Why do we need to do stretching exercises when we are exercising? Should we do it before or after we go to the gym?

Anyone who has had experience in exercise and fitness knows that stretching exercises are a must. Stretching before exercise can activate muscles and avoid muscle strain during exercise. Stretching after exercise is to soothe muscles, avoid soreness, and promote muscle growth.

Why do you need to do stretching exercises in your fitness

1. Stretching can relax tight muscles and improve your body shape.

2. It can promote blood circulation, improve metabolism, and make weight loss effect obvious.

3. It can make muscles tighter and lines smoother, avoiding muscular legs caused by extensive exercise.

4. It also helps maintain the body's flexibility.

5. Stretching your muscles can reduce the pressure on your joints

Should you stretch before or after going to the gym?

Whether it is strength training or aerobic exercise, you need to warm up before the start of exercise and fitness, and you need to stretch after the end of exercise and fitness. Stretching is generally divided into: static active stretching, static passive stretching, and PNF stretching. You can choose according to your personal situation.

Fitness also has certain risks. In order to avoid injuries and improve training effects, we must warm up thoroughly before fitness exercises and stretch thoroughly after fitness exercises.

Stretching before exercise is a warm-up exercise. It is recommended to warm up for 5-10 minutes until you feel a little sweaty. It can speed up blood circulation, increase body temperature, increase joint secretion of synovial fluid, reduce the chance of injury, tell the body to enter the training state both physically and mentally, and improve the ability of nerves to control muscles.

Stretching is necessary after exercise because muscle contraction requires energy during exercise, and energy is provided by the decomposition of sugar or fat. This process produces metabolites, such as lactic acid, which causes muscle soreness. Stretching after exercise is conducive to the excretion of metabolites and accelerates the disappearance of muscle soreness. During exercise, more blood will flow to the target muscles, and the muscles will be congested and produce a pumping feeling. Stretching after exercise can speed up the rapid return of blood in the muscles. Stretching is necessary after exercise to restore the elasticity and extensibility of the muscles. Long-term stretching can make the muscle lines better.

Is leg press considered stretching?

Leg stretching can be considered stretching, but you must be clear about which ligaments are being stretched. If you want to do the splits, it is not enough to just stretch your legs. The thigh and calf ligaments should also be stretched. There are three ways to stretch your legs: positive, side, and back.

Leg stretching is actually to stretch the leg muscles passively or actively, and then relax the muscles. Stretching covers the muscles of the whole body, while leg stretching only covers the muscles of the legs.