Can stretching help slim down legs? You may have a little misunderstanding about it

　　Recently, I have heard many people say that stretching can slim down legs. I would like to say that there may be some misunderstandings about this. Why? Follow the editor and read below.

　　What is stretching?

　　It’s the muscles and muscle fascia that are being pulled, not the ligaments! Not a ligament! Not a ligament!

　　Stretching will also bring the following 5 benefits to the body:~

　　Enhance blood circulation

　　If you are engaged in an occupation that requires you to stand frequently or walk around for a long time, you can use stretching exercises to prevent muscle spasms and varicose veins. In addition, stretching exercises before exercise can also help to improve exercise effects to a certain extent, especially the muscle-building effect of core training.

　　Improve body flexibility

　　Stretching exercises can activate the inner thighs, waist and abdominal muscles that are rarely exercised, thereby enhancing muscle elasticity and improving the body's flexibility and flexibility.

　　Prevent muscle soreness

　　Doing some stretching exercises after exercise can not only relax your muscles but also avoid soreness. Low-intensity stretching after exercise can stimulate muscle contraction, which can help uric acid be metabolized out of the body faster and avoid the formation of uric acid crystals.

　　When is the best time to stretch?

　　When muscles feel too tight, affecting joint movement or feeling sore, you should stretch. You can tell by pressing the muscles to see if there is pain.

　　For example, before starting each exercise, you should stretch the biceps femoris on the back of the thigh, the iliopsoas at the root of the thigh, and the erector spinae of the waist that are usually tight. After stretching these muscles, you can lean down lower, squat deeper, and train more effectively. In the same way, if you use a mouse at work and lift your arms for a long time, the trapezius muscles in your neck and deltoid muscles in your shoulders will be tense, so you should stretch more after work.

　　How to do dynamic stretching correctly

　　Dynamic stretching

　　It refers to a stretching method in which the muscles are stretched for a short time (1-2 seconds) in a controlled manner and repeated many times during the completion of a series of actions. It is a must-do stretching action before running to warm up.

　　Stretching Precautions

　　First: Target the muscle groups being stretched

　　When many people stretch, they focus on bending the body to a greater extent and increasing the flexibility of the body. The actual correct stretching should only target the muscle group being stretched. This can overcome the resistance of other muscle groups. The fewer muscle groups you stretch at one time, the better the effect. For example, stretching the hamstrings on both sides separately is more effective than stretching both sides at the same time. The advantage of this is that the degree of stretching is controllable and easy to adjust.

　　Second: Keep your breathing steady

　　Many people habitually hold their breath when doing deep bending movements when stretching. But once you stop breathing, the whole body will become tense with abnormal strength, and the muscles will be difficult to fully stretch. Especially before a game, stretching to relax your body and mind is important. In order to eliminate tension when stretching, be sure to take deep breaths while carefully stretching the muscles.

　　Third: Stop at the point where you don’t feel pain

　　Correct stretching will not cause muscle soreness the next day. Some people stretch to the point where they feel intense pain, which may cause injury. For example, it may cause the joint to twist, resulting in strained ligaments or tendons. ； It may also put a lot of pressure on the vertebrae ； Or damage to other parts of the body due to twisting. If you feel local heat when stretching, the tensile strength should be appropriately reduced. ； If you feel any burning sensation, stop stretching immediately. ； If there is muscle tingling, it is very likely that the muscle is strained.

　　Fourth: Left and right symmetrical stretching

　　The human body has left-right asymmetry to a certain extent. There will definitely be one side that is easy to stretch and another that is more difficult. Therefore, when doing the same stretching on the left and right sides, you should focus on spending time on the side that is more difficult to stretch. This reduces the difference between the left and right sides and improves the balance of running posture, which is very important.

　　Fifth: Sequence of stretching

　　When performing specific stretching movements, in addition to stretching the target muscle group, other supporting synergistic muscle groups are also stretched. When stretching, the synergistic muscle groups should be stretched first. The advantage of this is that the synergistic muscle groups will not limit the stretching degree of the target muscle group. For example, when stretching the hamstrings, the gluteus maximus and triceps calves will also be stretched to a certain extent. Therefore, stretching these muscle groups first, and then stretching the hamstrings will provide a better stretching effect.

　　Sixth: Stretching time should not be long

　　How long should you hold in a passive stretch position? Some think it is between 10 seconds and 1 minute, while most studies think it should be between 30 and 60 seconds. For the hamstrings, general research suggests that maintaining a stretched state for 15 seconds is enough. For children and teenagers, 7 to 10 seconds is generally more appropriate. Under passive stretching, each group is usually 2 to 5 times, with a 15 to 30 second interval between groups. (Reference website: Sohu)