Importance Of Basketball Stretches
If you are a younger basketball player you are probably not concerned about stretches regularly. You probably think to yourself, “Stretching is for older people, I am still young.” Well, what if I told you that stretching can make you jump higher, run faster, and be overall more athletic? Well, it can! It also helps prevent injury, speeds up recovery time, and helps lessen soreness.
I am sure that you are starting to have a little bit of a different outlook on stretching now. With all the positive effects of stretching, you would have to be crazy not to spend time stretching regularly.
However now that you know the importance of stretching in basketball, you may not know the correct way to stretch, or how long you should stretch. That is why I am going to provide you with a few stretching pointers that you can use to help you become a better basketball player.
Primary Types of Stretches For Basketball Players
There are two primary types of stretching that you are going to use as a player. One is dynamic stretching and the other is static stretching.
Dynamic stretching involves moving your joints and muscles as you stretch, and this should be done before the activity.
This will help to prevent injuries by loosening up your muscles and getting them warmed up.
Static stretching is done after an event, the ad is great for improving flexibility. This will help your muscles recover quicker and also help to prevent injuries as well.
If you are like me then when you read the first paragraph all you saw was, “Stretching will help make you more athletic” and that is why you have continued to read this article. Well here is how stretching will help your athleticism.
Most players struggle with flexibility in their hips and core body area and that means that they are not able to get low before jumping, o move quickly laterally.
Your body needs to be able to load before making an explosive movement, but if you are not able to load the correct way your movement will be slower and less effective.
Being able to stretch your legs, hips, back, etc. will all help with this, but you must be willing to do it regularly start with just 10 minutes of static stretching a day, outside of before or after an event, and then go from there.
If you haven’t stretched on regularly for a while, you most likely will not be very flexible at first, but that is okay.
As you begin to stretch regularly your flexibility will start to improve and you will notice the difference that it makes. You will start to see the payoff and benefits of stretching.
