Bodybuilding Stretching Routine…
Of all aspects of bodybuilding training, stretching is most often ignored by the majority of people. It is just one of those things that seems to get pushed off to the side as not that important. However, one thing you probably didn’t realize is that when stretching is properly integrated into a weight training program it can actually speed up your muscle growth!
The connective tissues that surround the muscles are very tough and hug the muscle fibers tight. This can actually constrict expansion and growth. For muscle hypertrophy to occur the surrounding fascia needs to be stretched to become more pliable in order to give the muscle fibers enough room to expand and grow bigger.
Even if you haven’t seriously focused on stretching before, the muscle mass that you have built up to this point came about from the stretching and expanding of the muscles encasing tissue. During your workouts when blood is being pumped into the muscles, the surrounding connective tissues are being stretched, that’s why you get that tight feeling we call “the pump”.
The ideal time to stretch for increasing muscle mass is right after you’ve trained a particular body part and the muscles are “pumped up” and feeling tight. At this stage the connective tissues are already being stretched from the blood volume in the muscles, and then by manually stretching the muscles as well, you get a double whammy effect and this really increases the muscle fibers growth potential.
I’ve made a series of stretching videos on YouTube that cover stretches that you can do after each major muscle group workout and I have links to those videos below. But some of the “Inner Circle” Coaching Students asked me if I would put together a stretching PDF report that they could print off and take with them to the gym.
So I’ve done that and you can download a printer friendly PDF below. I recommend you print this off and keep it in your gym bag as a reminder of what stretches you should do after each workout.
Click Here To Download
You can watch all the stretching videos below, these are the same stretches that are covered in the PDF file above.
Note: if you are reading this on an iPad, phone, or tablet and can’t see the embedded videos below. Then you can watch the videos right on my YouTube channel by CLICKING HERE
Back Stretching Routine:
Leg Stretching Routine:
Chest Stretching Routine:
Shoulder Stretching Routine:
Arm Stretching Routine:
Note: if you are reading this on an iPad, phone, or tablet and can’t see the embedded videos above. Then you can watch the videos right on my YouTube channel by CLICKING HERE
If you have any questions or comments about how to incorporate stretching into your workout routine,
please post them in the forum and we’ll chat there 🙂