Stretching: An important part of effective training

Even from school sports, the stretching exercises are still known: Pulling your foot toward your buttocks, resting your palms on the ground, or crossing your arms behind your back. Many have loved these exercises, even more have hated them! But if you want to do an effective fitness workout, you can't get around stretching - also known as stretching. Whereby the right exercises can also be fun and contribute to active relaxation.

Different forms of stretching

If you want to get your body more supple and powerful, you need to optimize your training plan. This is not about doing more fitness exercises, but about stretching, which absolutely must be integrated into the plan! Fitness trainers know different types of stretching:

1. Static stretching

This method is the best known. It involves holding different positions for several seconds. In active static stretching, a muscle is tensed while its counterpart is stretched. In passive stretching, on the other hand, the trainer or exercise partner helps and applies traction to a specific muscle.

2. Dynamic stretching

With the exhale, the athlete moves into the stretching position and holds it for a few seconds. On the inhale, the position is left and the muscle contracts again. This is repeated a few times, but must not exhale into a rocking motion.

Personal Trainer Frankfurt: That's why stretching is good for the body

If you have declared Frankfurt as your personal fitness capital with a personal trainer, you can be sure that your workout will not be boring. By the way, this also applies to training in other cities when an experienced fitness trainer is on hand to put together individual exercises! He also knows why stretching is so good for the body:

  • If you want to feel healthy, you also have to be flexible. For once, this does not refer to the availability of time, but to one's own body, which is less stiff and much more mobile due to the trained flexibility. In this way, the most important signs of aging and certain diseases can be prevented or reduced.
  • Stretching prevents injuries because the muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints are prepared for the coming demands. They are more stretchy and react less quickly with micro tears.
  • Stretching works a bit like yoga and calms the body. Hormones are released that act as antagonists to stress hormones. This has a positive effect on physical and mental health.
  • Many people suffer from back problems. Stretching improves posture and strengthens the muscles. Stretching can be done as a small fitness exercise even at the desk!
  • Stretching improves blood circulation in the body, which in turn improves the transport of nutrients and oxygen. Not only does this prevent rapid fatigue and the development of muscle soreness, it also improves muscle growth. In addition, the improved blood circulation reduces the risk of arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases.

Tips for stretching

Is stretching better before or after sport? In principle, both variants are good, but with limitations. A cold muscle should not be stretched, so stretching is done only after warming up. After sport, stretching should be approached carefully so that any micro-tears in the muscles that may have occurred during sport are not pulled apart and thus aggravated. If you want to optimise your training schedule and also fill free days with sport, you can use these for conscious stretching. On non-training days, stretching should be done for about half an hour (at least twice a week). If training is added to the day, a quarter of an hour is also sufficient to stretch all muscles sufficiently. Do not overdo it when stretching! The stretching should feel pleasant and remain on the border of painful, otherwise injuries are pre-programmed.