Listen up, it’s time to loosen up! Did you know improving your flexibility can actually help you lift heavier? Tight muscles can cause injury and strain on the joints, slowing down your training progress.
Take a look at our easy tips and tricks to become more flexible and improve your overall performance in the gym.
Flexibility and strength
If you’re an avid gym goer, you’ll know the importance of warming up your muscles before doing any type of heavy lifting. Warming up increases blood flow to the muscles which loosens them and means they are less restricted. This gives you a better range of motion (ROM) which means you can perform exercises with the correct form.
If you’re consistently lifting heavy weights, your muscles are contracting. Stretching and improving your flexibility alongside your training routine balances them out as imbalances in the muscle actually increase your risk of injury! The more flexible you are, the better your performance will be and the easier it is to build strength!
You might be wondering, what are 5 exercises for flexibility? Well, keep reading and you’ll soon find out.
Stretching exercises for flexibility
Standing hamstring stretch:
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart
- Bend forward while keeping your legs straight
- Wrap your arms around the backs of your legs and hold
Twisted lunge:
- Take a step forward with your left leg and bend your right knee to the ground in a lunge
- Place your right hand on the ground
- Twist your upper body to the left while stretching the left arm up and hold here
- Repeat on the other side
Tricep stretch:
- Extend your arms above your head
- Bend your right elbow down and place the right hand on the back
- Reach your left hand over your head and place on your right elbow
- Gently pull and hold
- Repeat on the other side
Butterfly stretch:
- Sit on the floor with the soles of your feet together, knees bent out to the side
- Hold onto your ankles and lower your body forwards as far as you can
- Make sure your knees are pressed to the floor and hold
Foam roll:
- You can use your foam roller on any muscle group
- Simply place it under the desired muscle and apply pressure
- Gently roll to release any tight knots and tension
Check out the Pulseroll vibrating foam roller for the most effective muscle recovery. It uses vibration technology to increase blood flow to the muscles to improve flexibility and range of motion.
Not only is the vibrating foam roller a good choice when looking to improve flexibility but there is also the peanut roller. A more convenient, smaller vibration tool that can be used to quickly target any specific muscles.
Take a look at the full range of products including the vibrating peanut roller and massage gun!
