Stretching why you should start your fitness journey with this simple step

A lot of people are at home and thinking about starting a new fitness routine. Whilst this is very tempting to do. It is hard to think about where to start. Let's face it that last thing you want is to end up in A and E with a twisted ankle right now. My recommendation is to start small with stretching. So today I want to talk to you about the benefits of starting your fitness journey with a stretching routine and why it is so important to your body. 

About me

You may not know this about me but I am a qualified sports masseuse. I studied massage and then specialized in sport. Because this was a natural fit for me. So my fitness journey is a bit more extreme than most people I guess. I was a UK size 22 and I lost 7 and a half stone. But this was about 15 years ago. Now I know what you are thinking I did this with fitness but that is not the case I lost the weight then I started my fitness journey. I am right now the smallest I have ever been, and the fittest I have ever been. So this means I am mentally the strongest I have ever been because for me these to things go hand in hand.

Why we need to stretch? 

We are all guilty of sitting too long and not being active enough.  So we all complain about niggling aches and pains, right? What if I told you that stretching can help you get rid of these aches and pains. Obviously, if these are normal aches and pains, not injuries. Stretching is one of the best things you can do for you body and mind. 

Our body is main up of a complex system of muscles.  Muscle is soft tissue. Muscle cells contain protein filaments of Myosin and Actin, These sliding past each other produce a contraction or movement. Very basic definition there. There is no point in bamboozling you with science. 

The dictionary definition is a band or bundle of fibrous tissue in a human or animal body that has the ability to contract, producing movement in or maintaining the position of parts of the body.

We are made up of this complex system and we expect this to not need any help to work. If for example, you did no maintenance on your bike, would you expect your bike to work as good as new every time? No, I didn't think so. So you need to also look after your muscles so you body can function at its optimum. 

The key benefits of stretching

• Increase blood flow to your muscle helping the recovery and repair process.
• Decreases aches and stiffness
• Improves your performance in sports and physical activities
• Can reduce your risk of injury
• Improves posture 
• Get's your body ready for activity or strain. 
• increases your range of movement
• relaxes you promoting relaxation. 
• Is a natural stress reliever 

Where to start. 
It is super easy to start a stretch routine and I could list stretches to do but I think it is always easier to actually see the stretch in action than to read about it. In stretching form is everything and you can not really see from an image or reading about it. 

I will list below my youtube stretch playlist videos. These are the ones I do and love.  Here is my stretch playlist

My favourite at the moment is 
Sydney Cummings -Full Body Deep Stretch for Tight Bodies | Sydney Cummings

You can check out my recommendation of ways to get fit at home and don't forget to check out my other post too why dont you?