Stretching Exercises That Are Effective and Easy

Although many people wake up each day feeling groggy, tired, and ineffective, few of these people take the time to understand that they can solve a lot of their problems by something very simple. Many people do not stretch often enough, or - worse still - they do not stretch at all! There is a widespread misconception that stretching is only necessary if you are about to exercise, or if you just finished exercising. But the truth is, no matter what a person does throughout the course of a normal day, stretching is important for everyone. By stretching, you will enable your body to stay looser; your blood will circulate through your body more effectively; your breathing will be better; in short, stretching makes you much healthier in general!

You might think that it is too much work to stretch throughout the day, or that it will take up too much of your time. But actually, most stretches are very easy to do, and they can be done in bits in pieces throughout the day or in a single ten or fifteen minute block of time.

In order to give your entire upper body a good stretch that is easy to do no matter where you are, try doing this: first, stretch your arms straight back behind you at about shoulder height; then, while still stretching your arms back, lean forward (your legs should be just wider than shoulder-width apart) until your torso is parallel with the ground. You will find your arms, chest and even abdomen significantly loosened by this stretch.

Leg stretches are somewhat more difficult to do at times, as you can not especially do most of them while wearing your work clothes! Try to do your leg stretches in the morning before you get dressed, or at night before you get into bed; butterflies and toe touches are both great stretching exercises for your legs, as are lunges.

Your body and its health will begin to improve dramatically once you begin to simply stretch for ten or fifteen minutes every day.