“IF I HAD KNOWN I WAS GOING TO LIVE THIS LONG I WOULD HAVE TAKEN BETTER CARE OF MYSELF”. This well-known bumper sticker is intended to make us laugh, but aging is no laughing matter. Doing it well takes hard work -a truth about all things in human performance. “Creeping atrophy” happens slowly, starting as early as our twenties. The good news is that it is NEVER too late to to begin a fitness program.
A flexible body is more efficient, is more readily trained for strength and endurance, enjoys more range of motion, stays balanced more easily, is less prone to injury, recovers from workouts more quickly, and feels better. Fitness is defined as a combination of flexibility, strength, endurance and cardiovascular health. As we age, flexibility is the key that unlocks all the other components.
No matter what your goal is, you deserve to live, work, play, and love in a body that is performing at its maximum potential. Whether you are a serious competitor or a weekend warrior, you know that proper stretching before and after your workout can improve your performance, increase your flexibility, help prevent injury, and make you feel better. But did you know that the traditional way of stretching -lock your knees, bounce, hurt, hold longer- actually makes muscles tighter and more prone to injury?? There is a new and better way to stretch- welcome to the next generation of stretching – Active Isolated Stretching (AI). AI stretching does what stretching is supposed to do. It reduces your work load in most sports by removing tightness so you can swing your limbs more freely. It transports oxygen to sore muscles and quickly removes toxins from muscle so recovery is faster. AI stretching works as a deep massage technique because it activates muscle fibers during stretching.
Even if you are a veteran stretcher, you’ll be struck by how specifically you stretch exactly where you need it the most. Isolated Stretching is just that, isolated. It’s critical to stretch one muscle at a time. That’s what’s wrong with the typical stretch on the gym floor where you see a person trying to touch his knee with his head. He’s trying to stretch his back and hamstrings at the same time. If you do that, you are literally pitting one muscle group against the other, making you more prone to injury.
Active Isolated Stretching is a groundbreaking technique used by personal trainers and coaches on professional, amateur and Olympic athletes. The routine is simple- First you prepare to stretch one isolated muscle at a time. Then you actively contract the muscle opposite the isolated muscle, which will then relax in preparation for is stretch. You stretch it gently and quickly, releasing it before it goes into protective contraction. Then you repeat. Simple, but the results are outstanding.
Active Isolated Stretching is an excellent tool you can use for your health. Begin with a Fitness Evaluation to check your flexibility range and then make a decision to put Active Isolated Stretching into your workout. Once you know your present flexibility range, you’ll know which muscles need the most work to get you to our maxim performance potential. Book your free fitness evaluation today!!