Stretching For Longevity

Stretching & Flexibility :

Stretching is something that has always been intimidating to me. As a child, my body would bend and maneuver in ways I once believed to be reserved for childhood. Now, however, stretching has become an integral part of my daily rituals and practices and helps me remain nimble and flexible, and releases tension both on and off the mat.

Stretching can be beneficial to help improve blood flow and heart health and can increase overall longevity and health-span.

What is “Health-span”?

Healthspan, as opposed to “lifespan” is focused on how long you maintain your overall health, rather than how long you live. While longevity is an important measure, if we live for a long time in poor health, our quality of life decreases exponentially, thus healthspan is an important metric to consider. Stretching can help improve and increase your chances of maintaining an extended health-span. Flexibility is crucial to help improve the quality of physical movements and will help in preventing injuries, decreasing inflammation, and modulate physical and mental pain, impact exercise recovery speed and even potentially slowing down the progression of certain diseases.

Stretching Toolkit:

No. 1

Radically and immediately increase flexibility:

Did you know that if you flex your muscles prior to attempting a stretch, you will actually be able to stretch deeper?

Next time you are trying a stretch. Try flexing the opposing or antagonist muscle for 30 seconds prior to the stretch.
What exactly is the opposing muscle you may ask? If you are stretching your hamstrings, for instance, try flexing your quadriceps for 30 seconds prior. This will help you achieve a deeper stretch through signaling neurons in your brain. Try it for yourself!

No. 2

Make a routine & stick to it:

If you are anything like me and have any of my old habits, stretching often gets left for the end of a workout and on a busy day will be completely skipped.

Next time you are trying a stretch. Try flexing the opposing or antagonist muscle for 30 seconds prior to the stretch.
What exactly is the opposing muscle you may ask? If you are stretching your hamstrings, for instance, try flexing your quadriceps for 30 seconds prior. This will help you achieve a deeper stretch through signaling neurons in your brain. Try it for yourself !