fitness, workouts

" A light jog is a great way to slowly get the heart rate up and get your body warm before you hit the road"

5 DAILY STRETCHES for injury prevention

1. Butterfly: Hello inner thigh! I do a ton of adductor and abductor spot training so this area calls for some major stretching. My fitness level is always at its best when my hip flexibility has improved. I highly suggest doing the butterfly every day no matter how active you are. Flexibility never goes out of style. 

2. Upper Back: My back is the one area that need to stretch daily. If I don't I can feel the knots piling up and it's time to go to my sports message therapist to work those puppies out. When my arms are extended out in front of me I like to add a head roll too just to loosen up my neck as well. 

3. Chest Opener: Often as women, we forget to stretch the "pecs." I see a ton of clients with shoulder injuries and terrible posture. A tight chest can cause the rounding of the shoulders and upper back. Range of motion and flexibility is the name of the game so don't forget to stretch that chest. 

4. Lateral Lunge: This is one of my favorite daily stretches. Since NUFit requires a lot of lateral movements it is super important to stretch those glutes, groin, hamstrings, and quads. It is often hard to stretch the groin muscle so this stretch is one of my all time favorites. 

5. Psoas: The psoas major is the strongest section in a group of muscles called the hip flexors. This area can become very tight if you spend most of your days walking, sitting or if you are repeatedly overworking that area with sports etc. I work with professional dancers on the regular and this is the most common area for injuries and pain I see. A good way to isolate the psoas is doing an elevated lunge, see last image above. You really want to make sure you are feeling that stretch though the hip flexor region. I don't care if you are a pro dancer or not, this stretch should be included into your daily stretch regime to avoid injury.