When you think of building a strong, muscular physique what kind of exercises do you think of trying? To get better and develop strength most people focus on lifting weights – exercises like bench presses, push ups and flies – that key in on powerful pushing and pulling motions.

Cardiovascular activity usually takes the back seat, when it comes to building strength – unless you’re playing a sport that needs a lot of endurance training, or if you want to loose surplus body fat besides improving your strength.

Stretching, unfortunately isn’t even put in the strength increasing category because the majority of us assume that since it’s a low intensity activity it’s only for cooling off after our workouts. However stretching isn’t just a great way to cool down – believe me it can really help make you
stronger.

The benefits of stretching have a number of effects on your weightlifting progress. Just remember when you stretch you should feel slight pulling in your muscles, but no pain!

Stretching is your secret to the following fitness pluses:

Increased Strength

Stretching really helps to boost your muscular strength because it increases your range of motion, and range of motion literally applies to weightlifting. For instance when you lift in a larger range of motion in comparison to a smaller range, you’re enlisting the help of more fibers, making your muscles stronger.

Reduced Stress

People know that stretching helps decrease the stress and tension in our exercised muscles, but were you aware that a quick 20-minute routine of stretching can also let loose most of the tension that built up during a whole workday?

Improved Posture

Flexible muscles are your secret to sound posture, since stretching allows for balanced muscle tone in all the primary joints in the body. This affects your strength training because good posture limits stress and pain in the muscles and joints, allowing you to get back to the gym sooner.

Improved Speed & Reaction Time

If you’re an athlete you understand how crucial agility is to top performance. Flexible muscles make you faster on your feet. This makes it easier for you to run faster in sports like soccer; react quicker by making saves in hockey and by running around opponents in football.

Decreased Muscle Soreness

This means a reduced amount of time off from the gym and your sport, and more time to dedicate to building those muscles.

Ease of Movement

If you’re not an athlete, don’t worry. Stretching does more than increase sports performance. It makes regular every day jobs easier as well, by decreasing the common stiffness in joints so you can bend down, reach up and pick up things simply. Stretching will also enhance the condition of your joints by making you less likely to develop joint soreness later in life.

Reduces Chances of Injury

More nimble muscles give you less probability of hurting stiff muscles during training. Case in point, your hamstrings, the muscles that go down the back of your upper legs. I like to compare the hamstrings to a rubber band: the nimble hamstring has a lot of stretch whereas the tight hamstring is that dried up elastic that snaps when it’s stretched too far.