Holidays are the right moment to do exercises, one of which is hiking trails or walking across hilly paths.
However, even easy hiking trails can result in sprained ankles, strained muscles, or worse, if we do hiking trails without preparation.
The most effective method of preparing our bodies is consistent stretching.
In addition to stretching all the core muscles used in hiking, pay attention to your particular needs when exercising.
If you feel your ankle is weak, take extra effort to strengthen it. The same is true for the calf muscles, hamstrings, and other muscle groups that may be problematic. Here are the 10 best stretching exercises to make you as flexible as a cat during hiking.
10 Best Stretching Exercises to Make You As Flexible as a Cat
Flexibility plays a more important role in our well-being than we may realize. Experts believe that good flexibility helps you to achieve better results in your training, increases mobility and muscle coordination, reduces muscle pain, and prevents injuries. Good flexibility also improves blood circulation and it may play an important role in preventing some serious illnesses, like arthritis, diabetes, and kidney problems.
We prepared some exercises to help you increase your flexibility. Do them after your regular workout or a couple of times a week for 4 weeks and the results will amaze you sooner than you think.
1. Cat-cow stretch
A cat-cow stretch is great to start to warming up the spine, it also works on the flexibility of the back, neck, and shoulders.
- Get on your hands and knees.
- Arch your back slowly, dropping your stomach to the floor and raising your head up.
- Pause for a few seconds.
- Slowly round your back up like a cat.
- Repeat 10 times.
2. Back extension stretch
The back extension stretch is fantastic for stretching your back, just make sure that you don’t overextend it. If you feel any pain or discomfort on your neck, you probably went a bit too far.
- Lie down on your stomach.
- Come up on your elbows keeping your stomach down to the floor.
- Then push up on your hands, in a pseudo push-up position, but still keeping your hips on the ground.
- Hold it for 30 seconds, repeat 3 times.
