Stretch Like a Pro for More Energy

Wait?....What?

You mean I can actually stretch and not exercise to improve my energy?

Yea. Exactly.Even better than stretching in isolation, is to "inhibit" the muscle first using heat, foam rollers, massage sticks, and any other tools that can reduce trigger points or knots on the muscles.

You see, when I work with PRO clients, I am always speaking to them about the word tension.

Think of your body as needing to be a free flowing highway. When there is no traffic on the highway, everything is smooth sailing. When traffic builds a little bit, things slow down slightly.

When traffic builds, in order to maintain your speed, you need more lane changes, your path gets altered, and you are "expending" more energy behind the wheel, as well as through the engine and braking system of the car due to the constant starting and stopping, slowing down and speeding up.

The body works the same way. 

If you are constantly "tight".. think of that as encapsulated energy. You are holding energy within that "tension"..

If you reduce the tension, you free up more free flowing energy.

Pretty cool right? But nobody mentions this. If you can free up muscular tension, you will then improve total ranges of motion, total muscular and joint freedom, allowing for more smooth, un-restricted, un-bound, economic movements. 

Translation: If you are less tense, you require less energy for movement and locomotion.

So what do you do?

1. Use temperature to relax muscles; hot baths, hot showers, hot compresses are all good ways to relax the muscles and will make it easier to break up trigger points that hold energy.
2. Follow the above up with using Foam Rollers to break up the "tension knots" that are holding energy. When you use a foam roller, or a long cylinder that you would find at your local gym, the key is to sit on the areas of tension and not roll over them. The key to breaking up the "knot" is direct pressure until the discomfort dissipates, then move to the next spot of tension.
3. STRETCH. Perform a total body stretch, from the calves, to the quads, hamstrings, hip flexors, pecs, shoulders, forearms, and lower back.

Using this 1-2-3 Punch will allow you to really relax your body, your mind, and will open up the "PATHWAYS OF FREEDOM" to help your body recover faster, but most importantly work more efficiently. 

Most bad posture you see and forward leaning is the result of "Accumulated Tension" the body has endured physically and psychologically through the years.. in combination with strength deficits that have joined the Tension Party.

Stretch everyday. Take 10 minutes in the morning or evening to "FREE UP" you energy channels and start regaining your energy immediately.