Muscles shorten and become tight after overuse, making them weak and unable to fully extend. This puts your joints at risk of strains, sprains, brakes and any other damage.
I think a big problem people have is not stretching long enough and not feeling it enough. It shouldn’t be too painful while your stretching, but you should feel tension, making sure you hold in that tight spot for 30 seconds. Do this 3 to 5 times. Also do this DAILY. You can’t have a good stretching session and then not do any for a week and expect to be the same. It is something you need to work on for a short time each day to build up.
So if you’re totally new to stretching and don’t know where to start, id recommend working on your lower half first. Hamstrings, calves, hips and glutes. These areas take the most damage from being sat down a lot.
Probably the best piece of advice i could give is to get a video up online and follow along. Make sure you dedicate enough time to this.
Also do not do any bouncing movements while stretching. You want to keep the stretch static. Bouncing can cause tears in the muscle.
Stretching after you’ve worked out is especially important. It helps to break up any lactic acid that has built up and ease soreness / tightness. Spend at least 10 minuets stretching after your workout and 5 minuets after your warm up.
It's hard to get into a routine of doing things, but after 3 weeks of persistence, it becomes a habit and is no longer as difficult.
So just keep at it!
