Body
Why stretch?
There are many reasons to stretch. It might be:
- To increase muscle length permanently. For example, stretch the hamstring muscles so that over time we can kick our leg higher to the front.
- To prevent muscle bulk formation, especially the calf muscles which a dancer wants to be strong and slim, not short and bulky.
- To prevent or alleviate delayed-onset muscle soreness. This is when you ache the day after doing a new exercise, or after doing more than you are used to.
- To disperse lactic acid build-up. This can build up if you have worked a muscle really hard.
- To reduce tension in the muscle. Sometimes a muscle can hurt if we have held an awkward position for a while, or if we are very stressed.
- To increase elasticity temporarily. This is to make our muscles more stretchy in the exercise that follows immediately after the stretching.
- To reduce the risk of muscle injury. If a muscle is more stretchy then it is less likely to be overstretched when we exercise.
- As part of a rehabilitation programme. Sometimes we are given stretching exercises to help a muscle heal after an injury.
You really need to know why you are stretching to make sure you are doing the right type of stretching to achieve your goal.
Which muscles should we stretch?
This is a very individual matter. Many people stretch the muscles that are already very flexible, because it looks good to the people around them. But they should really be spending time stretching their least flexible muscles, and those in which they’ve had an injury in the past.
Also, be specific to your activity. Choose the muscles that need to be stretchy to allow you to do what you do safely. For example, you might need to stretch different muscles before a tap class than before a ballet class. Or it might be the muscles that you have just worked hard in class that you need to pay some attention to afterwards.
Dancer Body Images
