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Does Stretching Elongate Muscles?
Your muscles are encased in tough connective tissues -- the fascia -- which determine the extent to which the muscles can grow. Performing stretching exercises that put your fascia and muscles under...
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Stretches for the Muscle Below the Knee Cap
Your kneecap or patella covers an important area of your leg. In this area, numerous muscles from your upper and lower leg meet, giving you the ability to move your lower leg. So when focusing on...
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Stretching Shin Muscles with Elastic Bands
When you reach down and touch your shin, you notice the hard shin bone. Toward the outside of your shins, you feel a soft, fleshy area. That is your tibialis anterior muscle, which allows you to pull...
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Tensor Fasciae Latae Muscle Stretches
Large muscle groups tend to get the most attention when it comes to exercising -- until one of the smaller muscles gets tight or weak and calls attention to itself. Among these muscles is the tensor...
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Yoga Stretches for the Psoas Muscle
Your psoas is a critical muscle in your core that plays many roles in your body. Not only does it help you maintain your posture and support your trunk, the psoas also allows you to engage in physical...
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Stretches for Thoracic Paraspinal Muscles
The paraspinal muscles, attached to your spine, move and stabilize your spinal column. Weak or stiff back muscles can lead to poor posture and put you at risk for injury, such as a strained back...
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How to Apply Heat to Your Muscles Before Stretching
Regular stretching helps improve muscle flexibility, blood flow and range of motion in the joints. Performing stretching exercises with cold muscles, however, increases the risk of injury. One option...
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Muscle Stretching Enhancers
Developing muscle flexibility should be part of an effective fitness routine, along with building muscle strength and improving cardiovascular health. Whether you're stretching before and after a...
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Strong Hands & Wrists for Yoga
You ask a lot of your wrists in yoga class. From inverted positions to bearing a lot of weight on small joints, if your wrists are feeling sore and achy after a session on your mat, you may need to...
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Stretching Biceps With Muscle Pumps
One of the goals of strength training is to feel that initial muscle pump. You know your muscles are responding to your workout when you feel the rush of blood to the area and see the slight increase...
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Definition of Muscle Stretching
Stretching is an important part of fitness training and exercise. Stretching before a workout is thought to reduce your risk of injury by preparing your muscles for the activity to follow while...
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Will Stretching Help Stiff Muscles in Older People?
Aging can wreak havoc on your body—especially if you are genetically prone to certain conditions. This is most certainly true if you haven't kept up with your fitness over the years. Your muscles will...
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What Muscles Need Stretching to Touch Toes?
Being flexible enough to touch your toes helps you bend over and pick up items off the floor with more ease. However, it’s even more important than that. Not being able to touch your toes is a sign...
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Stretches for the Iliacus Muscle
When talking about stretching the hip flexors, the psoas major and minor muscles get most of the attention, putting the iliacus in the shadows. However, the iliacus plays a major role in hip flexion,...
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Contraction & Stretching in Muscle Tissue
Muscles contract and stretch in cooperative movements with each other. When one muscle group contracts and gets shorter, your opposite muscle group extends and lengthens. Muscle contraction occurs...
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SCM Muscle Stretches and Posture
If you tilt your head back and turn it to your right, you can feel a large muscle in the neck that runs from your collarbone to the jaw near your ear. The sternocleidomastoid -- or SCM -- muscle can...
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Excessive Stretching of a Muscle
You’ve probably heard countless fitness instructors urging you to bend, reach, lengthen and stretch your tense and tight muscles. But just like most things in life, too much of a good thing can turn...
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How to Stretch Your Brachialis Muscles
The brachialis muscle is responsible for bending at the elbow. It starts under the biceps muscles and extends from the upper arm bone, the humerus, along the forearm bone, the ulna, to just past the...
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Can Daily Stretching Increase Muscle Size?
If you want bulging muscles, daily stretches won’t do the trick. But stretching does lengthen and relax muscle fibers, which can offer a number of fitness benefits. If you’re new to exercise, ask a...
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Stretching Techniques to Loosen Muscles
When your muscles are tight, they feel stiff and sore. When you work out, overreaching and failing to stretch your muscles after exercise can cause your muscles to tighten up. They can also tighten up...
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