Stretching Exercises for Overweight Beginners

W e tend to associate flexibility with a supple body, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. Those who are on the plus size, either overweight or obese, can still enjoy the same springiness and range of motion that fit individuals have. In some cases, they can spring and twist their bodies in more ways. All that it takes is practice, nothing more.

Stretches are recommended as a portion of our day-to-day routine precisely for how these simple aerobics help increase flexibility, among other fitness and health perks. In the following, this is the topic that I will cover in detail to aid you to advance your scope of motion and get prepared for your upcoming workouts so that you steer clear of any injuries. The 5 stretching calisthenics that I will list and explain can be executed by overweight people just fine, so don’t fear that your size might get in the way because this won’t be an issue. After all, you don’t need to have an ideal body fat percentage to stretch, you just need to discern how to go about the exercises correctly. So, without further ado, let’s dive into our topic of interest.

Woman Runner Does Butterfly Stretch on the Beach

Before We Begin: Common Stretching Mistakes & How to Avoid Them

As highlighted by this study, stretching increases tendon viscosity, which aids decrease the chances of injuries. However, as beneficial as stretching might be for your fitness performance and health, if done incorrectly, consequences can be dire. While using a full-body stretching machine lessens the odds of injury since incorrect posture and technique are less likely because of the assistance granted by the apparatus, the same isn’t valid when you do the calisthenics without any equipment.

Woefully, slip-ups are fairly common, but if you take notice of them and you know how to shun succumbing to them, you will be in the clear and simply enjoy the positives of these exercises. So, let’s not hover any longer and see what mistakes are commonly made and how simple it is to circumvent them:

• 1. Stretching an injured muscle: If a tissue is damaged, leave it alone to heal. Elongating it will decelerate the recuperation progression and amplify the ache. Instead of stretching, you should apply ice packs or use an ice therapy machine to treat the affected muscle.
• 2. Bouncing: If you are too vigorous with your bounces, you can pull a muscle and end up necessitating recovery after the simple exercise. What you ought to do instead is leisurely elongate instead and hold the position for 10-15 seconds before discharging and repeating. Even when executing dynamic stretches, move through the full motion instead of bouncing to avert injury.
• 3. Overstretching: While a minor discomfort is normal, pain isn’t. And this appears as a consequence of overstretching. If you go too profound or you employ too much vigor, you can hurt muscles. What you should do is ease into the stretches and pay attention to your body. Don’t push it beyond its limits.
• 4. Skipping the warm-up: No, stretching isn’t a warm-up necessarily. These aerobics, while seemingly simple, do engage your body considerably. So there is an appropriate warm-up necessitated beforehand. To ease into the routine, do some jumping jacks and jog in place. This will boost your body temperature and spawn blood flow to the muscles to get you set.
• 5. Incorrect breathing: You might unintentionally hold your breath, which is damaging because it causes tense muscles. Make sure that you breathe leisurely and profoundly through the nose so that your muscles unwind and become amenable to the motion you are following through with.

5 Stretching Exercises to Do Every Day

Conferring to this study, stretching mends the range of motion. Therefore, for overweight individuals who generally have trouble when it comes to agility because of their fat surplus, routine stretching can make a big difference in how easy they move. Even before you hop on an apparatus that has you executing stretches like the Pilates reformer, it’s suggested to stretch your muscles a bit and get ready for the upcoming workout.

Irrespective of how the remainder of your day looks in regards to activities, whether you plan on undertaking some Pilates, yoga, a beginner-friendly workout, or you don’t have any other activity in mind but just want to engage your muscles a bit, these are the stretches to follow through with:

Woman in Cat Pose Practicing Stretches in the Morning

#1 – Cat-Cow Pose

• Sit on all fours with your back flat, knees underneath the hips, and hands underneath the shoulders.
• When you inhale, bow your back down, elevate your chest, tailbone, and chin, and drop your stomach.
• When you exhale, curve your back to the ceiling and fold your tailbone in while bringing your jaw to your thorax.
• Alternate between the two stances.

#2 – Quadriceps Stretch

• Sit straight with your feet joint.
• Curve the left knee and with your left hand, jerk it into your glutes.
• Keep your knees composed while doing this.
• If you have difficulty with balance, put your free hand on a wall.
• Clench your glutes to surge the stretch in the front of your legs.
• Change sides and reiterate.

#3 – Eagle Arms Pose

• Cross your right elbow beneath your left elbow.
• Bring your palms to touch, with your fingers facing the ceiling.
• If it feels uncomfortable on your shoulders to align your hands, cross your arms at your thorax and grasp for opposite shoulders.
• Bring your elbows in line with your shoulders.
• Distance your palms from your face until you feel a stretch amid the shoulder blades.
• Shift sides and reiterate.

Sportive Woman in Cobra Pose Stretching Her Body

#4 – Cobra Pose

• Rest on your abdomen on the mat.
• Put your hands flat underneath your shoulders.
• Tuck the elbows in by your sides and leisurely raise your head and chest.
• Keep your hips and groin on the mat.
• Leisurely lower back down

#5 – Butterfly Pose

• Stand on the mat tall with the soles of the feet composed and the knees crooked out to the sides.
• Grab onto your feet and engage your core muscles.
• Gradually drop your body toward your feet and press your knees down.

Woman Performing Flawless Eagle Arms Pose

How Regular Stretching Benefits You

Building muscle and working on your aerobic fitness is nothing without flexibility growth. Stretching aids with this, and if you include the exercises I previously listed into your day-to-day routine, you will surge your agility and feel like a veritable gymnast despite your imperfect BMI. But this isn’t the only advantage you gain if you have an everyday stretching program set in place. These are some of the other gains you enjoy:

• Clinical trials show that stretching lessens muscle aching after intense workouts. Therefore, recovery time is shorter and you can return to your exercise routine ASAP to build muscle faster and work on your general fitness.
• If you have a bad posture, stretching can lend a considerable serving hand. To encourage rapid appropriate alignment of the spine, fuse the exercises I presented with inversion therapy and you will get rid of that unaesthetic hunch.
• Habitual stretching improves circulation, raising blood flow to the muscles. In turn, this leads to faster recovery.
• Research recommends dynamic stretching as a warm-up for athletes because of its positive influence on strength and performance prior to training or competitions. So, a little elongating session can lead to better results when it counts most.
• Stress and tense muscles are more closely linked than you might think. Whenever you feel any emotional stress, the muscles react to it by getting tense too. Concentrate on stretching the areas where you feel pressure on your muscles to enjoy stress relief as a result.

The Takeaway

Your body is a temple, irrespective of your size. Even if you don’t abide by weight ideals, it doesn’t mean that you can’t do the same activities a slim person can. It all stands in proper execution and perseverance. As long as you set your mind to it, there is nothing you can’t do, even if you haven’t yet lowered your BMI and aren’t considered fit by medical standards.

The drills presented previously can be accomplished by people of all ages and sizes. Correct execution is already delivered in the article, so if you want to be nimble and move like a ballerina, do these stretches daily and nothing will stand in your way. Follow the advice offered in the first part to avoid any harmful mistakes down the road, and you are good to go. So, to wrap it all up, I wish you the best of luck on your journey to surge elasticity and amp your fitness.