Thursday 17 March 2011

Why Flexibility and Agility Are Important






Exercise is essential for your body and your mind. There are three pillars of fitness: Cardiovascular exercise, Strength training, and Flexibility.

Many people are faithful to get in their aerobic exercise in for their hearts, and doing strength training but then slack off for the cool down and skip doing their stretching or flexibility exercises.

How does stretching help you to have a greater level of fitness? It is really quite simple. When you stretch a muscle, you lengthen the tendons, which attach it to the bone. The longer these fibers are the more you can increase the size of your muscle during strength training. This means that a flexible muscle is a stronger muscle. Therefore adding flexibility training increases your fitness level.

Being flexible can help you in your daily life also. Flexibility can help prevent certain injuries. Certain ways that we sit and move each day can shorten the muscles. Examples of bad habits we may have are sitting hunched over the computer, or sitting in one place too long, having poor posture and so forth. Aging plays its role also in loss of elasticity of muscles. Aging and poor habits can make a quick movement, like trying to catch something that is falling, could result in a tear or strain.

So even if you are aerobically fit, being limber is also very important, It is much easier to adapt to daily stressors with a degree of agility.

Stretching also increases circulation, increasing blood flow to your muscles. Having good circulation can protect you from many illnesses from kidney disease to diabetes. A lower risk of cardiovascular disease is a by-product of greater flexibility. People who have better flexibility do better on a sit-and-reach test (a seated test requiring a forward bend to reach things) had less stiffness in their arterial walls which is an indicator of the risk of stroke and heart attack.

Attaining a good level of fitness has many benefits. We already know that exercise is beneficial for our bodies and minds. It is helpful in reducing the risk of some cancers to helping improve your memory. A physically fit person recovers more easily from injuries or illness. Their recovery time from a surgical operation is also shorter.

Flexibility makes you a safer driver, because it is easier for you to turn your head, and have better reflexes. You will also experience less stiffness after a long drive, and be able to continue with less pain, than a person who is has more rigidity in their muscles.

Patricia M. Hines invites you to visit her blog at http://www.weightloss4healthnow.com. A blog documenting healthful weight loss and my personal journey to improve my health and in the process help as many other people as possible.

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