The Most Overlooked Secret to Weightlifting Success: Stretching

As time passes, your muscles become stiff and the flexibility of your joints is reduced. It is necessary to stretch your muscles every day before you start your weightlifting exercises. Stretching is an important exercise for people of all ages. The biggest benefits that stretching offer you is, an increases in your range of motion, and protection from injury.

Stretching comes naturally to each and every one of us. You stretch after sitting in a particular position for a long time. Stretching has lots of beneficial properties.

It improves the blood circulation and flexibility of your muscles.People who stretch regularly will have less musculoskeletal complaints.Post workout stretching ensures speedy recovery of muscles and decreases lactic acid accumulation.Stretching also has beneficial action over tendons and joints.Stretching before a workout schedule will tune your body and mind for the strenuous task ahead.It has a relaxing effect, and is a good stress buster.It improves the balance and coordination of various body parts.It is a good prophylactic measure against chronic conditions like lower back pain and joint pain.

Stretching is an exercise that can be done anywhere and at any time. People who do weight lifting need to include pre-and post workout stretching in their schedule. Compared to a normal individual it is easier for a weight lifting trainee to injure himself if he skips his daily stretching routine.
Stretch before you perform any vigorous activity or weight lifting.Stretching should be performed slowly.Each and every major muscle group should be included in your stretching routine.Stretching should be done daily for at least 15 min.Use static hold, PNF techniques like contract-relax, hold-relax to perform stretching.

It has been proved scientifically that, stretching in between weight lifting sets accelerates muscle growth and reduces the chance of sprains and injury. Stretching should be done for a group of muscles immediately after weight training them. Stretching substantially cuts down on the muscle recovery time. New researches have proved that stretching between sets appears to have beneficial effect on muscle contraction. This indirectly increases the power of that particular muscle group. Stretching also helps in lactic acid absorption, hence reducing muscle fatigue.

Below, you can see a sample stretching routine which will help you in understanding the basics of stretching.

Neck- stand straight, rotate your head in a circular motion for 12 times and then repeat it in the opposite direction.Ankles and knees-flex, extend and rotate them in both directions.Hips- rotate your hips in a circular motion in both directions.Upper body-stand straight locking your hands in front of your body, Bend forward so that your chest touches your knees.Shoulders- flex your elbows and touch your shoulders with your fingers. Now rotate your shoulders in a clockwise and anticlockwise direction.Legs- stand straight, placing your feet at shoulder width. Squat down till your thighs are parallel to the floor, hold the position for a few seconds and stand up again.Hamstrings- stand straight, placing your feet at shoulder width. Pushing your body up, stand on your toe base, hold the position for a few seconds and return back.

Stretching is an exercise routine that is inevitably included in all professional weight lifting programs. It is followed by a beginner as well as an advanced bodybuilder.

Until the next article, "Be Your Best"

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3 Secret Building Muscle Tips - How to Get in Shape and Build Muscle Fast

Because of the passive lifestyles we lead, more people are constantly starting a new workout routine in order to get in shape and build muscle. However, not everybody knows exactly what they are doing, and they could be missing out on important information that could really help them get in shape easily and really build muscle fast. In this article, I'm going to share with you some tips on how to really kick-start your exercise routine to help you get in shape. These are tips that many people have never known before, but can be very effective in helping you with working out and building muscle more easily and efficiently.

1. Exercise Your Mind Before Your Body

One of the most effective ways to prepare your body and really build muscle fast is to use a technique known as 'visualization'. All you need to do is to sit down before you actually do the physical exercise, close your eyes, and imagine yourself working out. The more detail, the better. Not only will this lead to better performance when during your exercise and weightlifting routine, but your muscles will also benefit. While you're visualizing, your muscles will also be contracting, and you can actually start working out your muscles and getting in shape before you even lift a finger! If you get nothing from this article, at least remember this highly effective building muscle tip.

2. Do the Weightlifting First

If you're combining an aerobics and strength training program, make sure that you're hitting the weights before you start your jog. Doing it in this order can help you burn 30-40% more fat calories than if you started running before lifting weights. You will be maximizing your workout by ensuring that you burn more fat, and you will really be able to get in shape and build muscle fast.

3. Shorter is Actually Better!

Rather than having one long workout session, splitting it up into two shorter sessions can really help you burn more calories. When you work out, you stimulate the body to increase its metabolism and burn many more calories than usual. When you're done exercising, your body experiences the 'afterburn effect'. Your body will continue to burn calories at an enhanced rate, many hours after you've already stopped exercising. If you split your muscle building workouts into two sessions, for example 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening instead of a 1 hour long workout, you will be able to burn twice as many calories using the "afterburn effect". It's as close to natural, healthy, automatic fat loss as you can get!

If you keep these simple but highly effective secrets in mind while you plan your exercises, you will be able to get in shape and build muscle two or three times as fast as the poor saps who hit the gym every day and see slow or few results. Many more tips on exercising, getting in shape, and building muscle can be found on my website.

Max Cipher is an internet author and the owner of WeightLossProductsReports.com [http://WeightLossProductsReports.com/] If you're serious about weight loss and body building, you will want to make sure you're on the right program. But which program is right for you? Find out the truth behind weight loss and body building programs at WeightLossProductsReports.com [http://WeightLossProductsReports.com/]