Welcome to the Sports Reality Stretching & Exercise blog. The Sports Reality staff has created a place where athletes, parents of athletes, and other members of our community can come to not only gain a bit of useful and healthful information, but to get a glimpse of what our athletes do while training here.
Let’s face it—most of us don’t stretch enough (or not at all). But stretching is an activity that can be exceptionally beneficial for our bodies—especially as we age--and it doesn’t take much time to do! We ALL should stretch. Most people don’t stretch because they don’t have time for it and it’s not the first thing they think of in the morning, but stretching can be incorporated into your day with ease. With so many kids and adults playing video games, watching TV, and spending too much time in front of any kind of screen, there is PLENTY of time to stretch…almost too much time. That being said, there is no excuse to NOT stretch. In fact, sitting around doing nothing is a great way to injure yourself once you become active—even for a small amount of time—so stretching for sedentary individuals is a MUST, and it’s pretty simple to do so. At Sports Reality, we take stretching seriously and believe you should too.
BUT, why is stretching important?
Stretching helps improve one’s flexibility. Flexibility can be defined as how well one can bend without breaking. What stretching does is it lengthens your muscles and the tendons connected to those muscles. When your tendons and associated muscles are lengthened, they prevent the shortening and tightening that occurs in those muscles and tendons once you’ve exercised (or have been seated for a long time). Another way to define flexibility is how well an athlete can play a game and not get injured. The more flexible an athlete’s ankles are, the less susceptible that athlete’s ankles are to injury. But, of course, it isn’t just athletes who can get injured by not stretching, anyone can get injured by ignoring their stretching needs. And the older we get, the more susceptible we are to injury—especially those that can be prevented through a stretching routine.
