How You Can Benefit from Stretching to Prevent Leg Cramps

For most of us, we learned the importance of stretching our muscles before working out when we were in high school. I can remember being on the track team my first year and spending nearly 30 minutes just doing various stretches. I would start to wonder if I would ever get to start running!

Of course I quickly began to understand just how important stretching was when I got my first leg cramp. Stretching not only goes a long way in preventing cramping, but it also loosens the muscle groups of the hamstrings, calves, quads and others as well.

So, we know how important it is to stretch, but how should you go about doing it? When you begin warming up your goal is to stretch all of your major muscle groups. What you do not want to do is rush your stretches or you run a good risk of tearing your muscles. Start slowly and work your way up.

A good routine to get into is to start with a minimal stretch for 10 seconds and then slowly begin increasing the stretch to the point where you can go no further. Hold your stretch at this point for 30 seconds.

For those of you involved in sports such as baseball, football, track, etc., a noted sports massage therapist, David Joyce, recommends a routine that involves a 10 minute warm up at only 50% maximum effort. After that he instructs the individual to perform 10 minutes of stretching. The results of this type of routine include the prevention of over 70% of all leg muscle cramps.

Do you know how flexible you really are?

By having a better understanding of how flexible you are you can know up front if you run a high risk of cramping or getting a serious injury such as an Achilles blowout.

Try this test for yourself. Sit flat on the ground with your legs out in front of you. Reach down and grab the top of your feet. Can you pull your feet back 90 degrees without pain? If not, then this tells you that you should spend some time stretching your calf muscles. Within only a couple of weeks you will notice a big difference in your flexibility.

You can do another simple stretching exercise by standing straight and bending over to touch your toes. Is it easy for you to do? If not, then you know you should spend time stretching your hamstrings and building more flexibility.

I know that many people may think that 10 minutes is a lot of time to spend stretching before any sporting activity or daily jog, but I can't stress the importance enough. You virtually eliminate the risk of injury and you will feel better during your activities. And don't forget, when you have finished your workout, end it by spending a few minutes doing a few simple stretches.