While stretching may seem like a great way to waste time at the gym to prevent yourself from actually exercising, don’t be fooled. Stretching is actually really good for you and will, in the long run, get in the way of your unfit goals. You see, remaining flexible is important for living a healthy active lifestyle, especially as you get older. Think about it like this, the tighter your muscles are, the small your range of motion in your joints will be. Decreasing your range of motion will decrease the amount of activities you can perform. Decreasing the amount of activities you can perform decreases the amount of exercise you can do. You see where I’m going with this.
Simply put: Tighter Muscles = Less Exercise
Here are ways to diminish your flexibility:
- Sit all day
- Slouch while seated and whenever you are forced to stand
- Hunch forward at your desk
- Don’t take breaks from you desk to walk around
Additionally, tight muscles increase your risk for injury. Getting injured is like cutting the line to get into the unfit club. While injured you have all the excuses in the world to not exercise and sit around all day!
