The Armstrong Effect : How a Morning Stretch Routine Gives You Benefits All Day Long
It can be hard motivation getting up at 5 in the morning to work out, knowing you’ve got an hour of sweating and hard work ahead as you sling dumbbells and pound weight plates.
Along those same lines, a 2 mile run outside in the cold morning might be on your priority list, just that it ranks #2 behind ‘going back to bed.’
Working out in the morning can be very beneficial to the entire day, but admittedly it’s very hard to get out of bed for physical exertion. Perhaps the strategy to attack is implementing a very rewarding yet less exhausting morning stretch routine for a number of factors.
Gets Blood Flowing Faster
Morning stretching helps get your blood flowing, which gets you started on your day. The best thing is that stretching doesn’t involve overtly physical labor, just the mental power to get up in the morning. When your blood gets flowing it carries nutrients all throughout your circulatory system and helps promote awareness and health.
Improve Mood
Stretching out your body helps alleviate it of stress, and flushing stress out of your system helps improve your mood. Besides this, getting up in the morning and stretching will give you a feeling of accomplishment that you can take with you the rest of the day. When you stretch and get moving earlier in the morning, you’ll be sharper when you first get to work and therefore increase your productivity while eliminating your trademark grumpiness.
Limit Aches and Pains
Do you remember how throwing bowling balls would leave you stiff and sore for a couple days afterward? It’s not the fault of bowling balls, your soreness is caused by the lack of using these muscles on a daily basis. Starting a daily stretching routine helps to improve your flexibility and range of motion so that you won’t be as sore from bowling or playing softball or sneezing.
Become a Gateway to Other Exercise
Obeying your alarm early every morning and staying true to your stretching routine is a feat of accomplishment.
Once you’ve retrained your body clock, awaking early will become second nature and soon you can add a weight-lifting routine or morning run to your AM fitness routine. Breaking down the mental barrier is the hardest part of getting in shape and starting off with light stretching is a great gateway workout.
Waking up and getting the blood flowing with stretching serves as a great natural boost. Some people consider it their organic cup of morning coffee…without the $3.95 price tag.