Hey there, viewers. Losing weight is no joke. It’s
hard to push your body to the limit with all this temptation around you.
But sadly, there are no shortcuts to great health,
although you can begin slowly and supplement your workouts with lots of stretching.
Seriously, stretching can actually help in the weight loss department.
In today's video, we’ll be discussing the importance of stretching when getting in shape.
How many calories can it burn? How do you stretch properly?
Wait, do you guys even know what the point of stretching is? Let’s start with that...
What is stretching?
Stretching prepares you for your exercise. A good stretch involves putting a joint through its full
range of motion. If you stretch regularly, you will have a decreased risk of injury and reduced
stress levels. It will also make sure all parts of your body are moving smoothly and swiftly.
Do you feel stress-free after stretching? For how long do you stretch? Sound off
in the comment section, and start a conversation with our Bestie community.
If you aim to get a toned, sculpted body you should give
stretching a serious thought. Stretching also torches your calories. So why not try it?
Doing full-range movements during a workout can be difficult in the beginning. If you already
practice stretching, you may have noticed that your exercise performance has improved.
Overexerted & fatigued muscles are relaxed through stretching. A few injuries and tears
can quickly heal simply by stretching. If your desk job forces you to work long hours,
a quick stretch can give you the relief you didn’t know you needed.
But if only stretching was simple. You see,
stretching is a science and it needs to be done correctly. So let’s talk about...
Types of stretching
There are many different stretches that each serve a different part of your body.
1. Active and passive static stretching
Any exercise routine usually begins with the static stretch.
It’s an important part of a quick warm-up, and is a must for a post-workout cooldown.
While it’s pretty common, people are usually unaware of it.
Stretch the muscles, hold that pose for some time, and release the position. It comes with
slight discomfort, but this sweet pain is needed to loosen up those tight and sore muscles.
A static stretch has two types, active and passive.
Active stretching contracts the opposite muscles, which are used to hold in a maximum
extended or stretched form. The opposite muscle lengthens at the time of movement.
Active stretching is difficult and should be performed for 15 to 30 seconds only.
Passive stretching involves using a strap, or simply gravity to maintain a joint at its
lengthened position. There should be no active muscle contraction in this.
Here’s a very specific example. Imagine yourself lying on your back with a leg over your head. This
would be active stretching. A passive stretch would utilize the use of the resistance band
held with both your hands. The sole of your foot would be touching the band creating resistance.
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2. Dynamic stretching
With this, you need to slowly stretch your joint to its limit.
You might find them quite similar to exercise patterns.
These stretches increase your core temperature and prepare the joints for actual exercises.
Apart from these two major stretch types, you have a couple minor stretches you can also do.
One of them involves some really sciency words.
Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching
Let’s call it ‘PNF’ for short. With this stretching, the muscles you target don’t expand
or contract. An isometric contraction will happen when you passively stretch a joint to its limit.
Ballistic stretching
This involves quick, powerful joint movements to their full range of motion.
However, trying ballistic stretching can be risky.
Bouncing is the most preferred method to achieve it. It has a high risk of causing tissue damage,
and ligament or tendon tears. It’s advised you first speak to a doctor.
Before we move ahead, here’s another video that may interest you. With all this talk
about weight loss, you may want to watch 11 surprising foods you didn't know burn fat.
Now back to our discussion on stretching.
So how many calories do you burn?
Consider a 150-pound person who stretches 10 minutes every day. Roughly 3 calories
are burnt per minute. Therefore, it would burn close to 30 calories in 10 minutes.
Stretching needs to be combined with moderate exercise, yoga,
or dynamic warm-ups. This is so it will give you the best results.
If you’re aiming for a high-intensity workout and athletic movements,
a 10 minute warm-up will give you a good burn of 41 calories.
Power yoga and dynamic warm-ups burn between 36 to 71 calories in 10 minutes. A one hour
yoga class will burn 216 to 426 calories. So if you’re not a big fan of hardcore workouts,
just extend your stretching time and combine small exercises to get the effective calorie burn.
Stretching can complement your weight loss. You must add activities like jogging, HIIT, or biking
to your fitness schedule. Stretching is a part of NEAT. This is Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.
All your daily activities like sitting on the couch, reading a magazine,
doing laundry, driving, cooking and moving around your house all fall under this category.
A healthy body with pumped-up muscles is a sign of a regular gym-goer. The increase in muscle
size is called muscle hypertrophy. Studies have shown that stretching between 2 sets of exercises
relaxed the muscles, and helped push harder during the next set, leading to a toned, muscular body.
Surprisingly, passive stretching did not help to alter the muscle tone. We need more research on
whether stretching alone is enough to tone your body without the boost from resistance training.
Now let's discuss which stretches are best suited for different times in a workout.
Pre-workout
Dynamic stretches can be added before you begin exercising. They can warm your body up and
increase flexibility. Consider your body as a rubber band. If a warm rubber band is stretched,
it can go further than a cold one. A cold rubber band easily breaks if stretched to the limit.
A few dynamic stretches involve the circling of all the joints like the shoulder, wrist,
ankle, and hip joint. Always remember to do mild aerobics like a brisk walk
or light jog to increase the temperature of your muscles before getting into a dynamic stretch.
During and before exercise
Static and PNF stretches will increase your range of motion for every exercise.
Try doing them before and in between two 2 sets of resistance training or sprint intervals.
Do not go to the extreme level while performing these stretches, otherwise your muscles will hurt,
and it will affect your next performance. A tip to avoid this would be to hold the stretch
for less than 60 seconds, where you should experience only mild to moderate discomfort.
Post-workout
A proper cool-down is as important as a great warm-up.
It’s also the best way to slow down your heart rate gradually,
rather than a sudden drop. Fatigued muscles can’t perform their full function.
Stretching helps to achieve this range of motion. It can bring back the flexibility you lost during
activity. Cooling down is a must, especially after workouts like HIIT, which require a ton of reps.
I know you’ll be eager to start your stretching routine, but before that,
just listen to these quick tips.
Begin slowly
It's important to focus on your form rather than the number of
reps. It doesn’t matter if you do 20 reps with bad
form. Just 10 reps with great form will give your muscles all the benefits of stretching.
At first, it won't be easy for your muscles to get used to the discomfort.
But with controlled movements, you’ll slowly be able to reach the entire range of motion.
Know your own limits
You will experience a little pain after stretching. Over time,
you may feel very uncomfortable. If you ever have unbearable pain while stretching,
you should stop immediately. Talk to a professional if the pain continues.
Keep going, regardless
Now I know this may fly in the face of our last tip. But you should always keep trying,
even if you don’t think you’re getting the results you want. Consistency is the key to
body transformation. Only long-standing efforts deliver great results. Your flexibility will not
increase overnight. Constant focus will improve your muscle length and make you more flexible.
Fitness is so important to your health. Whatever your exercise of choice is, you need to stay
active. Let’s keep the conversation going with a couple more fitness-related videos, shall we?
Check out 8 weight loss tips tested
here's what worked. You can also try the top 8 foods that transform your body in 4 weeks.
Go ahead, click one. Or better yet, watch both, and learn more about how to get in
shape. Is there a particular stretch you enjoy most? Let us know in the comments below!