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Text-only Transcript

Video:
Be Fit
Stretching

Narrator:
Let’s join Brad, from the YMCA, to learn more about how stretching can benefit you, at any age.

Brad Wong(YMCA Trainer/Yoga Instructor):
Stretching is important, no matter what your activity level is, as it helps to maintain your range of motion, it can prevent injuries, and it allows you to participate fully in everyday activities.

When stretching, you should focus on the area that you’re stretching and try to coordinate your breathing - where you breathe out as you enter into the stretch, breathe comfortably and smoothly during the stretch, and inhale as you come out of the stretch.

Video:
Breathing is key:
Exhale as you enter stretch
Inhale as you exit stretch

Brad Wong:
The prime time to stretch is after you done your activity.
Before your activity, it is best to do a warm up with some light stretching, just to lubricate and limber up.

Video:
Stretch for back and shoulders

Brad Wong:
There are many stretches that you can do at home to help maintain an active lifestyle. For instance, in a comfortable seated position like this, to help stretch out the back and shoulders, you bring your hands down in front of you… And you just gently tuck your chin in and walk your hands out until you feel that nice (stretch through) your back… And you just hold it, breathing in, breathing out, and when you come out, breathe in and slowly curl back up.

Video:
Stretch for shoulders

Brad Wong:
Quite often, with people sitting at desks with computers, and driving and hunched over, they get a lot of tightness in the shoulders. So, a very simple exercise for the shoulders is to bring one elbow into the opposite elbow and wrap your hands… And just let the arms rest on your chest and you’ll feel a nice stretch through the upper back.

Video:
Stretch for back

Brad Wong:
One of the main contributors to back pain is short and tight hamstrings which is come from sitting. So there is a very easy exercise you can do when you’re watching TV, or at work, if you sneak off to a corner of the office. You bring one foot in by the knee, and gently begin to start a stretching program, if you haven’t stretched. You have your hands on you shin and eventually you will extend, and extend until you can grab on to the ball of your foot, or touch on the toes… As long as you feel that gentle pull, your hands can be anywhere.

Video:
Length of stretch:
60 seconds or longer to lengthen
30-45 seconds to maintain

Brad Wong:
So a question that people quite often ask is “How long should I hold a stretch?” Well, in the warm-up phase, you’re just warming up your muscles and the joints, so it should be around 15 seconds, gentle stretch. After you’re finished, if you particularly want to lengthen a muscle, then you want to be holding for at least one minute or longer. And if you just want to maintain your... maintain the flexibility that you currently have, holding it between somewhere around 30 to 45 seconds is adequate… As long as you’re maintaining an active amount of stretching, if possible everyday, but if not, after all of your activities.

Video:
Stretching can:
Reduce recovery time
Help prevent injury
Speed the healing process

Brad Wong:
If you’ve been injured or are recovering from an injury, stretching can help to reduce recovery times or perhaps prevent future injuries by bringing a fresh blood flow into the joints and muscles, increase the range of motion. And that can help speed the healing process.

So, if you want to get active, if you want to get out there, get into the game, the importance of stretching will help keep you in the game by keeping your muscles long and lean and help to contribute to your active lifestyle.