The Best Muscle Stretches

It is very important to do these stretches to properly stretch your muscles before you start training and after you train.

Before we tell you the stretches we recommend, let’s first tell you why they are so important, because many people often don’t stretch.

It is essential to stretch before exercising as it prepares your body for exercise. Stretching warms up your muscles and prepares them to move or build muscle mass.

If you’ve ever been to a Pilates class or other supervised activity, you’ll have noticed that they let you stretch before you start. What about after exercise?

After physical activity, we also need to stretch, because the muscles have endured a lot of tension. Then it’s time to let them relax. If you don’t, you could get injured, get cramps and make your stiffness worse.

Now that you know all this, let’s stretch!

Stretching exercises to get a good stretch of your muscles

We’re going to share stretches you can do to get a good stretch for your muscles, from the legs to the head.

You should do each of them without rushing yourself. Try to properly stretch each specific body part.

1. Stretching your legs

• Start with the calf muscles first. Take a big step forward and try to let the heel of the back leg touch the floor.
• Bend your front leg as much as you can while making sure your heel stays on the floor. This way you stretch your calf.

The other exercise to do focuses on stretching the inner thighs.

• To do this, spread your legs as far as you can and then bend them as if you were going to do a squat.
• Place your hands on your knees to push your legs back to spread your knees further.
• To complete the leg stretches, bend your knees. Grab one foot with your hand and pull it up towards your glutes.

• If you don’t feel the stretch, try pulling the leg back slightly and up as high as you can. That way you create more tension.

2. Glutes, Lumbars and Abs

If you want to stretch these three parts of the body, you have to tackle each part separately. Start by stretching your glutes, then the lumbar region, and finally your abs.

• Glutes: First, lie on the floor with your arms extended in a crotch. Then bring your legs out to the side and try to bring the top one forward as far as possible and let your knee touch the floor.

• Lumbar Muscle: To perform this exercise, you can do a standing roll-up. To do this, first bend your back to the floor until your hands touch the floor. Then slowly roll your body back up and focus on the lumbar region.
• Abs: For this exercise, you can do the cobra pose (Bhujang asana). Lie face down, with your hands next to your chest, then push down to lift your torso as much as possible.

3. Upper Body

Now it’s time to stretch your upper body. To do this, you can do some stretching exercises with your arms.

• The first will consist of stretching one arm toward the opposite shoulder. The other hand then holds the arm and puts pressure on the arm. This way you stretch your shoulders.
• For the next exercise, raise your arm, bend it behind your head, and then push the elbow down with your other hand. This way you stretch your triceps.

4. Neck

This part of our body is very important and should not be forgotten.

• To do this, try letting one of your ears touch your shoulder without moving one of your shoulders. You can then use one hand to push your head and create more tension.
• The last exercise is to bring your chin to the chest as much as possible. After that, return your head to its normal position.

The last relaxation

You can introduce variations of these stretches. You can add a stretch you like to this routine or replace a stretch with one of those listed above.

There are so many ways to stretch your muscles that the possibilities are endless!

Something we’d like to add is that at the end of this little series of muscle stretches, you need to do something with your breathing.

You should only do this after a workout. If you stretch before exercise, then it is not necessary.

• To do this, bend your knees slightly, inhale and raise your arms up as if to reach for the sky.
• Then stop for a few seconds and lower your body as you exhale, bringing your hands to the floor. Repeat this twice.

This exercise will help you relax and complete your session successfully.

Have you ever done this kind of stretching exercise for your muscles? What stretches do you do?