Oh, my aching muscles – Stretching & Working Out

 

My muscles haven’t ached this much since… oh gosh I’m guessing since the first time I ever went to cheerleading camp in high school, which was about 10 years ago now (damn that’s scary). As a result of this Monday’s kickboxing class, which hasn’t been offered in about 8 months at my gym, it hurts to walk, jump, run, lean, and pretty much function. Though of course it’s mostly due to my sever lack of exercise over the past couple months, I know that I also should have been stretching more to ease my sore body.

There’s been a great deal of debate on stretching. In grade school they said stretching before exercising was most important, but by college I was hearing that this was wrong and you should stretch after your workout. It seems the verdict is in favor of the post-workout stretch. Did you know however, that there are four types of stretches? MSNBC’s Fit List describes each:

1. Static – A sustained stretch that is held and leveraged against gravity
2. Ballistic – The stretch and bounce
3. Active – A muscle group contracts to stretch another
4. Dynamic – A moving stretch

The Active and Dynamic are best recommended for the pre-workouts, while the Static and Ballistic are for your cool downs.  Flexibility is important to your overall health and every day motion (something I’m missing right now), so make sure you factor this into your routine and if you have some aching muscles, make sure you’re stretching every day.

Side note: Snow tubing tonight should be fun, especially with my inability to bend over. I’ll be useless tomorrow. Must remember to stretch before bed!