Too much time sitting in the office or travelling, shortens the connective tissues that link your muscles to your bones, leaving the body tense and stiff. Fortunately, stretching can loosen you back up by lengthening the muscles and connective tissues, says Robert Forster, physical therapist and founder of Phase IV Health and Performance Center in Santa Monica, CA. “Stretching is something to do every day,” he says. It helps you relax, maintain posture and joint health, and prepare for better workouts—and after a long day in the office or traveling, it can help you work out the kinks.
Incorporating flexibility training in your fitness program will help avoid injury, improve recovery, eliminate knots and improve postural alignment creating a healthy body that is resilient to injury & primed for great performances.
Stretching Is A Key Component In Keeping Your Joints and Muscles Healthy, Strong and Resilient To Injury
The need for increased flexibility is vital for the young and the aging. During the adolescent growth spurt when the bones grow faster than the connective tissue elements of the body can adapt, the resulting tightness leads to decreased coordination, agility and performance and often results in injury and various growth related conditions.
During exercise our muscles shorten and the connective tissue must be stretched to maintain full range of motion and good posture.
As we age, connective tissue naturally tightens and begins to lead to functional limitations. These limitations lead to altered mechanics of the joint and eventually joint wearing (Arthritis). It is the one aspect of aging we can reverse; with regular stretching we can maintain flexibility.
Flexibility Exercises
Forsters stretching program has been honed over 30 years of experience with athletes ranging form 7 to 70 years old. Discover the safest and most effective stretching techniques to help you perform better, prevent injury, improve your range of motion, and aid in your recovery from exercise.
– The safest and most effective stretches for each part of your body
– How to incorporate a safe and effective stretching routine into your active lifestyle
– The importance of stretching in developing healthy joints and muscles for life
– How stretching aids in the recovery process and helps to prevent injury
– The performance benefits of a proper stretching routine as it pertains to sport and exercise
– How stretching improves your range of motion, resulting in improved athletic performance
Useful tips from a leading fitness professional Tom Holland:
Trap: All too often, people follow ineffective routines that cause them to waste their time and money. Here are my secrets for getting the most from your workout:
“Because women in general will end up doing less cardio than men with this formula, it’s wise for them to spend more time doing strength training (see below). Genetically, women have less muscle than men, and as a woman ages, the preservation of lean muscle becomes vital”
“Don’t slight your strength-training regimen. Many people complain that, as they age, they eat and exercise the same amount but still gain weight. One of the main causes of this is loss of muscle mass. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn. Strength training preserves and even increases muscle mass, keeping metabolism at a high level”
“Strength training also increases bone density and functional strength and preserves joint health”
Over the course of 24 weeks and the 3 seperate phases, the 24Fit workout trains your body to burn fat rather than carbs. If you only burn carboydrates, when you workout, you will be disappointed with the results. You always use both fat and carbohydrate calories to power activity, it is the relative ratio of carbs and fat used that changes based on the type of activity.
PHASES 1 – STABILITY, WEEKS 1–8
Stability prepares your body with low-intensity, light-impact training specifically designed to strengthen the muscles that keep joints in their correct, natural positions. Stability helps you improve your posture and joint health. By the time you have completed Phase 1, your body will be properly prepared for the more challenging workouts to come in Phases 2 and 3.
PHASE 2 – STRENGTH, 9–16
After building up the smaller muscles around your joints in Phase 1, Phase 2 will focus on the larger areas to increase overall strength. Phase 2 takes your now properly aligned body and focuses on building muscle with variable low- to high-intensity exercises. The results will be more lean muscle, better tone and more efficient metabolism. Your body will become a more efficient calorie-burning machine, so you are going to burn more calories all day – whether you are at work, at play or ever while you sleep.
PHASE 3 – POWER, WEEKS 17–24
Power introduces high-intensity exercises to refine your new strength and increase your stamina, speed and efficiency. The power workouts of Phase 3 are going to result in a faster, more efficient body. This is the final phase and it will give you the ultimate results.
Over the course of each eight-week phase, you will be alternating between two types of workouts:
Strength Training Workouts will focus on your physical structure, your muscles, bones, joints and connective tissue. These workouts are on discs 1, 2 and 3 in each phase.
Metabolic Workouts will improve your metabolism (how your body burns calories). These workouts are on disc 4 of each phase.
This article explains in more detail the science behind burning fat, progressing from lower to higher intensity exercise.
NBC Dr. Bruce Hensel explains Conquering The Fit But Fat syndrome! Everyone is working out but no one has the body they want. Phase IV Metabolic Testing unlocks the mysteries of your personal physiology and provides the clear path to becoming a “better butter burner”!
Robert Forster, CEO & Founder of Phase IV and Forster Physical Therapy has teamed with Herbalife to create a fitness program using the very science that has made Robert so successful. Forsters 30 years of exeperience can now be seen on a set of 13 DVDs.
The contents of this website were prepared by a Herbalife Independent Distributor: Herbal Vitality, 68 Swan Walk, Shepperton.TW17 8LY. Contact: A Woodward.
