Stretching doesn’t have to be as difficult and as painful as most have come to expect. It really is an essential part of any and every lifestyle. I say that because it really doesn’t matter if you are an arm chair athlete or highly trained in a specific sport, stretching helps everybody maintain a functional healthy musculoskeletal system. This is particularly important because as we live longer lives, thanks to medical science, we need to maintain our functional abilities and stay as independent as possible and keep our bodies moving.

Often I have conversations with clients about how much, or in reality, how little they stretch. I often try to keep perspective and reflect back on my own methods to incorporate stretching into my exercise routines and recovery days. I’ve come up with a simple plan that I think most people could relate to and I promote it as often as I have stretching conversations.

Here’s my take on stretching:

1. Ignore the suggestions made in health magazines that you NEED to stretch after exercise. Ignore the suggestions that stretching before exercise isn’t good because your muscles are “cold” or not warmed up.
2. Instead stretch whenever you feel the need to. My philosophy is centred around stretching anytime which is better than not at all.
3. Begin with a muscle group that is problematic or particularly tight, i.e., pectoralis (chest) muscles, that may be short and tight because of poor posture.
4. Stretch at the water cooler, while waiting for the subway, or better yet while WATCHING T.V.! You’re just sitting around anyway so why not kill two birds with one stone?
5. Muscles are either short and tight or long and tight. Stretch the short and tight ones.
6. Often people feel pain in a particular area of their body, i.e., upper back muscles between the shoulder blades. If you feel pain in your upper back think about the muscles that oppose them. Your pain may be caused by muscle and soft tissue length imbalances, so stretch your chest muscles instead. This reestablishes a length balance between agonist/antogonist muscle groups.
7. Stretch problem muscles FIRST and multiple times per day. Stretch other muscles as they need it or as they fit into your exercise routines.
8. Don’t get overwhelmed by stretching for 20-30 minute sessions per day. That’s just plain ridiculous! If you stretch periodically, say 2 minutes at a time starting with a problem muscle group FIRST, you will notice results without the unrealistic idea of stretching for prolonged periods of time. Who does that anyway? Maybe professional athletes do like goalies and that’s because they get paid to do it!

Plain and simple…try it!