Stretching Exercises Tips for Elderly People

 

Exercising is not only good but imperative throughout the life no matter how old or young you are. It helps to ensure good overall well-being, flexibility and strength. It’s a must to follow a proper and regular workout routine all through your life but the importance of exercising increased as you age. Stretching exercises are one of the best workout routines to build strength and stability in elderly people. Stretching prevents falling that is possible in other workouts and can be dangerous in old age. Elderly people should seek for stretching and endurance workouts to maintain their mobility, flexibility, strength and stamina. Regular exercising increases physical and mental health and even resists certain medical issues such as osteoporosis, arthritis and/or diabetes.

Our body naturally slows down as we age. To maintain the muscle mass, flexibility, focus and balance consistent exercising is the only option. For an old person it’s imperative to control their balance and position in order to live an independent life. There are a number of balancing and stretching exercises which one can adopt to enhance and keep their activity level.

To get the maximum results from these stretching exercises, one must follow some of the precautionary measures. It’s important to consult your medical adviser before beginning any new workout routine. It is good to know about your physical status before adopting any workout to know whether it’s fit for your body type. If it’s not appropriate then discuss them to prescribe the suitable one for you.

It’s also advisable to take on one step at a time. All the workouts should be done in a calmer state with slow and steady moves. There’s no need to be in a hurry to end up the things. It can cause any injury or discomfort in any joint or muscle.

Start your stretching routine with good warm up movements. Warm up moves release all the stresses from your joints and muscles and make your muscles ready to adopt any new exercise routine. Walking, jogging and skipping rope are good warm up activities.

Focus on your body type. It’s vital to pay attention on your body and avoid over exercising or stretching. Muscle pain and fatigue can be caused by overworking. You should discontinue any move till further advice if feel any pain or discomfort in a joint or muscle.

Importance of Stretching Workouts for Kids

Developing good habits in our kids is our prime responsibility. In order to assist them in maintaining a healthy and happy life along with behavioral habits, it’s a must to encourage them for healthy lifestyle. The foundation for a healthy living is based in early childhood. It should be kept in mind that kids learn more by watching than instructions. To ask them to work for a healthy living, it’s a must to adopt healthy lifestyle yourself. Make stretching a part of your routine to encourage your kids to do so. Here a number of benefits related why to cheer up the kids for stretching:


1. Stretching returns the blood flow to various body parts after sitting for long periods. It not only increases the blood circulation but keeps you mentally alert. Kids are used to sit in front of various screens these days i.e. internet or televisions. They should be taught to stretch themselves during their sitting activities to avoid stiffness in muscles and joints.

2. Proper stretching is important for kids though they are naturally active and flexible. Running, jumping and kicking is not hard for them but to maintain their flexibility and activity level it’s essential to involve them in regular stretching workouts. It prevents them from injuries and discomforts in sports and physically demanding activities. It significantly prevents muscle tears and pulls.

3. Kids do need to stretch properly and regularly as they are in growing age and stretching enhances athletic performance, prevents sudden injuries and leads to a healthy existence.  It’s important to teach them proper techniques before adopting any new form of exercise. The enhanced flexibility through stretching improves the performance of kids in their routine activities and in their athletic performance.

4. Stretching should be done as a warm up or cool down activity. Tell them to stretch their muscles until they feel them activated. The sensation of tightness is important to feel but it should not be pain. It’s vital to hold the move for about 20 to 30 seconds.

It’s recommendable to consult your child’s doctor before adopting a new fitness workout about the safest and efficient stretching techniques as per their fitness level.

How Stretching Helps in Routine Life

 

Muscles get tighter and stiff gradually as we grow older. Stretching more is needed to be less uptight. When we talk about exercising or workout, mostly people take all the aerobics, weight lifting and muscle toning as exercises but not stretching. People do not perform enough stretching and this attitude harms their daily routine activities and later in their older age. Stretching can be done anytime, anywhere at any age if there are no certain medical conditions that restrict you to stretch. It is recommended by experts to stretch before and after other workouts to loosen up the muscles and joints.

• Stretching for Athletes

It is known by sportsperson and athletes that how bad it is for their performance to get a sudden strain in any muscle or joint. Any sudden strain can impede all your performance for the sport and proper stretching should be performed as safety measure to prevent any abrupt halt. It’s not much difficult to enhance your performance, flexibility and strength through stretching workouts. This is also known by a very few people that stretching has many anti-aging benefits.

• Stretching to Grow Muscles

Stretching should be a part of any workout or should be performed anytime throughout the day. Regular stretches has numerous benefits on your body. It helps your muscle fibers to grow bigger, stronger and better. It’s a perfect warm up or cooling down regimen before or after your regular exercise to relax and loosen your muscles.

• Stretching to Enhance the Range of Motion

Stretching specifically lengthens our muscles and elongates the range of motion for routine daily activities or particularly for lifting weights.

• Stretching to Reduce Muscle Soreness

DOMS (delay onset muscle soreness) can be perfectly cured by stretching after the exercises to reduce muscle soreness. If you are a beginner in exercising or any sports training program then you will get DOMS in the beginning usually after the following day of training workout.

• Stretching to Prevent Muscle Cramps & Injuries

Regular stretching prevents you from injury risks and muscle cramps that wreck your activities. Muscle cramps have the gigantic effect of destroying the joy of any physical activity. The agility of an individual becomes better after performing regular stretches. No matter you are a sportsperson or an individual you can feel remarkable agility in your performance after getting used to of stretching workouts.