Stretching ought to be a key a part of any exercise program — it not solely prepares your body for exercise, however may additionally decrease your threat of damage throughout your exercise.
An efficient stretching routine goes past the standard reach-and-hold stretches you probably did again in P.E. class.
To enhance flexibility, there are a number of various kinds of stretches it’s best to embrace in your routine, and so they every provide distinctive advantages.
One model of stretching that typically will get missed is energetic stretching.
Read on to study what it’s, the way it compares to different varieties of stretching, and the way it can profit your exercise.
What Is Active Stretching?
“Active stretching is when you’re actively engaging one set of muscles to stretch the muscles on the opposite side of the joint,” says Jessica McManus, P.T., proprietor of Full Circle Physical Therapy and Wellness Coaching.
An instance of energetic stretching can be to activate your quads and hip flexors to elevate your legs to stretch out your hamstrings, says Trevor Thieme, C.S.C.S., Beachbody’s director of fitness and nutrition content material.
How Active Stretching Compares to Other Types of Stretching
While it’s typically confused with dynamic stretching, there are key variations between them.
“Dynamic stretching uses movement to stretch muscles and work joints through their full range of motion,” Thieme says.
Examples of dynamic stretching embrace strolling lunges, arm circles, or the cat-cow stretch.
Dynamic stretching is usually a part of an energetic warm-up, but it surely’s not the identical as energetic stretching.
Active stretching is definitely a sort of static stretching.
During a static stretch, the muscle is held in an prolonged place for a sure time period.
There are two principal varieties of static stretching: energetic and passive stretching.
Active stretching vs. passive stretching
While these are each varieties of static stretching, there’s a key distinction:
- In energetic stretching, you utilize the agonist muscle mass (the muscle mass doing the work) to carry the stretched place.
- In passive stretching, you utilize an exterior power — like a towel, a stretch strap, the ground, a low step, or a exercise buddy — to facilitate the stretch.
“Passive stretching is a long, sustained stretch technique where you take the muscle to its full length with the intent to push further into the end range,” says Bianca Beldini, D.P.T., proprietor of Sundala Wellness.
“It’s best to do this type of stretching after a workout to release tension in the tissue,” Beldini provides.
Take this overhead triceps stretch for example:
Standing with ft shoulder-width aside, attain your proper arm straight overhead. Bend your proper elbow and attain your palm in direction of your shoulder blades till you’re feeling a stretch in your triceps, then maintain. This is an energetic stretch.
From this place, seize your elbow together with your left hand and gently pull it to the left till you’re feeling a deeper stretch, then maintain. This is a passive stretch.
There’s a 3rd sort of stretching — ballistic stretching — which makes use of momentum from bouncing to stretch the muscle additional, McManus says.
However, the sort of stretching could result in damage.
What Are the Benefits of Active Stretching?
Here are a number of key causes to find time for the sort of stretching in your exercise routine.
It can enhance flexibility and mobility:
Active stretching supplies lots of the ordinary advantages of stretching — like relieving stress, bettering flexibility and mobility, and lowering post-exercise tightness.
It’s a delicate stretch:
“Active stretching can be a wise choice to prevent overstretching injuries because you only move your body as far as the strength of your other muscles can control,” McManus says.
(*3*) she provides. “This helps to prevent injury by keeping the stretch of muscles in the range that your body deems safe.”
It could cut back damage threat:
“When we’re controlling our body movement, we’re giving our nervous system valuable incoming information, called proprioceptive input,” McManus says. “This teaches our body about where our joints and muscles are in space, which can help protect us from future injury.”
3 Active Stretches to Try
Active chest stretch
- Stand with ft shoulder-width aside and arms straight out to the edges, parallel to the ground, with palms dealing with ahead.
- Keeping your arms parallel to the ground, draw your palms again so far as you possibly can till you’re feeling a stretch throughout your chest.
- Hold this place for 20 to 30 seconds.
Active hamstring stretch
- Lie in your again on the ground with arms by your sides and legs out straight.
- Keeping each legs straight and palms on the ground, flex your foot and lift your proper leg off the ground, bringing your leg in direction of your chest till you’re feeling a stretch in your hamstring.
- Hold this place for 20 to 30 seconds.
- Lower your proper leg, and repeat together with your left leg.
Looking side-to-side
- Stand straight and pull your shoulder blades down away out of your ears.
- Turn your head gently to look proper. Hold in any spot that feels tight or tender for as much as 30 seconds.
- Turn your head gently to look left and repeat.
