Stretch or Eat Chips

The Importance of Stretching

The video attached was made by the Mayo Clinic, which is a nonprofit academic medical center based in Rochester, Minnesota, focused on integrated clinical practice, education, and research. They know a lot about becoming/staying healthy and how to improve health. The video they made talks about the benefits of stretching. A lot of people do not understand the benefits of stretching after a workout and tend to skip it. Not stretching after a workout can lead to strains, tightness, stress on joints, and injuries. Stretching should be a part of someone’s workout routine, it only takes five to ten minutes to complete if done correctly. The video states that the benefits of stretching after a workout includes increasing range of motion, improving performance, and reducing risk of injury. If these benefits are not appealing to you, do not bother stretching or in fact working out. Why bother working out if you are not going to help your body get the best results by stretching. Just stay at home, eat your potato chips, and think about the injuries you are not getting. The other option, if you do not want injuries is to workout, stretch, go home and relax, then think about the injuries you are not getting. It is up to YOU with what you would prefer. The reason why it is good to stretch after a workout is because your muscles are warm and therefor very responsive to stretching. As the video states, stretches should be gentle, slow and held for about thirty seconds. While stretching, there should be no bouncing or intense pain. If there is pain while stretching it can cause damage to the muscle. In the moment you may not think stretching is important, but down the road you will be thankful.