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Why stretching for desk jockeys? Quoting Chris Shugart, T-Nation editor, stretching is like flossing: we all know it is beneficial and we should be doing it, but we are just too lazy to do it. This is especially true in those professions where we spend countless hours in front of a screen and a keyboard.
As we age, stretching becomes more and more necessary, and the consequences of not doing it start tu hurt, so today we will speak in favor of stretching and will propose you an easy routine for desk jockeys.
Before you run to put your yoga pants on, let’s clarify that even when flexibility is a quality that you can work on, like you do with strength, speed, agility, etc. to a certain extent it is conditioned by different factors like your age or your muscle mass, so don’t get too obsessed with achieving that impossible posture you saw in the youtube yoga video. Just feeling the muscles as they stretch willl be enough for our purpose today.
Generally speaking we can point out three benefits of stretching
- It helps us to reduce the tension in our joints. As we stretch muscles and connective tissues (ligaments and tendons), we reduce the pressure they make in our joints. This will also help us avoiding other related problems like nerve pinching.
- It helps us increase our range of motion, and hence, it increases the effectivess of our movements and exercises.
- It aids our recovery. As we stretch our muscles and connective tissues, we facilitate the blood circulation through them. This brings in oxygen and takes away the waste metabolytes.
If you want to learn more about this, there is a great article by Ian King, who explains it really well. Worth taking a look
Stretching is not only beneficial after you train. If our jobs are keeping us long hours in the same postures, there will be imbalances in our joints and muscles. A good example of this is the office work. We remain for hours in the same posture in front of the screen. To correct those imbalances we propose you a short stretching routine you can perform anywhere (okay, it may look awkward doing it at the office, but you can still do it when you get home).