How many times have you by-passed stretching before or after a workout? Many of us refuse to accept that it’s really necessary but stretching does a lot more than you might think. Improved flexibility may help prevent injuries and serious illness in as little as 10 minutes a day.

Doctors and fitness experts agree that there is a strong correlation between how flexible we are and keeping our body fit and healthy. Often described as the third pillar of fitness, next to cardiovascular exercise and strength training, flexibility frequently gets overlooked.  Improved flexibility plays a role in injury prevention, reduces muscle pain and tightness, reduces a persons risk of arthritis, serious illness and promotes relaxation, something we can all benefit from!

How? The act of stretching allows us to lengthen the muscle fibers that attach the muscle to the bone. Simply put, the longer these muscle fibers are, the easier it is to increase the size of the muscle with strength training. The two go hand in hand, which is why stretching before and after strength or resistance training is so beneficial.

Building strong muscle fibers may also help boost metabolism. Think of muscle as the engine of your metabolism. The more you have, the faster and more efficient your metabolism will work.

As we age there is a natural loss in muscle elasticity making it far easier to tear or strain a muscle during daily activity. According to mayoclinic.com, stretching also improves range of motion, keeping us in better balance and making us less prone to falls as we age.

There is also a link between stretching and improved circulation. Increasing blood flow to our muscles can protect us from a whole host of circulatory illnesses. A 2009 study in the American Journal of Physiology showed that people age 40 or older who performed well on a sit-and-reach test had less stiffness in their arterial walls, a common precursor to stroke and heart attack.

You may be relieved to hear that being flexible doesn’t mean being able to do the splits. Experts agree that you need only be as flexible as your lifestyle dictates. By simply incorporating 10 minutes of stretching each day, focusing on the major muscle groups (upper body, back and lower body), you can train your body to better adapt to physical stressors. Who knows you may even grow to like it. Stretching requires you to focus your mind on each movement as well as every breath you take, making it deeply relaxing.

Be sure to read my next blog post to learn how to do a number of stretches that target all the major muscle groups.