Stretching has the potential to increase muscle mass by 318% As well as protecting your proteinous fibres, the fascia also restricts them. Stretching unlocks those shackles and creates more room for your muscles to expand.

Because fascia is so tough, it doesn’t allow the muscle room to expand. It is like stuffing a large pillow into a small pillowcase. The size of the muscle won’t change regardless of how hard you train or how well you eat because the connective tissue around your muscles is constricting the muscles within.

Stretching keeps the muscles flexible, strong, and healthy, and we need that flexibility to maintain a range of motion in the joints. Without it, the muscles shorten and become tight.

Muscle hypertrophy occurs when the fibers of the muscles sustain damage or injury. The body repairs damaged fibers by fusing them, which increases the mass and size of the muscles. Certain hormones, including testosterone, human growth hormone, and insulin growth factor, also play a role in muscle growth and repair.

Performing stretches on a regular basis may improve your circulation . Improved circulation increases blood flow to your muscles, which can shorten your recovery time and reduce muscle soreness (also known as delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS).

Researchers now believe that some of the more entrenched elements of many athletes’ warm-up regimens are not only a waste of time but actually bad for you. The old presumption that holding a stretch for 20 to 30 seconds — known as static stretching — primes muscles for a workout is dead wrong. It actually weakens them.

A daily regimen will deliver the greatest gains, but typically, you can expect lasting improvement in flexibility if you stretch at least two or three times a week. In the videos below, you’ll find examples of static stretches that can be worked into any exercise or stretching routines.

Here’s a quote from one study that looked at the long term effect of stretching in athletes: “Overall, the evidence suggests that increasing range of motion beyond function through stretching is not beneficial and can actually cause injury and decrease performance.”

Stretching can increase blood flow and flexibility. When we don’t stretch (regularly), our body doesn’t want to and sometimes can’t move for us. The muscles can get ‘stuck’ where they are and tighten down during inactivity and create pulling on joints or bones.

Your Body Will Become More Vulnerable to Muscle Pain and Tightness. Without regular stretching, your body gets cold, and your muscles tighten up. Eventually, your muscles will pull on your joints and trigger significant pain and discomfort.

Before you exercise, have a 10-20 minute hot tub soak. This helps increase blood flow and elasticity of connective tissue. This means that if you have a tight muscle, a warm bath can help it relax. After heating your muscles, it is best to stretch those warm muscles before your workout.

“Stretching before bed helps your body rejuvenate itself during sleep.” It can also help you avoid discomfort during sleep, especially if you’re someone who experiences muscle spasms during the day.

How often should you stretch? As long as you’re not overdoing it, the more regularly you stretch, the better it is for your body. It’s better to stretch for a short time every day or almost every day instead of stretching for a longer time a few times per week.

Healthy adults should do flexibility exercises (stretches, yoga, or tai chi) for all major muscle-tendon groups—neck, shoulders, chest, trunk, lower back, hips, legs, and ankles—at least two to three times a week. For optimal results, you should spend a total of 60 seconds on each stretching exercise.

The best time to stretch is early in the morning before you start your day. This sets the length of the muscle for the remainder of the day, allowing you to move more freely without restriction or pain. Perform dynamic stretches in the morning.

Holds For 2 Minutes + As Dr. Andreo Spina frequently states, “Force is the language of cells.” Keep in mind that stretching one time for two minutes will not create a permanent change. It takes a lot of repeated stimulus over a long period of time to create actual changes to tissues.

However it’s also possible to over-stretch, with the resulting risk of muscle, tendon or ligament damage. Also, too much flexibility – hypermobility – can be detrimental in itself.

Excessive flexibility can be just as bad as not enough because both increase your risk of injury. Once a muscle has reached its absolute maximum length, attempting to stretch the muscle further only serves to stretch the ligaments and put undue stress upon the tendons (two things that you do not want to stretch).

Even the most inflexible person can become flexible if they are willing to put the work into it. Flexibility is a skill that you can work on and improve at any age, you just need to believe that you can do it first. Flexibility begins with changing your mind first.

Practicing the splits is great for your joint health, flexibility, and balance — qualities that become more and more important as we age. All of these things factor into how much range of motion we retain, our physical independence, and overall quality of life.

Beyond the momentary pain caused by forcing the body to do activity it isn’t ready for, athletes can hurt themselves attempting to put their bodies into supraphysiologic positions – like the splits. Muscles, hamstrings, and joints are all involved, and could be at risk for injury.

It’ll probably take a couple of months of regular stretching to get yourself there. But 30 days is enough to see some progress,” he says.

The good news is that it’s possible to learn how to do the splits at any age, whether you’re 40 or 50. Flexibility improves with daily practice. Taking hot yoga or pilates classes would help you get into the routine of stretching everyday.

Things to Always Remember When Trying to Improve Your Flexibility. Hold each stretch for 20-30 seconds and repeat each stretch two to three times.

Getting older is going to make it harder, but with appropriate training and healthy joints, you can do the splits regardless of age. It will take a long time, for sure, but it depends on each person’s abilities. It can take a month, or two, or three… Even a year.

Not everybody is able to do the splits, whether it’s due to the bony anatomy of your pelvis or the amount of diligence needed to develop the right amount of flexibility. Everybody can make progress toward this goal, though — it’s just going to take you more tha n a week to get there.