Flexibility: Limiting factors

Have you ever been in a yoga class or stretching beside someone at the gym and notice your neighbour  can touch their toes and you can hardly reach your knees?  There are some reasons for this and it’s not always because your neighbour stretches day in and day out.  The factors listed below are some of the reasons why we are all different when it come some flexibility:

1. Genetic inheritance
2. The structure of the joint
3. connective tissue in the tendons, ligaments and fascia
4. elasticity within the muscles
5. tendons attached to the muscles
6. skin surrounding the joint
7. strength of the opposite muscle group
8. neuromuscular co-ordination

Although these are limiting factors, we should use any of these a excuses not to stretch!  We all can become more flexible and try not to compare yourself to others.

Have a great day and lovely weekend!

Cheers, Angie

Finding time to stretch

Many of us have busy schedule so finding time to add stretching your day may be difficult.  If you’re already participating in a fitness routine and you don’t add any stretching at the end this is a good time to do it.  If you can add 5 to 10 minutes to your program at the end and spend this time stretching the muscles you used during your workout or cut 5 to 10 minutes off your workout.  Remember you can become more efficient if you are more flexible so cutting some time off your workout routine may not be as bad you may think. 

Other times you can add stretching:

□      While cooking dinner.  When waiting for the water to boil, add a hamstring stretch, hold for 30 sec (minimum) then switch sides

□      Watching TV.  During commercial breaks, choose a stretch hold for the length of one commercial then switch sides, hold then choose another exercise and hold for the length of one commercial.

□      Standing inline.  Great time to stretch your upper trapezius muscles!

□      Sitting at your desk.  Every hour choose a muscle to stretch, hold for 30 seconds minimum to 1 minute, switch sides.

Look for places where you can add stretching to your day.  Stretching is something we can do everyday!

Friday’s blog posting is about the limiting factors to stretching.

Cheers, Angie

Flexibility: Achieving Peak Physical Potential

By adding stretching to your fitness routine you’re one step closer to achieving your peak physical potential.  Increase flexibility has so many benefits which are worth reviewing and talking about.  Before getting into the benefits let’s start with the definition of flexibility as defined by American Council on Exercise.  “Flexibility is the range of motion (ROM) within a joint along varies planes of motion.”

One reason you may participant in physical activity (whatever that activity is) is to increase physical efficiency and performance.  Why go to a fitness class and not maximize your time?  When joints are more flexible they require less energy to move through the range of motion therefore improving efficiency.

Lower back pain is common problem among people and this could be a result of tight lower leg muscles and muscles around the hip.  By stretching the hamstring muscles (large muscle, back of the leg), hip flexors muscles, and gluteal muscles (your butt) you can greatly reduces the amount of lower back pain.  When stretching these muscles you’re decreasing lower back pain.

Stress is bad on so many levels including muscular tension. Tight muscles not only pull on the joint and create misalignment, a tight muscle requires more energy to accomplish activities. By adding stretching to your fitness routine you can decrease any muscular tension and promote muscular relaxation giving your body more energy.  

In addition muscular relaxation giving your body more energy, flexibility improves muscular balance and posture awareness.   Poor postural habits and gravity may have realigned the soft tissue structure, realignment consequently reduces the efforts it takes to achieve and maintain good posture in activities of daily living.

We may also be able to decelerate joint degenerative by adding stretching.  Improving the nutrient exchange may increase the quantity and decrease the viscosity or thickness of the synovial fluid in the joint.  

 One of the more talked about benefits of stretching is decreasing risk of injury during an activity and in everyday life and .two of the not so common benefits of increasing flexibility is; increase blood supply and nutrients to joint structure which improves circulation and nutrient transport, this allows for greater elasticity of tissue.  And increasing the neuromuscular coordination which is the connection between the brain and the muscle.

 Overall, being more flexible increases a sense of well-being and personal gratification not only during exercise but in day to day living. 

Wednesday’s blog is about finding time to stretch. 

Get some stretching in today!

Cheers, Angie

Muscle Soreness after exercising? Why?

Experienced muscle soreness during or after your workout? What about a few days later when you’re walking down the stairs or going to sit on the toilet? I remember feeling this after my first Group Power class – Ouch!

There are 2 types of muscle soreness: one that takes place immediately during the exercise or just after and the other is 1 to 3 days later.  The muscle soreness that takes place during or right after exercise is related to lactic acid build up in the muscle.  This soreness usually goes away within a few hours.  

If you experience soreness the next day or few days later this is due to small tears in the connective tissue of the muscle fibers.  These tears are usually in deep in the muscle belly.  The is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).

The good news for both types of muscle soreness…the pain will go away.  To help get rid of the soreness you can do some stretching of that muscles and continue to move around.  This may hurt a little with DOMS but you’ll be better off then just sitting.

Enjoy your day!

Cheers, Angie
Get fit, Keep fit and have fun doing it!

Winter 09 Releases

We started the year off with a big fitness party, releaseing Group POWER® and Group CENTERGY® Winter ’09!  Ww had a great turn out for both classes, lots of people stayed after to re-fuel with juice & fruit and chat. 

Congratulations to Kathy G, Ed and Barb T., who each won a prize at our Group POWER release.

 

This Group POWER release is action packed with new exercises and a great new routine to increase your heart rate and burn more calories.  All this in addition to the great strength training routine through straight forward barbell exercises we love.  If you weren’t at class and would like to see what we were up to on Sunday view the POWER trailer.

 

 

 

 

 

Our members love the music in this release of Group CENTERGY well as the level of difficulty.  The first half of Group CENTERGY challenges the heart, muscles and mental strength while we hold and move though yoga poses and pilates movements.  The second 30 minutes is all about lengthening, opening and relaxing the body.  View the CENTERGY trailer!