trying to put your knees on the floor. You can use a rubber band for convenience.

Rib cage

To relax the thoracolumbar spine and the shoulder girdle, lifting the hands locked behind the back helps well.

Lumbar

Bending forward, backward and sideways from a sitting, lying or standing position well stretch the back muscles in the lumbar region. Twists are useful for shaping your waistline and relieving pain after lifting weights.

Cautions

Unfortunately, not everyone can start intensive stretching work. There are a number of health features for which stretching is contraindicated.

It is necessary to approach the classes very carefully if the student has:

Osteoporosis or genetic bone fragility.
Diseases of the cardiovascular system, hypertension, thrombosis, varicose veins.
Arthritis and joint hypoplasia.
Hernia and protrusion in the spine.
Scoliosis, displacement of the vertebrae, pinched nerves.
Diseases in the acute period, accompanied by fever, pain, weakness.

Before exercising, these people should consult with their doctor and kinesitherapist.

Stretching for pregnant women and those who lose weight

If the gynecologist does not express concerns about moderate physical activity, stretching is ideal for women to prepare for childbirth and a harmonious course of pregnancy. You need to warn the coach about your condition or specially enroll in a group for expectant mothers.

Stretching complexes will be different, but at the same time they will retain all the usefulness and effectiveness.

You can also recover from childbirth with stretching.

Exercise will help improve digestion by increasing peristalsis. In addition, lymph outflow and blood flow inside muscle fibers will improve, which helps to strengthen them and prevent cellulite. The skin will gradually become toned, and a good mood will increase self-esteem and well-being.

Misconceptions about stretching

Any activity, whether it be a sport or a gymnastic complex, over time acquires a number of myths. The main source of confusion is those who seek obstacles to not exercising. It is much easier to find formal reasons for refusing to exercise than to systematically perform them patiently, working for the result.

The following myths are associated with stretching:

Flexibility is an innate property, if by nature the ligaments do not stretch well, then plasticity cannot be achieved. This is not true. Initially, coarse ligaments and joints will slowly yield to daily stress. Gutta-percha stretching may not work, but healthy mobility will be ensured.
It's too late to stretch after 30 years. Of course, the ligaments lose their elasticity with age, but they do not become stone. If you've never stretched, regaining flexibility will simply take longer.
It is very painful and traumatic. Sharp pain during and after the exercise indicates a violation of technique and insufficient heating. Ideally, only slight discomfort should be felt when stretching.
Stretching cannot improve your figure. Perhaps the calorie expenditure during stretching is not as intense as during strength or cardio. But its purpose is not only energy consumption.

A harmonious body is made up of a uniform load on all muscle groups and ligaments, of movable flexible joints, of lightness and grace.

You should not look for excuses to justify the unwillingness to help your body maintain youth and functionality. You can start practicing from a few minutes a day. They will already be good for your health.