Do you get stiff after a long stretch session? Do you feel achey after a light Yoga or Pilates class? Because, same. And I've decided to crack the code to why this happens!
If your goal is to be Miss Elastic 2018 (my goal forever) then I assume you spend time on your warm up & cool down around your workouts and love to incorporate 1-2 dedicated stretch sessions per week to get ultimate flexy status. You may notice after these dedicated sessions that you feel DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) much like you would after hitting the gym hard, or in my case kicking and punching all the bags.
After much research (lots of googling, youtubing, podcasting and rarely, google scholar-ing) I have found the most common reasons to why stretching causes us so much pain. If you are to stretch for 30-40 minutes, in this time you are in fact creating minor tears in your muscles, tendons and ligaments (similar to when you work out in order to build muscle) which allows you do go deeper into the stretch, therefore becoming more flexible. These fibres rebuild and are imbedded with the memory of how far the fibres can stretch (like an elastic band) pain free and without doing damage.
To assist in the rebuilding and maintaining the level of stretchiness there are a few key minerals that you should add into your diet. (NB: I am not a nutritionist, this is from personal experience and research).
Magnesium - easily absorbed through the skin (hint: the ocean is a great way to get your magnesium hit!), this mineral has been proven to help with relaxing the mind and body whilst giving you a nice boost of energy.
Sulfur - needed for the flexibility of joints, muscles, connective tissues, tendons & ligaments. It also assists in the rebuilding of connective tissues which is essential when recovering from that post stretch DOMS. You can find sulfur high in foods such as coconut oil, nuts, eggs and garlic.
Anti-inflammatory - foods such as fatty fish, nuts, strawberries, blueberries, turmeric etc. are all packed with anti-inflammatory and blood circulation agents which promote tissue repair and reduce muscle soreness (winner!).
Code = cracked!
It is normal to feel sore after stretching and it is definitely okay to justify a swim in the ocean over doing more foam rolling (all in moderation!). Turn yourself into Miss Elastic and eat ALL the blueberries!!
Flex gal out.
PS. Move more, move better
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