Are YOU Stretching?.....

Alot of people skip stretching their muscles before exercise, not understanding how important it is. So many people say to me "why do I need to bother with warming up with muscle stretches first?... my muscles will warm up when I start to exercise"!!Well, there really is good reasoning for pre and post exercise muscle stretching. The good news is that it isn't just another form of torture. Although, many beginning a regular exercise program might think so. Stretching your muscles before beginning to exercise and afterwards, will actually result in your body feeling less stressed as it is moved and pushed in ways it is not used to due to a sedentary lifestyle. Whether you are just starting out or you are a fitness pro, stretching your muscles before and after engaging in an exercise program or fitness training regimen is VERY important!

Taking a few minutes to stretch and warm up your muscles before beginning exercise releases a lubricating substance from the cartilage within the joints, which aids the fluid motion of muscles and also keeps bones from scraping against one another at connection points in the body. Lubricated and fluid moving muscles have more flexibility which reduces your chances of injuring them.

Helping your muscles to become more flexible by stretching is not only beneficial for preventing injury during exercising, flexible muscles are able to distribute strength better which helps you in doing a variety of physical activities with more balance, using less energy, especially while lifting and bending. During an exercise routine you tense and stretch muscles, tensing and stretching muscles strengthens them and increases the mass of muscles. The circulation of blood throughout the body is also increased by stretching your muscles.

You know whether your muscles are getting a workout or not because when they are, an area of your brain receives a message of muscle tightening from them. The brain then relays this message to another part of the brain which is responsible for allowing us to experience physical responses to such messages, and you then feel your muscles get tighter. Most of us do not usually think about these processes of the brain that happening while we are exercising. What we do become aware of is the feeling of our muscles tightening.

After a good workout muscles and joints are heated up and tight and can stiffen and become sore a few hours later if you do not take a few minutes to cool them down with some post exercise stretching. This is opposite from warming up muscles and joints before exercising by slowly increasing the intensity and number of stretches. Instead you should slow things down and with ease stretch to relieve the tightness in muscles and joints that have built up during your workout.

The only time you shouldn't stretch is when you are injured!

So keep STRETCHING & stay healthy!!

The Usual Suspects........

This is my first blog entry so I decided to talk about my honest gym experiences this stuff might not be politically correct but oh well. I been in the gym working out for years and I have always wondered about some of the things that go on there. First off, what's up with the guys with their little brothers tank on? These guys come in and make and insane amount of noise with the weights they shoulder press 30lbs then drop them on the floor as if they just pressed the 100s. Oh, I guess this makes people say man they sure are strong! They make all kinds grunting noises while lifting the 30's. I guess this is some kind of beckin call that draws other guys to the gym. After they finish their set, they walk around in circles looking in the mirror to see if their deltoids grew from that set. It's funny because I always hear one of them saying "dude your getting freakin huge dude, are you carbing up?" After their session is over they never unrack their weights. Oh and lets not forget they always have to have the conversation which goes something like this, " Hey dude see the big dude over there I know he's juicing." Have you seen these tough guys?



I always run into the mirror junkies, you know the ones who come in just to touch up their deltoids or their biceps. They look in the mirror and say to themselves "yea" you know who they are because they always come in with something tight on that allows there tiny biceps to be squeezed out to be noticed. The women also come in usually in halter-tops showing their abs, but most of the time they are in desperate need of some glute work. They can be seen doing reps of 200 with the 2pounders and breathing real hard after each set. Their intensity inspires really inspires me....NOT..LOL...



This one is kind of awkward but I guess I will share it anyway. What is up with the guy in the locker room that sits there for and hour getting dressed and undressed trying to sneak a peak at other guys .?...?.. You know him, his the one who puts the towel around himself, and pulls his skivy's down underneath of the towel. This guy sometimes makes conversation, but beware, because if the locker room has mirrors then this guy know all the best angles that he can sneak a good peak at .?.,?. This guy can often be spotted in the sauna or steam room waiting for...can you say "preditor". Have you seen this guy?