Dynamic Stretching: The Fundamentals
Stretching is often neglected by people, especially before they begin an exercise or activity, and this can be a very bad thing, and often even dangerous. Muscles and connective tissues shorten over time and thus results in less flexibility. By stretching your muscles, you keep them long and lean and strong, and help maintain your strength and flexibility long into life.
Dynamic Stretching
Dynamic stretching is a form of stretching that uses movement and momentum in order to cause a muscular stretch, and does not involve the jerky and bouncy movements that are associated with certain other types of stretching, such as ballistic stretching.
You can design a dynamic stretching routine to be exactly as you would like it, to make it cater to your own personal needs and so that you can focus on specific groups of muscles.
The Basics
When it comes to dynamic stretching, there are a few basic stretching exercises in particular that should be included. The walking lunge is one, and to complete this exercise you need to take a long stride forwards, bend down and then bring your front knee to an angle of about 90 degrees. Now you want to make sure that your back knee stays above the ground, and hold. Repeat several times.
The walking straight leg kicks are also important here, and for this you simply need to walk forward, keeping your leg straight, and then you take your leg and kick it up. When you kick it up you want to touch your foot with your opposite hand. Remember that you can vary the force of the kick from less intense to more intense, depending on what you are looking for.
Side bends can also be incorporated. Stand straight, with your feet a little wider than shoulder width apart, and have your knees slightly bent. Then bend over to one side a bit and hold your opposite arm over your head. You need to try to avoid bending either forwards or backwards, and stop and hold once you feel a slight pulling in your muscles.
There are many different stretching methods that you can use but dynamic stretching is definitely one of the most popular and effective. It can be used to warm up the body for a variety of different sports, exercises, and other activities, or can just be used in general to limber up the body and increase flexibility.
An ideal option is to incorporate some of these stretching moves into your existing routine so that you get lots of variety and will never get bored. You will definitely notice the results of these dynamic stretches almost immediately and it will definitely be worth it to keep them in your stretching routine for good.
