NIFS Healthy Living Blog

Chances are if you are like me, you have been told your whole life, “Make sure you’re stretching, it’s important!” But to many, the first thought that pops into their head when they think about stretching is, “Why?” And that is a very understandable response because stretching can involve a lot of discomfort (in the beginning) and to some, it might even cause a bit of pain. But there certainly is a method to the madness, and a reason why stretching is a vital component of your fitness program and, ultimately, your lifestyle.

What Is Stretching?

For starters, I’ll briefly describe what stretching is. Stretching can be somewhat of an umbrella term in that a lot of day-to-day activities do in fact involve some sort of stretching to some degree. In fact, every time your muscles contract there is a stretching and a shortening occurring inside the muscle to produce force. But the type of stretching I am talking about today is more deliberate and the kind of stretching most people think of when they hear the word “stretching”; think bending over and touching your toes, for example.

Stretching is important because it is all about increasing your range of motion and flexibility in the hope that doing this can lower your risk for muscle and joint injury or strains. The better our bodies are able to move, the lower the chance is for a muscle strain or getting injured when caught in an awkward position. Stretching both statically and dynamically is known to reduce injury risk.

Types of Stretching

The main types of stretching are active, passive, dynamic, and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching.

• Active stretching is the main one people think of when they are told to stretch, and this type of stretching can be really good for isolating certain muscle groups. A big part of active stretching is the fact that you yourself are the one stretching out your muscles; there is no outside intervention. 
• Passive stretching is similar to active stretching in that it can be isolated to certain muscle groups, but this type normally has a partner assisting in the stretch to perhaps reach a little bit more range of motion. For example, as you can see in this picture, the person on the ground is relaxed and her partner is the one actively applying stretching force to her leg, ideally achieving more range of motion.
• Dynamic stretching is the next variation. In this type you have more of a momentum-based approach. What I mean by that is that a big part of it is using body movement and motion of the limbs themselves to achieve a change in range of motion. For example a foundational dynamic movement is high knees. This explosive movement of having knees come up as high as they can go will create range of motion throughout the legs. The foundational piece of this type of stretching is an idea of the stretch shortening cycle, which is a concept that as muscles contract and lengthen, they then shorten, and as a result are ready for activity.
• Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, or PNF for short, is last but not least. PNF stretching is essentially the technique of contracting and relaxing the muscle in order to increase range of motion. The rationale behind it is that after contracting a specific muscle, the signals that lead to a muscle resisting stretching are used up, and by following up the contraction immediately with a stretch, the muscle is more likely to achieve a higher range of motion. 

Incorporate Stretching into Your Workout

After seeing these different types of stretching in more detail, the last thing to consider is, “Is this something I should incorporate into my exercise routine?” The answer is a resounding YES! Stretching has been researched and studied and has been shown to decrease the chance of injury and increase performance. So the next time you throw on your running shoes and get ready to hit the ground running (literally), take a second to do a light stretching warmup. Your body will thank you down the road (also literally)!

This blog was written by Ricky Rocha, Health Fitness Specialist. To learn more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

Greeting NIFS Friends!  Warm ups are a vital part of your workout as we have found that a good warm up can lead to a better workout performance, decreased chances for injury, and relief from soreness post-exercise (ultimately getting you back the gym sooner than later).  Your warm ups can become quite ritualistic and routine, which is fine, but sometimes spicing things up a little can benefit more than just your workout regiment.  Adding new movements and patterns, new equipment and tools, and having your body adjust to these challenges could help you overcome stagnation and rejuvenate your program.  

The stability ball adds a plethora of movements that directly impact target areas such as the torso, hips, and shoulder.  For beginners to exercise, these patterns begin to train the body for more complex movements  as well as injury prevention caused by a potential deconditioned starting point.

Give these stability ball warm up exercises a try!

This blog was written by Thomas Livengood, NIFS Health Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer. To learn more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

I celebrated my 40th birthday almost a year ago but postponed writing the “I’m 40 now” blog until now, mainly because it is a bit played out. But more importantly, I wanted to see what this 40 thing was all about before writing about it.

My 40th year on this planet started off great, spending that 18th of August completing 40 holes of golf with the wizard Alex Soller and a few other NIFS characters. It was a very memorable day, one that helped make me feel that 40 truly is just a number and I am still very capable of fitness feats. So I leaped into my 40th year like I have so many previously, with grit and an attitude that nothing will slow me down. I love to move around and I love to challenge myself, and I looked forward to what the year had in store for me.

Do You Really Start to Fall Apart When You Hit 40?

However, Father Time soon showed up with a message that a few adjustments must be considered if I was to continue to stay as active as I like to—nay, need to—be. It was crazy how it seemed so many things were going wrong physically, or it took so much longer to recover, or my drive to train hard lessened. I was reminded of Rocky’s last conversation with Apollo before the Drago fight, where Stallone attempted to talk Apollo out of the fight, stressing that they have changed and were no longer able to do what they used to.

I had always dismissed the messages from men my senior saying, “just you wait; things will change”; but it was becoming more and more apparent that those guys were right. I am not so naive that I would run obstacle course races and hit PRs in the gym left and right and at the level I was used to; I just didn’t expect so many reminders that I am not who I once was physically.

Check Yourself: Five Steps for Adjusting Workouts as You Age

Have you ever heard the saying “Father Time is undefeated”? Sometimes it’s a pretty tough pill to swallow, but here are a few system checks that I have made, which you can use to keep moving as the years keep coming.

• Check your expectations/mindset. Although it can be hard to handle at times (believe me), physical abilities are going to change and it is important to evaluate and adjust your expectations. This will help when you are faced with a physical challenge that you might have formerly handled pretty easily, to determine whether you should attempt it or live to fight another day. Your mindset is your story; now it’s just the next chapter. Negative self-talk about what you used to be able to do will not help in moving forward positively. I have found it helpful to manage the minimums and find that new normal. This will keep you safe both physically and mentally.
• Check your warm-up. Maybe the days of performing a few stretches and jumping jacks and then hitting heavy back squats are gone, and that is okay. Taking a few more minutes to warm up properly, including mobility and core stability drills followed by dynamic stretching exercises, is key in avoiding big-time soreness and injury.
• Check your focus. My focus has changed a little from conquering any fitness challenge I can get my hands on to doing things that would allow me to continue to do things. I am no longer a competitive athlete nor am I all that interested in how much I bench press. What I am most interested in is staying active and being able to move around. Because of that, my focus has shifted a bit and my training has as well to accommodate it. Check your focus to make sure your training is providing what you need. If you are still chasing a strength goal or PR in a half-marathon, go get it, but do it safely. If your focus is like me and you want to be a great mover, fit and healthy, your training should be centered around that. NIFS can help with that!
• Check your workload. I am a staunch supporter of the ACSM’s guidelines for physical activity: getting 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week and 60 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise; you pretty much need to move every day for at least 30 minutes. That shouldn’t change, but check your intensity and exercise selection for those training sessions to determine whether the workload matches what you checked from above. Also, you should consider the total time being active for the day and not just your training session. Training hard for 60 minutes followed by 8 hours of sitting can be just as bad as not training at all. Focus on staying active throughout the day by taking the stairs, parking farther away, or playing with the kids when you get home.
• Check your recovery. This has been the most impactful area for me entering my fourth decade: how I am approaching my recovery. I have always been pretty solid with my recovery strategies, but I’ve really had to up my game these past few years. One game changer: ICE! I never really used ice in the past, but now I ice almost every night, especially after a back injury that put me on the couch for a week. Regular massages and other soft-tissue treatments are strategies I highly recommend for recovery. But if I were to put a thumb on what has helped me the most for recovery, I have stopped trying to pack so much into a training session or a day, period. Take time to reflect and relax from the daily stressors, whatever that looks like to you. Enjoy fitness and moving every day, rest and recover properly, and you can keep moving for a lifetime!

As I said before, and it’s worth mentioning again, for me it has been about finding a new normal and managing the minimums. It’s so important that you wrap your mind around what your normal is and what makes you happy. It might not come with blue ribbons anymore, but every day is an event. Go out there and win the day!

This blog was written by Tony Maloney, ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist and Fitness Center Manager. To find out more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

Don't miss the other blogs in this series including:

“Caddy Smack”: Fitness Tips to Improve Your Golf Game

"Caddy Smack Deuce": More Fitness Tips to Improve Your Golf Game

"Caddy Smack 3": Strength and Power Exercises for a Better Golf Swing

This blog was written by Alex Soller, Health Fitness Instructor and Athletic Performance Coach. Click here for more information about the NIFS bloggers.