5 Workouts to Increase Flexibility

 5 Workouts to Increase Flexibility 

5 Flexibility Exercises – Improve Your Body and Mind and Boost Your Quality of Life

Introduction:

Another thing that is significant for physical fitness but is not given due attention is flexibility. Not only does it prevent people from getting injured; it even benefits users by improving their posture as well as balance, flexibility and comfort. Strength training and cardio exercise are popular among a large number of people, but many individuals fail to exercise their muscles effectively by stretching. In the following article, you are going to get five workout that are pertinent to flexibility compensation and that is going to yield a lot of advantages to your life.

1. Yoga

Yoga is a system of exercise stretching and relaxation that also includes breathing techniques to improve health. Another advantage of performing yoga exercises is that it helps to enhance flexibility of muscles in the body. For as long as you maintain different postures, and stretch out different muscles, yoga assists in increasing flexibility.

There are many types of yoga which are available for practice depending on one’s experience and or preferences. Some yoga sessions are more on stretching like Hatha and Restorative yoga and others are more on strength and stamina like Ashtanga and Vinyasa.

To increase your flexibility through yoga, try incorporating the following poses into your practice:

- Downward-Facing Dog: This pose exercises your whole body especially the hamstrings, calves and shoulders.

- Pigeon Pose: It is a deep hip opener that can help to stretch out hip flexors, glutes, and thighs and offer a lot of relief to tight muscles.

- Butterfly Pose: To firm the muscles of the inner thighs and groin sit with your legs closed and apply pressure to bring your knees closer to the ground.

- Child's Pose: This restorative pose does wonders in that it gently stretches the back, hips as well as thighs, and hence leads to relaxation.

- Camel Pose: The following is a backbend that stretches your chest, abdomen and hip flexors and also your shoulder blades.

2. Pilates

Pilates on the other hand is an effective approach to fitness that is low impact and comprises of exercises that focus on the core abdominal and back muscles, flexibility and muscle control. Pilates involves several body maneuvers and lumber implementations that have been known to enhance your posture, build strength, and boost your flexibility.

Some Pilates exercises that can help increase your flexibility include:

- Teaser: This exercise is designed to increase the power of your abdominal muscles as well as elongate the chest, shoulder, and spine.

- Swimming: This Pilates exercise focuses the muscles in the back and more specifically helps loosen the upper part of your body.

- Side Bend: Specifically, to develop the obliques and the sides by stretching, perhaps what many people overlook is controlled breathing.

- Leg Circles: This exercise targets the hip flexors and stretches the lower back, glutes, and hamstrings muscles.

- Roll-Up: This very intense stretch workout is best for your hamstrings, lower back, and spine muscles.

3. Tai Chi

Tai Chi is a martial art in China that combines slow gentle movements and focused breathing to enhance the mind and body. Tai Chi is not a vigorous type of aerobic exercise, and it has been developed for enhancing the flexibility among people.

Some Tai Chi movements that focus on flexibility include:

- Wave Hands Like Clouds: This flowing movement helps in stretching your arms, shoulders, and chest and at the same time provides relaxation to the body.

- Part the Wild Horse's Mane: I believe this exercise assists one to stretch their shoulder, neck, and upper back further enhance posture.

- Brush Knee and Twist Step: It is relevant in expand the hip, thigh, and calf muscles as well as enhance balance and coordination.

- Fists Under Elbows: It also will help elongate your upper back over your shoulders and your arms while simultaneously relaxing you.

4. Pilates-inspired stretching

If you are not yet ready to start a Pilates or Yoga routine Fabian recommends trying some basic stretches based on Pilates. These easy exercises can go a long way toward decreasing stiffness and making your whole life feel just that much brighter.

Some Pilates-inspired stretching exercises include:

- Seated Spinal Twist: Lie with your back on the floor, legs flat on the floor and hands placed on your lower back. Bend your upper body to the side – your hips should remain flat on the floor. Perform this exercise for 30 seconds and then swap the sides where you are sitting.

- Supine Spinal Twist: Sit on the edge of the bed so that you are comfortable and your feet touch the carpeted floor or ground. Lay your right foot over your left knee and put your left hand on your right knee and your right hand on your back. Turn your torso to the right, taking about 15 – 30 seconds; do this to the left as well. Repeat on the opposite side.

- Seated Forward Bend: Stand at least ten feet away from a piece of furniture and lean forward so that your buttocks are just touching the furniture. Clasp your hands above your head and roll your body forward as far down as you reasonably can. Wait 30 seconds and repeat.

- Standing Quad Stretch: Starting with the foot nearest to the reader placed parallel to each other, slide the right foot back a step and squat down gently. Put your right hands on your right thigh and draw it toward your chest. Time to hold is 30 seconds; it should be done on the opposite side of the body as well.

5. Dynamic Stretching

Dynamic stretching is a special type of flexibility training involving active movements through a given range of motion in an attempt to increase muscle pliability. Through dynamic stretches during workouts, extra flexibility will be attained as well as the ability of the body to move in a particular range of motion without posing any threat to the body.

Some dynamic stretching exercises include:

- Leg Swings: Place one foot in front of the other and raise it from the floor; move the raised leg forward and backward. Take ten swings in one side and then finish with the other side.

- Arm Circles: Stance with your hands halfway dropped, feet shoulder width apart and arms to the sides. I use my arms to draw small clockwise circles and with time the size increases. Now do ten circles in each direction.

- Walking Lunges: Walk to the ball of one foot and turn to place the other foot beside it and in line with it, then step back to move backward and gather for the next action. Take 10 steps backward, jumping with the right leg and then perform 10 steps backward jumping with the left leg.

- High Knees: Jogging where you lift your heels towards the thighs every time you are taking a step forward. Perform for 30 seconds.

- Butterfly Stretch: Sit on the floor with your feet placed one on top of the other in front of the other and the knees flexed. Next bend your knees down towards the ground then raise your heels from the floor. Hold for 30 seconds.

Conclusion:

The flexibility workout exercises can be incorporated in your workout plans in order for you to be blessed with a better range of motion, lower chances of getting an injury and general well being. As flexibility can be incorporated by yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, Pilates inspired stretching or dynamic stretching it is recommended that one should include flexibility exercise s frequently in the circuit training. Over the course of regular practice, you will see that your flexibility, your posture, and to some extent, your quality of life is enhanced.