Stretching exercises

Do you know how important stretching exercises are before you work out? Our how to stretch guide walks you through some simple stretching exercises that will help to prevent strain injuries or worse.

If you don't include stretching exercise as a part of your training program you are missing out on one of the key ingredients of fitness. The three basic building blocks of fitness are cardio, strength and flexibility, with stretching exercises almost as important as the other two.

Much of the confusion recently has come from a report that appeared to show that doing flexibility work before a work out led to more injuries. The truth is that there are two types of flexibility workouts, and doing the wrong one at the wrong time can cause problems.

The answer? Before a workout (as part of your warm-up) perform dynamic stretch and flexibility work that mimics the movements involved in your sport. After your workout or game, perform static movements to cool down and improve flexibility.