Hands up if you took the time to properly stretch after your last workout? If you're anything like me, chances are, you’ll have done a cursory quad stretch while scrolling on your phone before dashing off to the shower/work/whatever but not much else. In the grand scheme of things, you probably feel like you’ve ticked off the hard work and that stretching is a bit of a waste of precious time, right? And as for proper warm up exercises, seriously - who has the time?
Even those of us who are more diligent about our flexibility may not be aware of exactly why stretching is (or at least should be) a non-negotiable. Studies show that stretching not only improves flexibility and range of motion, which are all-important for injury prevention, but also reduces stress and improves cognitive function. Pretty impressive stuff.
