A fitness freaks guide to stretching and staying hydrated

Bruce Swedal
However, there are many myths about both these things that have crept into most people's thinking.

The number one myth about hydration is that you should let your level of thirst signal when you need to drink. This is absolutely untrue. Most athletes only replace about 2/3 of the water they lose when they follow this rule. Instead, drink fluids on a schedule. A general rule of thumb, depending on your weight and weather conditions is to drink 8 ounces of water about 15 minutes before beginning exercise and 8 ounces for each 15 minutes during your workout.

Another hydration myth is that everyone needs eight glasses of water a day. This may not be enough for some people who engage in higher intensity sports. It may be too much for sedentary people. This is because, although it is true that the average person loses 80 ounces of water a day, he or she also gains about 32 ounces of water from food. That means, in order to replace lost fluids a person only needs to drink about 48 ounces of water rather than the 64 ounces contained in eight glasses of water.

A recent study about over hydration has scared people into believing that you can get sick from drinking too much water during exercise. While this may be true in isolated cases, typically among endurance athletes, the average person will not get sick from drinking too much water unless they have an existing heart, liver or kidney problem. If you have one of these conditions, checking with your doctor about the proper amount of liquid to drink during exercise is advisable.



Stretching is another source of myths and misinformation. Contrary to popular belief, stretching will not "warm you up." Warming up is done by starting a low level of activity and working up to your desired intensity. Stretching before exercise also will not prevent injury although research has shown that it will reduce pain and muscle soreness after exercise. Only a proper warm-up routine will help prevent injuries.

Many people also believe that stretching is most beneficial when done before a workout. Actually, gentle stretching after a workout can help reduce cramping and muscular pain. Also, there is the belief that any stretching is better than none. Improper stretching can actually increase the risk of muscular injuries. It's worth taking the time to learn stretches appropriate to the activity you're planning to perform.

Bruce Swedal is an active Colorado Realtor in the Denver Real Estate market. He is a member of the South Metro Denver Realtors Association, National Association of Realtors and Colorado Association of Realtors. He and his family live in Highlands Ranch Colorado. They enjoy traveling and family time. He is listed in the Authority Web Directory.

Standing forward bend

This stretch feels great if your back is tired, especially if you’ve been standing for a long time. When you stand for an extended period of time, the muscles of your back and hamstrings (the back of your thighs) tend to tighten up, creating stiffness and tension in the muscles. The first phase of this stretch targets the muscles of your back, specifically your erector spinae, and the second phase targets your back and hamstrings.
To do this stretch, follow these steps:

1. Begin standing with your feet about hip-width apart and your toes facing forward.
2. Exhale and bend forward from your hips and knees until your chest rests on your quads and you can place your hands flat on the floor in front of you. Try to keep your hands close to your feet, and your feet flat on the floor.
3. Hold this position for 30 seconds. To make sure that the muscles in your neck and shoulders are relaxed, gently shake your head from side to side as if you were saying “no.” Remember to breathe as you hold this position.
4. Exhale and slowly begin straightening your legs until you feel tension in the back of your thighs. Your hands are still flat on the floor in front of you.
5. Release the stretch by inhaling, bending your knees again, and resting your torso back on your thighs for the length of two deep breaths.
6. Exhale, release your hands from the floor, and slowly begin to roll up, really focusing on stacking your vertebrae — one at a time — until you’re standing tall.

If your back and hamstrings are tight, you may need to place your hands on a yoga block or thick book to keep you from having to bend all the way down to the floor. This assistance allows you to stretch the appropriate muscles without overextending and perhaps causing pain. It’s also is a great way to gradually increase your flexibility without overstretching in the beginning.
A few do’s and don’ts for this stretch:

• Do keep your hands flat on the floor in front of you and your neck relaxed.
• Do pull your abdominals in tight when you begin to roll up.
• Don’t tense or tighten your shoulders and/or neck.

Seated forward bend

You should feel this stretch along the length of your entire back — specifically the erector spinae. You may hold tension in your upper back and some in your lower back, and because this stretch involves the entire back, it can really help you find where you hold tension in your back. For example, if you find that your upper back is tense, that means you hold tension primarily in your rhomboid and trapezious muscles. If your lower back is tense, it’s probably your erector spinae that’s tight. Either way, this stretch not only helps you increase flexibility in your back, but also it can provide a long-term prescription for back health To do this stretch, follow these steps:

1. Sit on a chair with your feet flat on the floor and your abdominal muscles pulled in. To help you find and control your abdominals, imagine a string attached to your bellybutton. The string pulls back so your bellybutton moves toward your spine. Keep that string tight and your bellybutton pulled in throughout the entire exercise.
2. Inhale and as you exhale, bend forward at the hips as far as you can comfortably stretch, letting your arms hang down toward the ground.
3. Hold this stretch for 30 seconds or four to five slow, deep breaths.
4. Place your hands on your thighs and slowly roll up one vertebra at a time until you come back to a sitting position.

To feel a little more stretch in your lats and the middle of your back, after you perform Steps 1 and 2, try to twist your spine slightly so both arms move toward the outside of your right leg. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds and then repeat on your left side.
A few do’s and don’ts for this stretch:

• Do start the motion from your hips, not from your back.
• Do start the stretch in your comfort zone, gradually stretching farther with each breath.
• Don’t move or wiggle your legs or knees — your lower body should remain still.
• Don’t hold tension in your shoulders.

How Stretching Can Explode Your Muscle Growth

Not only is stretching important for flexibility, it is CRITICAL for massive, rapid muscle growth!

When you think about gaining muscle, stretching is probably not the first thing that pops into your head. But did you know that stretching plays a critical role in building muscle?

Every muscle in your body is enclosed in a bag of tough connective tissue known as fascia. Fascia is important for holding your muscles in their proper place in your body.

But your fascia may also be holding back your muscle growth. Think for a moment about your muscles. You train them and feed them properly. They want to grow and will grow but something is holding them back. They have no room to grow!

Because fascia is so tough, it doesn't allow the muscle room to expand. It is like stuffing a large pillow into a small pillowcase. The size of the muscle won't change regardless of how hard you train or how well you eat because the connective tissue around your muscles is constricting the muscles within.

The best example of this is the calf muscle. The lower leg is riddled with fascia because of its tremendous weight-bearing duties in the body. It is because of this fascia that many trainers have great difficulty developing their calves.

The solution: stretching.

Stretching is one of the most under-utilized techniques for improving athletic performance, preventing sports injury and properly rehabilitating sprain and strain injury. Don't make the mistake of thinking that something as simple as stretching won't be effective.

Using the pillowcase example from above, imagine you can expand the size of the pillowcase by stretching it. Suddenly, the pillow within has more room and will expand to fill that new space.

By stretching your muscles under specific conditions, you can actually stretch your fascia and give your muscles more room to grow.

The key to effective fascial stretching is the pump. The best time to stretch to expand the bags that are holding in your muscles is when your muscles are pumped up full of blood.

When your muscles are fully pumped up, they are pressing against the fascia. By stretching hard at that time, you increase that pressure on the fascia greatly, which can lead to expansion of the fascia.

One of the major reasons Arnold Schwarzenegger had such incredible chest development was that he finished his chest workouts with dumbbell flyes, an exercise that emphasizes the stretched position of the pectoral muscles. He would pump his chest up full of blood during the workout then do flyes, holding the stretch at the bottom of the flye. This gave his chest room to grow to amazing proportions.

Fascial stretching is more rigorous than regular stretching but the results can be amazing. When you stretch hard enough to cause the fascia to expand, you will really feel it! When you are stretching the fascia, you should feel a powerful pulling sensation and pressure as the muscle works against the fascia to expand it.

Be sure you do not stretch so hard that you cause the muscle to tear or cause injury to yourself. You will rapidly learn to distinguish the difference between a good stretch and a bad stretch. You should not feel any sharp pain, just a steady pull.

Hold each stretch for at least 20 to 30 seconds as you must give your fascia time to be affected by the stretch. Stretch hard like this only when you have a fully pumped muscle as you must give your fascia a reason to expand. If your muscles aren't pumped, just stretch normally.

One set of hard stretching after each set you do for a muscle group, besides the obvious benefits of increased flexibility, can have an incredible effect on the size of your muscles and their further ability to grow.

This informative article was written by Nick Nilsson, president of Better U, Inc.

Traveling Around the Lower Back

The five vertebrae that make up the lower back region are called the lumbar vertebrae, and they carry the weight of your entire upper body, as well as turn, twist, and bend. Beneath the lumbar vertebrae are nine fused vertebrae that together make up the sacrum (the rear wall of the pelvis) and the end of the spine, or the coccyx. But these vertebra don’t stand up straight all by themselves.
The spine is stabilized primarily by a large muscle group that runs on either side of the spine, known as the erector spinae, and by your abdominals. Because no other muscles in your body are capable of such a wide range of movements while supporting such a large weight, they’re uniquely susceptible to tension and strain. The function of all these structures is to maintain good posture. However, as a result of improper movement, muscular imbalance, poor alignment, and/or injury, over time the structures that help maintain fluid movement in your back, such as the intervertebral discs (the soft cartilage between the vertebrae) can begin to be compromised. Because flexibility training can help keep your muscles well balanced and your skeleton properly aligned, stretching is a crucial component of a lifelong commitment to a pain-free and healthy back.

Spinal rotation for back and buttocks

A traditional stretch exists to stretch your buttocks, but by adding a spinal rotation to this buttocks stretch, you can stretch your back and buttocks at the same time. The two-in-one stretch can save you time and stretch your muscles more functionally. A normal function of your daily routine — like bending down and reaching across to pick something up — requires the muscles of your hip to stretch at the same time as the lats on the other side of your back. Stretching this area keeps you flexible.
To do this stretch, follow these steps:

1. Stand up tall with your right foot and right shoulder next to a chair, wall, fence, or other supportive surface for balance.
2. Lift your left foot and place your left ankle on the top of your right thigh.
3. Inhale and as you exhale, bend your right knee and hinge or bend forward at your hips slightly so your hips move backward, similar to a squat.
4. To deepen the stretch, grab hold of the chair or other supportive surface with both hands.
5. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds or four to five slow, deep breaths.
6. Repeat the steps on the other side.

A few do’s and don’ts for this stretch:

• Do breathe regularly throughout the stretch.
• Do tilt your pelvis back to feel a deeper stretch in your buttocks.
• Don’t let your knee jut forward; it should stay directly above your ankle. Feel your weight mostly in your heel, not in your toes or the ball of your foot.
• Don’t bounce or force the stretch.

Happy stretching!

Fitness expert Anupa stresses the need to bring in a lot of variety to our workout schedules. Unless a conscious effort is made from your side you would end up losing most of the vital muscles.

This is a fact that most of us would not want to accept - 2 out of 10 people would love to go for a regular aerobic workout, pump iron in the gym, strap our running shoes and give it a go or do some kind of fitness activity regularly. The rest of the people are still wondering what to do?

Well, the reality is that the body requires movement for sure and more so the body likes a lot of variety. So, even if we have set into a routine and are perfect disciplinarians our body would still benefit from change and variety.

• Rote and repetitive movements can get too monotonous and boring, adherence to them becomes difficult.
• When there is no variety in the form of exercise, the chances of calories getting burnt will also become less. Once the mind understands the routine it can tune the body to its pace.
• Sometimes repetition can cause overuse injuries. When the body is forced to do a particular movement repetitively, there is a possibility to wear down some cartilage, sometimes even tear muscles and tendons.

Hence it is necessary to bring in a lot of variety in to our workout schedules. Again, let us try to cater to the class, or the other 80%, who feel the necessity to move but are still pondering over the choice.

• Try to accumulate 30 minutes of activity in the course of the day. This can be split into 3 ten-minute intervals or 2 fifteen-minute intervals or one full chunk of 30 minutes. The idea is to get some movement that will lower your cholesterol levels, boost up the HDL (high density lipoprotein) cholesterol and lower the LDL (low density lipoprotein) that clogs arteries.
• Make sure you enjoy the moderate activity that you are doing. A do-or-die attitude towards exercise may diminish the positive benefits of exercise.

We will primarily focus on developing two aspects of fitness - strength or endurance and flexibility.

A weight-training programme directly results in developing strength. Within a couple of weeks of starting a weight-training programme you can see a visible gain in muscle strength and endurance. Your daily tasks of lifting grocery bags, opening lids and moving heavy objects would become easier. Let's however look at the major advantages:

1. Fat burning: A consistent weight training routine will see a cumulative effect of an enhanced fat burning capacity. Within 3 months, the body's muscle to fat ratio improves and you would start burning more calories
2. Low risk of osteoporosis: A weight-training programme prevents calcium depletion especially for women post menopause.
3. Easier movement: The general activity level of people who indulge in this training is very high and they find themselves be able to do more things in the available time.
4. Prevents premature aging: Loss of strength is the single most important reason for age-related functional loss, reducing capacity, curtailed activities and even shrinking of the skeleton. If you don't put a muscle to use, you would lose it i.e., the muscle loses its function and this loss occurs at an accelerated rate after 40 years.

Unless a conscious effort is made from our side we would end up losing most of the vital muscles. Especially Indians have a lot of myths built around body-building and all the more women. Ideally as you age a weight training routine will ease the process and you will enjoy it.
Let us now look at the flexibility aspects through stretching. Most of the times stretching exercise looks and feels very painful. The reason being people believe that by over pushing a muscle or a joint a stretch is executed and flexibility maximised. Ideally think of your pet cat or dog at home or any other animal you can remember. They stretch gracefully and sometimes we would even envy them. The stretch executed by them is effortless and the purpose is accomplished. If we know that our body keeps reckoning us to stretch when we maintain monotony the whole day. If we can heed this and stretch accordingly, flexibility is gained. We should not mistake this with clicking of knuckles or other joints.
The accrued benefits of stretching frequently as a part of your routine will find your muscles having lesser tension, less stiffness, better elasticity of the muscles and tendons and reduced risk of injuries.

When executing a stretch keep the following points in mind:

1. Be gentle - a muscle should slowly experience the stretch, only then it lengthens the right way and you can enjoy it.
2. Be patient - Do not be in a hurry to execute the stretch. It takes roughly 10 seconds for the muscle to stop contracting, the next 20 seconds in preparing to stretch and only the following 10 seconds to actually lengthen. Give yourself this time and enjoy the stretch.
3. Be consistent - Do not stretch once in a week or occasionally when you feel like exercising. Stretch regularly like a cat.
4. Warm up - Before executing any stretch ensure your body is warmed up, do not stretch when you are rigid and cold.

So, let's parallelly work on our strength and flexibility.

The author is martial arts practitioner and a personal fitness coach.