Read this before you STRETCH
Warm muscles, tendons, and ligaments are more flexible and stretch more easily; stretching cold muscles can cause tears. If you have been following my blogs you’ll know that I have quoted Jillian Michaels as saying you should conclude your workouts with a stretching routine.
Light stretching can be done to start the routine; but only AFTER you have warmed up. Warm up routines that utilize several body parts are better than those that focus on just one or two body parts.
Stretching can also be done in between weight lifting sets.
- Stretches should always be gradual and gentle. Don’t rush through the stretching routine. Stretch only to the point of resistance; if the stretch hurts, you’re pushing too hard. There should be mild tension; not pain.
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE
I was inspired by the article in The New York Times magazine, November 28, 2010; The Incredible Flying Nonagenarian by Bruce Grierson, to share the following:
My highlights of the article are as follows:
The cohort of people 85 and older — the fastest-growing segment of the population, as it happens — is increasingly being studied for longevity clues.
Some researchers now see aging itself as a kind of mitochondrial disease. Defective mitochondria appear as we get older, and these researchers say that they rob us of endurance, strength and function. There’s evidence that for young patients with mitochondrial disease, exercise is a potent tool, slowing the symptoms. If that’s true, then exercise could also potentially be a kind of elixir of youth, combating the ravages of aging far more than we thought.
EXERCISE HAS BEEN shown to add between six and seven years to a life span (and improve the quality of life in countless ways).
