How to relax after flexibility training

The most important thing is to leave 3-5 minutes of buffering time for the stretched muscles, tendons and other soft tissues. Do not sit still, take a shower, or do high-intensity explosive movements immediately after the exercise. When I was leading an amateur running team, I met Xiao Nan, a young girl who had studied folk dance for 7 years. She always felt that the flexibility training was over. Every time she stretched her hip flexors and hamstrings, she would sit on the side of the field and check her mobile phone. Several times the next day, her iliopsoas muscles were so sore that she couldn't even step up the stairs. Later, she adjusted her relaxation habits and this never happened again.

There are actually some differences in the specific relaxation methods in the circle. One group advocates doing a few sets of low-intensity concentric contractions of the same muscle group after stretching. For example, after stretching the hamstrings, do a dozen times of non-weight-bearing standing leg curls, and after stretching the chest muscles, do a few sets of empty-hand clamps. For the chest, the principle is that the muscle fibers that have just been stretched are like a rubber band that has been stretched to the maximum extent. A few active contractions can help it slowly rebound to its natural tension state, preventing the muscle spindles from being in a stretched adaptation state for a long time, and making it difficult to feel when exerting force later. The other group believes that ordinary people's flexibility training is not intense enough to require additional contractions. It is enough to walk slowly for two or three minutes after the end, move the joints, and let the local blood circulation slowly decrease. Doing more exercises is a waste of energy.

I have practiced physical fitness myself and taught students for so many years, and I have tried both methods. In fact, you don’t have to worry. It all depends on your schedule for the day. If you have to play badminton or run intervals after practicing flexibility, then there is definitely no harm in doing a few contraction activations. If you are preparing to go home from get off work after class, then slowly swinging for two minutes, shaking your arms and kicking your legs will be enough. Oh, by the way, if you have just completed a set of yin yoga in a yoga studio, and the deep muscles of your body have been stretched for dozens of minutes, don’t just ride a shared bicycle when you go out, and don’t immediately get into the air-conditioned room and blow on it. Walk slowly along the road for a few hundred meters and feel the muscles return to normal tightness little by little. It will be more effective than rolling a foam roller when you go home. If you do dynamic flexibility stretching before strength training, then when you relax after strength training, you can just stretch the parts you just stretched twice. There is no need to spend extra time for special relaxation. The only thing to note is that just after high-intensity flexibility training such as PNF, do not hit the area with a fascia gun as the soft tissue is still in an unstable state of tension. Excessive force can easily cause minor damage and make the area even more sore the next day.