Stretching for sports people

…..an absolute MUST. Benefits of stretching include

  • reinstated flexibility in tired muscles
  • realignment of muscle fibres
  • repair of microscopic muscle tears
  • improved blood supply
  • removal of metabollic waste products
  • enhancement of joint conditions
  • increased sense of wellbeing

Maria Sharapova is reputed to stretch for 45mins after every match…

Begin slowly and ease yourself into the stretch – discomfort is ok, pain is not so listen to your body.

Pete’s Story:
When Pete returned from having successfully completed the Marathon d’Sable I asked him what kept him going and how he managed to stay injury free.  He answered that failure was never an option – he had too much pride  so he absolutely HAD to finish. As to how he kept himself injury free he told me that he stretched for 1 hour before the commencement of the race each day and did the same, perhaps for longer, at the end of the day – ‘there was nothing else to do and b*y hell, did I ache and hurt at the end of the day!’

There was little I could have done for the blisters Pete got which were treated with iodine: this was excrutiatingly painful but 15minutes after he had forced his swollen, painful, iodine treated  feet back into the boots and commenced walking again, his feet became numb so he felt no pain…

Well done Pete!