Before you start your gym workout try to fire yourself up with a few dynamic stretches!
1. Dynamic Hip Flexor stretches are a great way to keep the hip area flexible and to prevent injuries before you commence your session.
a) Stand holding onto the wall and slowly start to swing your right leg back and forth (lifting the heel off the ground in a pendulum motion. Rocking it back and forth). The glutes and hip flexors go through a nice, full range of motion. A great stretch for runners or before your start your lunges and other lower leg exercises. Aim for 30 secs on each leg and repeat twice on each side.
b) Complete a set of reverse lunges with no weight, focusing on dropping your back knee down just before it touches the ground. Alternate sides for 20 reps and repeat twice.
For the upper body; a dynamic downward dog hits most muscles of the upper body. With your hands in front of you, push back with both feet to form a a-frame with your butt up high in the air. Push through your hands and try to press your heels down into the floor. You’ll feel a stretch through the shoulders/back/arms and hamstrings. If you rock slowly through the movement, firstly into heel then come down into a plank type move, you will experience a stretch that wakes up your body and leaves your body feeling invigorated. Try this for 20 reps and repeat twice.
Before you skip your stretching routine and head straight into the change rooms, try these simple stretches to increase flexibility and help with post workout soreness.
2. Foam Rolling
Foam Rolling or Self-Myofascial Release (SMR) is a safe and effective way to improve the tone of a muscles and break down muscle adhesion’s (you know the feeling when you’ve smashed your legs on a big run or with lots of squats or lunges and they feel quite hard and bumpy?) If you can imagine all your muscles are surrounded by a glad wrap, called fascia. When we exercise, muscle is broken down and small tears are made (in a good way! don’t think painful shredding muscles) This enables our muscles to get bigger and grow. These little micro tears in the muscle become trapped in the fascia and need to be “smoothed” or “rolled out. If you think leaving them will eventually fix the soreness, you are unfortunately wrong. It just leads to more problems down the road such as muscle imbalance, reduced flexibility (limiting what types of exercises you can perform) and pain. What the foam roller aims to do is smooth out these adhesion’s and aid recovery. While stretching allows muscles to lengthen, this lengthening can sometimes lead to injury. Foam rolling ensures recovery is speedy and muscle imbalances are corrected.
For a comprehensive SMR routine try this: www.nataliecartertalksfitness.com/foam-rolling-and-why-you-need-to-add
2 really important foam rolling locations are the TFL and Piriformis. Runners will get benefit from rolling these areas after a run and even the day after to reduce soreness and tightness.
TFL (Tensor Fasicae Latae)
Great to reduce hip flexor pain and aid back pain
Position the body as shown below. Foam roll is placed just lateral to the anterior (front) pelvic bone
Glutes (Piriformis)
These get tight and sore from squats and lunges. Roll these to improve ROM (range of movement) Begin positioned as shown with foot crossed to opposite knee. Roll on the posterior hip area. Increase the stretch by pulling the knee toward the opposite shoulder
3. TRX Stretches
Using the TRX to stretch helps increase range of motion and makes for a smooth, supported transition into your stretches. The chest and back are two areas you can stretch effectively on the TRX.
Use your suspension straps for a total body workout and finish off with these simple stretches.
a) Standing Chest Stretch
Anchor TRX to door or anchor point, Hold both straps in hands and with arms wide lean into stretch. You’ll feel a nice pull in your pecs, lats and biceps. Hold for 30 secs and repeat 4 times
b) Back Stretch
With TRX fixed to anchor point hold both straps and lean back while keeping legs straight. Feel a stretch through the hamstrings, lower back and lats. Try to hold this stretch for 30-45secs and repeat 4 times.
Stretching and foam rolling really does help prevent injuries and is worth the few extra minutes you may need to spend doing it. Many people overlook stretching or don’t think they will benefit from a formal routine but prevention is always better than cure. Trips to the physio can be costly especially if treatment for an injury is required over a long term period. The few minutes you spend stretching can be spent perving at the cute guy flexing his biceps! It’s a win-win situation.
Stay awesome until next time,
Nat xx
