How to Improve and Maintain Your Flexibility

Want to become more flexible? Are you dealing with stiff joints? As you age, your flexibility decreases. Lack of exercise only makes things worse. Unless you do something about it, your health will suffer later in life. Poor flexibility can make it hard to perform daily activities and move around, especially at an older age.

Simple lifestyle changes, such as exercising more often, staying hydrated, and stretching before your workouts, can have a huge impact on flexibility. Any specialist offering personal training services should be able to help you out. Here are useful tips on how to improve and maintain your flexibility at any age:

Warm Up Properly

Before hitting the weights, take your time to warm up. Contrary to what you may have heard, static stretching isn’t the best option. Your warm-up routine should include dynamic bodyweight movements like push-ups, lunges, squats, and jumping jacks. Complete three or four sets of each exercise. This simple trick helps prevent injuries, keeps your joints flexible, and prepares your body for exercise.

Make Stretching a Habit

Stretch your muscles every day, including on rest days. This habit will improve your overall performance, lower your risk of injury, and increase your range of motion. It’s also a good way to prevent joint pain and decrease muscle soreness after exercise. Your stretching routine can include supine hip and knee flexions, neck motions, chest stretches, hamstring stretches, and resistance ball exercises.

Try Pilates

Pilates is one of the best ways to improve your strength and flexibility. This training method appeals to people of all ages and fitness levels, including seniors, children, and pregnant women. It’s all about maintaining balance, good posture, and support while moving gracefully from one position to the next. To boost your flexibility, try single bent leg stretches, roll-ups, criss cross, shoulder bridges, one leg teasers, and seated side bends.