Exercise: Stretching and Recovery

Stretching is important to do before and after exercise, but is often neglected. Dr Joe Kosterich talks about the benefits of stretching, how much is needed, and other things to do after exercise.

In other videos we’ve spoken about the importance of exercise and spoken about cardio and resistance type exercise. There’s a third type of exercise that’s really important and that‘s stretching.

In this video we’re going to talk a bit about stretching and also about some of the things to do after you’ve exercised.

What is stretching?

Stretching is essentially that: it’s looking to elongate or stretch out the muscles. It’s important to do that before you start exercising and it’s well known that some stretching is important. Why? It warms up the muscles a little bit and it makes it less likely that you’re going to injure your muscles. It’s not a force field but it does make it less likely.

After exercise, part of that stretching process is to help the muscles warm down. It’s a funny term but it’s the one that is used.

The other thing about stretching is that is very, very good for helping the joints as well because it helps our flexibility. With the body, you want it to be fit from a cardiac perspective so we have some stamina, we want some strength, but we also want some flexibility.

Now, we don’t have to be Olympic gymnasts who can twist themselves into pretzel shapes but we also want to be able to hopefully touch our toes or at least get reasonably close to it.

It is known that those who do some stretching type exercise and maintain their flexibility are going to be better off in the later years because whilst it’s not an absolute prevention for arthritis, by keeping flexible it does help stop the joints getting stiffer. So it’s really important.

How to stretch

You need to be stretching different parts of the body: stretching the back and neck, stretching the legs and also stretching the arms and shoulder muscles.

It is often a neglected part of exercising, people see it as something that isn’t that important. But stretching and flexibility is really important both at the beginning and at the end of exercise.

There are schools of thought that say we should spend as much time doing our stretching as the rest of our exercise. People will argue about that, it doesn’t really matter so long as you are doing at least 5 to 10 minutes of stretching as part of all your exercise routines.

After exercise

Now, what other things should we be thinking about after exercise? A warm shower, warming down is quite important; making sure that you’re keeping yourself hydrated – you should be doing this during exercise, but sometimes we do slip behind so drink plenty of water after exercise.

People often ask, “Should I be drinking some of the propriety coloured drinks, some of the stamina drinks and energy drinks?” Well, people will argue about it, but probably 1 of those for every 4 or 5 waters is probably quite ok.

Protein

Protein can be quite important after exercise because one of the interesting things about exercise is that in the short term it actually stresses the body and there are some theories that say that by stressing the body you actually encourage the body’s repair and restorative mechanisms.

One of the reasons why people who exercise regularly do tend to live longer is because they’re keeping the body’s repair mechanisms active and in constant use. So to do that the body will need some of its building blocks, which are the proteins. So this is why protein bars and protein shakes are sometimes quite popular after exercise.

There are other sources of protein that you can have just through your normal diet. But some protein after exercise is good, and making sure you’re getting plenty of water. Another alternative to your protein shakes is a glass of skim milk and that will also provide you with some good protein and a bit of calcium too.

Exercise recovery

Some people like a rub down or a massage and, again, that’s quite good for the muscles as well. I’m sure lots of people would like to do that everyday but may not be something that will always be practical.

You may have noticed if you go to the gyms they often have sauna or steam rooms, and that’s sometimes quite a good thing to do after exercise if you have the access to it and the time and are that way inclined. Sometimes sitting in a warm bath and putting some salts or crystals is also good to help the muscles post exercise and recovery.  The opposite, going into cold plunges has its supporters, probably more if you’ve done really intense exercise. You’ll see that with footballers sometimes on the news after a game they’ll be getting into a cold pond or at the beach on a winter’s day, probably not for everybody and not necessary.

To sum up

• Stretching, really important. Technique is important – you don’t want to injure yourself – so getting some tips from a physio or personal trainer is going to be useful
• Protein may be helpful after exercise
• Drink plenty of water and keep yourself hydrated
• And perhaps some form of warm down, either in a warm bath, warm shower or tub if you have access to it.

Do your stretching every time you do your exercise and you should be doing that at least 4 times a week, that’s going to keep you supple, it’s going to look after your bones, it’s all going to be good for your heart, you’ll live better for longer.

More information

For more information on fitness and exercise, including stretches, types of exercise, exercise recovery and exercise with health conditions, as well as some useful videos, see Fitness and Exercise.