Flexibility can be defined as a desirable range of motion around one’s joints and can be an indicator of good posture, decreased risk of injury, and the best bodily movement. For the athlete, the dancer, or anyone who wants more ease of movement in daily living, the development of flexibility itself will promote better performance and lifestyle. Building flexibility requires the right daily routine that nurtures your body for continuous improvement. Here are five daily habits that will help you dramatically improve your flexibility.
Make Dynamic Stretching Part of Your Warm-Up
Dynamic stretching is done by moving the body through a full range of motion, in a controlled manner. It’s meant to prepare the muscles and joints for activity. Dynamic stretching improves flexibility and mobility at the same time, because it warms up the body and prepares the muscles with increased blood flow. Examples of dynamic stretches include leg swings, arm circles, and walking lunges. If you’re into dancing or a kind of sport, then adding dynamic stretches before training or practice will greatly improve flexibility over time. Irish dancers sometimes use dynamic movements to warm up their legs and feet to enable them to carry out the complicated steps involved in this kind of dance. It improves flexibility and thus minimizes the risk of injury.
Incorporate Stretching Exercise
If your stretching exercise is part of a specific activity, such as dancing, the correct shoe may spell the difference. The dancers in Irish dancing, for instance, use dance shoes https://www.keilys.com/irish-dance-shoes/ that help support their feet but can at the same time flex these in preparation for the action. With these kinds of shoes, dancers can perform complex foot movements, jumps, and kicks with ease without having to strain their muscles or injure themselves in the process. Be it Irish dancing or any other form of activity, a pair of proper shoes can give your feet the freedom of movement and comfort during training. In due time, this will grant you flexibility, not just in your feet, but even in your legs and hips.
Perform Static Stretch After Physical Activity
Where dynamic stretching is best before any workout or practice, static stretching should be done afterward. Static stretches are those where you hold a position for 20-30 seconds, allowing the muscles to lengthen. Static stretches help reduce muscle tightness, thereby improving long-term flexibility. Static stretching is very important for dancers and athletes because it serves to lengthen the muscles used repeatedly in practice. Holding such stretches as forward folds or lunges at the end of a workout or dance class will help improve flexibility over time. If you want to really change flexibility, consistency is key with the static stretches you hold after your activity.
Incorporate Yoga into Your Routine
Yoga happens to be one of the best things one can ever do to achieve flexibility. Various postures in yoga target different groups of muscles and help in lengthening the tight muscles, thus improving flexibility. Even 15-20 minutes of yoga done daily will be highly beneficial. Postures like the downward dog, forward bends, and pigeon pose all hit those common tight areas of the hamstrings, hips, and back. The practice of yoga will greatly enhance your flexibility, but it will also balance and center your core while you relax your mind through this full-body-and-mind exercise.
Pay Attention to Your Breath
One of those lesser-known aspects of flexibility training involves breathing. Proper breathing allows you to relax deeper into stretches, letting your muscles release tension and lengthen. Deep, controlled breaths during a held stretch will activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which allows you to further relax and lengthen the muscle fibers. Practice deep breathing during stretching to help develop your flexibility. Inhale slowly through your nose, expanding your diaphragm, and exhale through your mouth, while gently deepening into the stretch. Over time, this will find you with greater flexibility since your body automatically gets conditioned to relax into each position, rather than resisting it.
Conclusion
Flexibility requires three important things: proper stretching, breathing, and consistency. Building these daily habits will improve not only your range of motion but also protect your muscles and joints from injury to execute any form of physical activity with excellence.
