Stretching before physical activity is beneficial for a variety of reasons. It helps increase range of motion, reduces muscle tension, and helps decrease the risk of activity-based injuries. Stretching after exercising is great because it can help decrease muscle soreness! Also, greater gains in flexibility are possible once your body is warm.
If you are working to increase your flexibility, static stretching is the safest recommended method. Stretches should ideally be held for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
We are big fans of stretching and properly warming up at Dance Daze! You can definitely expect to get your muscles warmed up and to increase your flexibility in any class you take with us!
Good article. Stretching is so important. I recently suffered an injury for failing to stretch out (thoroughly) a particular body part prior to weight lifting. Never again! Thanks for sharing :)