Whats the big deal? According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, your workout should balance cardiovascular exercise, strength training and stretching or flexibility exercises. But even though stretching is one of the simplest and painless physical activities, it remains the most undervalued.
There’s a good chance stretching is an afterthought in your workout routine. You may pull your leg up behind you to stretch your quads, touch your toes to loosen your back or grab your elbow and pull your arm behind your head before you head out the door for a run... and that's on a good day.
Stretching in the morning may be the best way to make the most of every day. Regular morning stretches help maintain overall flexibility, which, in turn, affects the rest of our lives. Stretching prevents every day injuries and allows our muscles to perform at their maximum potential. In addition, stretching is simple, requiring no additional equipment or physical skills, and demanding only a little bit of time.
Like a good tune up for an automobile, daily stretching, especially in the morning, helps work out any “kinks” in your body. Also, stretching in the morning prevents those “kinks” from happening to begin with. Muscle and back pain, for example, can be both alleviated and prevented by a good program of daily stretching.
Things like yoga and pilates can stretch muscles and increase blood flow throughout your body - which helps in numerous ways, one of which is waking you up and making you feel "alive".
General stretching can probably have the same effect, but you'd need to do a thoroughly vigorous job.
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