Killer Fitness Guide To Stretching: Flexibility, How Stretching Improves Flexibili...

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Killer Fitness Guide To Stretching

Table of Contents
Flexibility..............3
How Stretching Improves Flexibility...3
Types of Stretching..........4
Safety Guidelines...........5
The Exercises..............6
Upper Body Neck...........6
Shoulders/Arms............7
Torso & Back.............9
Chest................13
Lower Body Hamstrings & Quadriceps....14
Calves & Ankles...........20
Compound Stretches............21
Flexibility
The Ability to move your body through it's full range of motion.
Flexibility training isn't a high priority for most people. Stretching won't get rid of that spare tire, slow the growth of those widening hips, or give you the "six pack" abs you long for. Which begs the question.why bother? Believe it or not, flexibility is just as important as strength and endurance. If you're not flexible, you've severely limited your athletic potential and increased your risk of injury.
Flexibility is especially important when conducting any physical activity that places stress on the joints and muscles. Incorporating stretching into your physical fitness regimen will increase both agility and balance, while helping to flush the toxins that build up in your muscles. Additionally, a more flexible muscle will contract faster and with greater force allowing you to exert the maximum amount of physical power. A flexibility program will improve and maintain your range of motion, reduce stiffness in your joints, post-exercise soreness, and reduce the risk of injury.
How flexible you are is determined by how you're built, how old you are, and the overall health of your ligaments, tendons, and muscles. We tend to become less flexible as we get older because our daily activity level starts to drop, hence muscles becoming tighter with disuse. A sedentary lifestyle will cause your muscles to tighten and atrophy. Stretching is one of the most important things you can do for your long-term health. Starting a regular exercise program that includes flexibility training will go a long way towards reversing the process.
The Killer Fitness method takes some of the best exercises used by gymnasts, martial artists, track coaches and professional athletes to provide you with a combined program guaranteed to increase your flexibility. No matter how "tight" you are now, you can significantly improve your flexibility and overall health starting today.
How Stretching Improves Flexibility
Why do we lose flexibility with age and reduced activity? It's called the myotatic reflex (stretch reflex), and it prevents strains and tears, by limiting range of motion and preventing the body from hurting itself. Without it, our muscles would be allowed to overextend and tear. Every muscle is subject to the myotatic reflex. The reflex opposes changes in muscle length, especially during a sudden or extreme change. When a muscle lengthens beyond a certain point, the myotatic reflex causes it to tighten and attempt to shorten. This is the tension you feel during stretching exercises. Although an important safety feature, it can be an obstacle to athletic development.
Stretching reconditions the myotatic reflex by teaching your muscles a new limit of safe extension. To counter the reflex, stretching must be slow and deliberate. If you overstretch you can injure the muscle and end up decreasing your flexibility. You may weaken the muscle, requiring a long slow recovery process. Set your stretching goals over a period of weeks or months, not days, for best results.
Types of Stretching
Flexibility and stretching exercises fall into four basic categories based on the manner in which a muscle is stretched. They include:
• Static Stretching. A controlled stretch with no emphasis on speed. A muscle is slowly extended until experiencing a slight uncomfortable feeling, then held for a set period of time.

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