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Flexibility And How Does It Work

Decent Essays

1. What is Flexibility and How does it work?
Flexibility is the ability to move muscles and joints through their full range of motion. Flexibility comes from stretching, and is increased through stretching properly. Flexibility allows for a person to move with ease and without pain. Flexibility also allows for a reduce in the risk of joint sprain or muscle strain, reduce the risk of back problems, or muscle soreness.

2. Name and define two types of muscles responses? (give an example)
The Stretch Reflex- a basic operation of the nervous system that helps maintain muscle tone and prevent injury, it is initiated when a muscle is stretched, it lengthens the muscle fibers and spindles, this changes the shape of the muscle spindles which results …show more content…

This range of motion is affected by the health of the tendons, ligaments and muscles surrounding the joint. As people age, the tissues around the joints tend to thicken, and the cartilage (connective tissue) that cushions the joint and aids in movement decreases, these cause a decrease in the joint’s range of motion. Cartilage depletion can make flexibility especially difficult. Muscle mass also begins to deplete in middle age, this depletion can decrease strength and ease of movement. People’s flexibility decreases naturally with age, but the rate at which the decrease in flexibility occurs can happen at a much more gradual rate through exercising and stretching to keep the muscles. It is important to try to maintain a decent range of motion to help prevent injury and decrease the effects of chronic pain in aging …show more content…

Warm-ups are designed to improve performance, and reduce the change of injury. Warm-ups increase blood flow, increase heart rate which preps the cardiovascular system for work, decreases muscle tension, and enhances the connective tissues ability to elongate. There are three types of warm-ups, passive- raising the body temperature through an external source such as a hot shower or heating pad, a general warm-up -movement not directly related to the activity usually some form of a light callisthenic type exercise such as brisk walking or jogging, and formal/specific warm-ups- movements that mimic the actual activity, just performed at a reduced level of intensity. Warm-ups need to be suited to each individual person, but should generally be intense enough to increase the body’s temperature and cause some sweating, but not be as intense as the actual exercise or cause

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