It's important to understand what is needed for the longevity of your overall health. While strength training and aerobic style workouts are a big component to living a healthy, happy life, flexibility is every bit as important - here's why:
As you get older, your muscles can become stiffer and less supple which means they can shrink in size and you will lose strength. This can affect the range of movement around your joints, which might cause stiffness in the joints and muscles, but it's this loss of tissue elasticity that truly causes the joints and muscles to tighten.
Among the critical affects that muscles reduce their suppleness and flexibility some outcomes include being prone to tears, aches, and pains, which can result in you becoming completely inactive. Reduction of flexibility could lead to permanent changes in posture and muscle function if the situation isn't remedied in time. These are among the most important reasons to keep muscle flexibility as an important part of your overall wellbeing.
Let's break it down - what is flexibility?
Flexibility can be termed as the ability of your joints and body components to execute their full range of movement. Flexibility is called for in all of your daily activities like bending, walking, and lifting. Being flexible allows your muscles to stay mobile. However, like most things, flexibility decreases with age, which means it's very important to incorporate endurance exercises and flexibility into your regular workout routine.
What are the top benefits of flexibility?
When determining your flexibility level, there are many ways to do this. One of the most typical ways would be to check if you can touch your feet while standing up with both legs straight.
If you want to maximize your flexibility by incorporating it into your fitness routine, some tell-tail signs that you need this added into your workouts would be if you feel stiff, lack basic flexibility, or suffer from bad posture - in these instances flexibility training is an absolute must.
Weight training and aerobic exercises include jerky and rapid motions, which may result in joint and muscular fatigue. On the flip side, being sure that you're stretching before and after your workouts, as well as incorporating flexibility training into your regular workout routine can help achieve increased flexibility and long-term health.
What else should I know about why flexibility is important?
Being flexible helps reduce soreness of muscles and improve posture. Stretching for slow gradual moves and holding each position for as long as 30 seconds, without pain, helps reduce muscle soreness after exercise. Stretching also improves muscular balance and posture by realigning the tissue, and thereby reducing the effort it takes to maintain decent posture throughout the day. Flexibility also helps reduce the risk of injuries and enhances your overall physical performance.
Flexibility helps to boost blood and nutrients to your tissues. This in turn increases your range of motion and reduces the degeneration of joints. Stretching and being more flexible also helps reduce lower back pain and loosen muscles. The more flexible your muscles, like your quadriceps, hamstrings, and hip flexors, the less stress there is for your back, and the more it enhances the enjoyment of exercise.