Stretching

No workout is complete or completely effective unless youve stretched your muscles for at least half an hour. Heres a step-by-step, quick, no-fuss-no-frills guide to performing stretches. Rotate your joints, starting from the tips of your fingers, up to your neck and then down to your toes. Thus, you should rotate your joints in the following order: Fingers Wrist Elbows Shoulders Neck Waist Hips Legs Knees Ankles Rotate every joint clockwise, and then anti-clockwise, ten times in each direction. After youve finished these basic rotations, you need to do some activity that will warm you up. This literally means that you need to perform an activity that will increase your body temperature. Remember, you should never perform stretches without first warming up, because your muscles are cold, and not as supple as when warm. This causes them to tear. You could either: Go for a brisk walk Jog Do some spot-jogging Cycling Skipping, or any other activity The activity has to be done for a minimum of five minutes in order that you are sufficiently warmed up. Once you are warmed up, its time to get stretching! Start with slow, easy stretches. Its best to start with passive stretches. Passive stretches involve assuming a particular stretched position, and holding it for a few seconds before letting go. Start with your back. Sit on the ground and slowly bend forward, as much as you can manage without straining yourself, and hold this position. Try to touch your toes. Dont use jerky movements, no matter how tempted you are. Slowly, after a few weeks, you should be able to touch your head to your knees without bending them! Next, stretch your sides. Stand up and with your hands straight above your head, bend to the left, hold, then bend to the right. Dont bend forward, or your sides will not get stretched. Push yourself back as you stretch. Keep your knees slightly bent so your back doesnt get strained. Stretch your thigh muscles. Sit, divide your knees, hold your feet together with heels and toes touching, and bring them to your crotch. Gently bounce your knees down, trying to get them to touch the floor. This will, of course, not be possible immediately, so dont push! Once you have reached a certain level of fitness, you could also include isometric stretches at this point. Isometric stretches target a group of muscles, and are essentially resistance-based stretches. (E.g. pushing a wall with your calf, butt clenches etc.) Isometric exercises are not recommended for children or adolescents. After you have finished these basic stretches, its time to perform dynamic stretches, which include swinging or arms and kicking of legs. Dont do this too vigorously, and only perform dynamic stretches after you have completed your passive stretches. Once youve completed all your stretches, you can begin your workout, which may include an hour or 45 minutes of brisk walking or jogging. Remember to cool down after youve completed your workout. So if you have been walking briskly, walk slowly for 5 minutes before stopping. Perform a few more low-intensity stretches, and youre done! If possible, try and schedule a massage twice or thrice a week, which could follow your workout.

No workout is complete or completely effective unless you've stretched your muscles for at least half an hour. Here's a step-by-step, quick, no-fuss-no-frills guide to performing stretches.

Rotate your joints, starting from the tips of your fingers, up to your neck and then down to your toes. Thus, you should rotate your joints in the following order:

• Fingers
• Wrist
• Elbows
• Shoulders
• Neck
• Waist
• Hips
• Legs
• Knees
• Ankles

Rotate every joint clockwise, and then anti-clockwise, ten times in each direction.

After you've finished these basic rotations, you need to do some activity that will warm you up. This literally means that you need to perform an activity that will increase your body temperature. Remember, you should never perform stretches without first warming up, because your muscles are cold, and not as supple as when warm. This causes them to tear.

You could either:

• Go for a brisk walk
• Jog
• Do some spot-jogging
• Cycling
• Skipping, or any other activity

The activity has to be done for a minimum of five minutes in order that you are sufficiently warmed up.

Once you are warmed up, it's time to get stretching! Start with slow, easy stretches. It's best to start with passive stretches. Passive stretches involve assuming a particular 'stretched' position, and holding it for a few seconds before letting go.

Start with your back. Sit on the ground and slowly bend forward, as much as you can manage without straining yourself, and hold this position. Try to touch your toes. Don't use jerky movements, no matter how tempted you are. Slowly, after a few weeks, you should be able to touch your head to your knees without bending them!

Next, stretch your sides. Stand up and with your hands straight above your head, bend to the left, hold, then bend to the right. Don't bend forward, or your sides will not get stretched. Push yourself back as you stretch. Keep your knees slightly bent so your back doesn't get strained.

Stretch your thigh muscles. Sit, divide your knees, hold your feet together with heels and toes touching, and bring them to your crotch. Gently bounce your knees down, trying to get them to touch the floor. This will, of course, not be possible immediately, so don't push!

Once you have reached a certain level of fitness, you could also include isometric stretches at this point. Isometric stretches target a group of muscles, and are essentially resistance-based stretches. (E.g. pushing a wall with your calf, butt clenches etc.) Isometric exercises are not recommended for children or adolescents.

After you have finished these basic stretches, it's time to perform dynamic stretches, which include swinging or arms and kicking of legs. Don't do this too vigorously, and only perform dynamic stretches after you have completed your passive stretches.

Once you've completed all your stretches, you can begin your workout, which may include an hour or 45 minutes of brisk walking or jogging. Remember to cool down after you've completed your workout. So if you have been walking briskly, walk slowly for 5 minutes before stopping. Perform a few more low-intensity stretches, and you're done!

If possible, try and schedule a massage twice or thrice a week, which could follow your workout.