the rules of stretching

Position your body as shown, then push your arms into the Swiss ball and your chest toward the floor.

Position your body in front of a wall as shown and lean forward to stretch.

Position your body as shown and push your hips forward while keeping your torso upright.

Place your arm against a door frame or wall as shown, then move your shoulder forward.

Place your foot on a sturdy box or bench as shown, then lean forward from the hips until you feel a stretch.

The goal of dynamic stretching is simple: minimize risk of injury and maximize performance. Stretching dynamically gets the blood flowing to your muscles and preps your central nervous system for activity. Without a 5-10 minute dynamic warm-up, your muscles will be tight and stiff, which means youll be less flexible, less able to use correct form, less able to achieve peak performance, and far more prone to injury. As mentioned before, static stretching only compounds these issues, as you will be stretching tight, cold muscles, essentially damaging them before your activity. NOTE: some people like to perform a few static stretches immediately following a dynamic warm-up, once the muscles are warm; not much research has been done on the effects of this, but I cannot imagine it would be detrimental in any way.

Work opposing muscle groups each time you stretch. If you start by stretching the muscles in the back of your thigh, then follow by stretching the muscles at the front.