Stretching After Walking Is More Beneficial Than Before

You may know about the benefits of stretching, but do you know the right time to stretch? It’s NOT before your walk, it’s after. You never want to stretch your body when your muscles are cold. It doesn’t matter if it’s 90 degrees outside, if you haven’t moved your body yet, your muscles aren’t ready to move safely. As we age, those cold muscles become much easier to tear or injure.

Imagine a rubber band that’s been in the freezer. If you try to stretch it before it warms up, it will snap in your hands. Your muscles are similar in that if you haven’t warmed them up, they are not yet prepared to move.

When you are in your 20s, you can get away with this because the body has more resilience, elasticity, and heals faster from injury. After 50, the body loses resiliency and doesn’t heal nearly as fast. You need to pay more attention to the time before and after your workout.

Yoga and Walking

Walking is great exercise. It requires no equipment aside from supportive shoes (of course you can walk barefoot in some places) and you can do it anywhere! City, country, by the water, in the mountains, through the snow, there is almost no limit to where you can walk. How you walk becomes more important as you age, as does how you treat your body before and after.

Warming up the body well you exercise, even going for a walk, will make a difference with how your body feels during and after your walk. Stretching afterward makes a great cool down, and keeps your body from getting stiff. If you have driven somewhere to go on your walk, be sure to stretch BEFORE YOU GET BACK INTO THE CAR. It will make a big difference with how your body feels once you return home.

My favorite pre-exercise prep is foam rolling. If you don’t have access to a foam roller, then gentle actions that move the body through a similar range of motion as your exercise will work too. Click here to watch a short foam rolling sequence you can do before your walk.

In addition to (or instead of) foam rolling, here are 3 pre-walk exercises you can do to prepare the body for your walk. I have also included 4 post-walk stretches and a couple of videos for a cool down once you are done.

Pre-Walk Prep

Ankle Circles

We don't often think about our feet and ankles as needing to warm up, but if you've ever injured your ankle (and who hasn’t?), you might have some stiffness that needs working out before you walk.

You can do this sitting or standing. Life one leg with your knee bent, your foot below your knee. Rotate the foot in a circle in one direction 5 times, then rotate to the other direction for 5 times. This warms up the ankle and many of the muscles of the foot and lower leg.

Utkatasana to Crescent Lunge

Start with your feet hip distance apart and bend your knees, keeping your spine straight. Your hands can be at your hips, over your head, or in Anjali Mudra (palms together in front of your heart). Shift your weight to your right foot and step your left foot back, a comfortable distance, into a lunge, then step it forward again. Switch legs to step your right foot back then forward again. Repeat this 5-6 times on each side.

This warms up the legs and feet and gets the glutes working. We need to use our glutes as we walk to prevent strain in the hamstrings, lower back, or hip flexors.

Slow motion walking

Intentionally slow walking will get you ready for your actual walk by moving you through the motion that you'll need. Moving slowly gives you time to pay attention to your body mechanics.

• Keep the shoulders over the hips

• Roll through the center of the foot, rather than being to the outside or inside of the foot

• Push off with the back leg using your glutes, rather than reaching with the front leg which overuses the hip flexors and hamstrings

• Control the shift of weight from the back leg to the front leg

• Breathe

Notice if any of this feels "odd" in your body. If so, chances are you are not walking with good body mechanics, and these little cues might help.

Here’s some tips from my “Mechanics of Walking” video:

Post Walk Stretching

While there are many ways to stretch after you walk, here are 3 of my favorite post walk stretches. These are all stretches you can do immediately after your walk, either at home or, if you were hiking, before you get back into your car.

Standing Forward Bend

Stand with your feet a comfortable distance apart. Bend your knees slightly then hinge at the hips to fold forward over your legs. You can keep your knees bent, which allows the spine to lengthen, giving a nice stretch to the lower back. If you want more of a hamstring stretch (which I also recommend), you can lift your hips higher, moving the hips away from the heels. Make sure you are lifting the hips and not the lower back, as that will bypass the hamstring stretch. Breathe deeply for about 5-8 breaths, relaxing into the stretch.

Standing #4 Stretch

Feel free to hold onto something to support your balance. Stand on your left foot and cross your right ankle over your left knee. Bend your left knee deeply and hinge forward with a flat back until you feel the stretch in your right hip. Try not to round your spine, you'll feel more stretch with a straight spine. Stay 5-8 breaths, then repeat to the other side. I find a tree, a bench, or a fence can make a terrific support for your balance.

Quad Stretch

Feel free to hold onto something to support your balance. Stand on your right foot and bring your left foot toward your left buttock. Grab the foot or ankle with your left hand and gently bring the foot toward the buttock. Keep your thighs parallel so that your knees are side by side. Feel your tailbone lengthening toward your knees. Don't force the stretch. Breathe deeply for 5-8 breaths, then repeat on the other side.

Calf Stretch

This can be done at a wall or using a tree or your car's tire. Any vertical surface will do. Place your right heel relatively close to the vertical surface, 2-4" away, depending on your ankle’s range of motion. Place the ball of your foot on the vertical surface. That might be plenty to feel the calf stretch. If not, move your hip closer to the vertical surface until you feel the stretch. Stay and breathe deeply and slowly for 5 breaths, then repeat on the other side.

Watch Post Walk/Run Stretch Video #1, and Post Walk/Run Stretch Video #2!

Join me on the mat to Stretch!

I teach Head to Toe Stretch every Tuesday and Thursday at 10am ET online! If you can't make it live, you can catch these and all of my classes on demand anytime you like! Click the buttons below!

Join me in person every Saturday in June for Yoga and Walking! We'll do a yoga warm up, take a 2-4 mile walk on various trails in Metrowest Massachusetts, then do a yoga cool down to stretch together. Move your body outside and feel energized for the rest of your day! Come to one, two, three, or all four Saturdays. Click the button below for more information and to sign up!

Next Saturday is Ask a Yoga Teacher, your opportunity to ask questions about a particular yoga pose. I take requests! If there is a pose you struggle with or want to understand better, please leave your comment below. My goal is to help you understand these yoga poses in the body that you have today, giving modifications and things to think about to enhance your own yoga practice.