36 Pictures To See Which Muscle Youre Stretching

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Treating your body right means creating a healthy lifestyle by eating healthy food, getting plenty of rest and of course, exercising regularly. A key part of any exercise routine is stretching, so here are 36 diagrams that show you which muscle you're stretching as you do different stretches. So why is stretching so important? Stretching activates the muscles in our body by increasing the flow of blood and oxygen to them. Tense muscles are constricted muscles that have been deprived of proper nutrients and circulation which is why they become sore and achy. Healthy, relaxed muscles have a proper flow of blood, oxygen, and nutrients getting to them which in turn promotes our overall health and wellbeing. Of course, feeding our bodies good, healthy foods is also very important too. We nourish our body by eating plenty of vegetables and fruits and healthy fats, and this is the fuel we use to keep our whole bodies, including our muscles thriving. Water is also a very important part of muscle health and general healthy living. The cells in our bodies need water to live and carry out their duties, and a lack of hydration can really be detrimental to the body which is why humans can't survive more than three days without water.

If you normally have a low impact exercise routine, adding in some stretches will be very beneficial and gentle. If your workout routine is a little more intense, adding stretches will only help you to keep up with your workouts. Your stretching routine is great to do as a warm up before exercises, giving your muscles some oxygen and blood before you start working them harder. For a lower impact workout routine, you can try doing some yoga postures, some of which you'll find on this list. Yoga is an ancient practice and way of life that originated in India over 5,000 years ago. While a good majority of yoga practice is more about the spiritual aspect and the connection to your inner self, there were also physical practices that were created to align the body, mind, and spirit through a series of postures called Asana. These postures are named after different saints and sages from ancient Indian times, but people also named the postures after animals and plants that they observed in every day life. The names are originally Sanskrit, but when yoga is practiced in Western society, usually people will just use the English translation of them.

You can use these diagrams from LifeHack to see which muscles you're using in each of your yoga Asanas and find out which muscles are benefiting the most from each posture. For example, the very first posture on the list is known as Camel Pose, which has you kneeling, to then arch your back to reach your hands to rest on your heels. The posture will very effectively stretch your whole front body including your abdominal muscles the Rectus Abdominus and External Obliques. This would be a wonderful posture to open up the chest for those who work at a desk all day, or are hunched over in some way for long periods of time. The Butterfly Pose is another wonderful and simple yoga posture that will open up your adductors, the muscles in your inner thighs. For this posture you sit on the floor with the soles of your feet touching, creating a diamond shape with your legs. You will instantly feel a stretch in your inner thighs, and you can see from the diagram exactly how this posture stretches those muscles. Enjoy trying out all of the 36 stretches and postures in this list and incorporate them into your own personal healthy lifestyle.***

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