CrossFit Stretching Exercises – Warming up and stretching are two different things, but stretching exercises can help to prepare you for a WOD and improve your recovery.
A proper warm-up will help any athlete have a better session with the weights and equipment and greatly reduce the risk of an injury.
Increase your performance by perfecting your warm up
Stretching exercises after an energetic session will help to improve overall flexibility, lessen muscle soreness and enhance recovery.
4 steps to efficient recovery after Crossfit training
Stretching allows your body to more easily move through the full range of motion when it comes to hitting weights, in effect creating long, full muscles instead of stunted ones.
There is a reason as to why we are trained to stretch before and after exercise. Not only does stretching warm the body, but it does wonders for recovery and may just prevent the dreaded Delayed Onset Muscle Syndrome. Exercising creates toxins in the body as muscles are exerted. By stretching the muscles after exercise, these toxins move into the bloodstream and out of the muscles, where they can be broken down and eradicated. So in effect, stretching after a tough WOD means that when you’re tying your shoes or trying to sit on the toilet the next morning, you won’t be left feeling like a mummy just released from its sarcophagus.
These 5 tips can be done easily before and especially after every WOD.
- They combine nearly everything you need for a successful training session.
- It is also a good idea to add movements that are applicable to the exercises that you will be performing in your WODs into your warm up.
- Dynamic stretching will help to prepare for the workout ahead
- Static stretching is more advisable for the end, to aid with recovery and improve flexibility
CrossFit Stretching Exercises – HAMSTRINGS
The Hamstrings are an important part of your posterior chain. Cleans, snatches, deadlifts are the heavy lifts you need them for. Sometimes you can even feel them whilst performing butterfly or kipping pull ups, or even toes to bar when you power your hips and legs forwards.
Position like shown. Change the difficulty with your hips. Leaning forward will put more pressure on the hamstrings.
Image Sources
- Thuri Helgadottir: Pete Williamson Photography
- hamstring-stretch: berlin-orthopaede
- hamstring-strekch: hifitnessclub