It's Time To Hit The Mat To Cool Off And Chillax!
Health & Fitness|November 2017

Keeping fit isn’t all about getting hot and sweaty. It’s time to hit the mat to cool off and chillax!

Sarah Ivory
It's Time To Hit The Mat To Cool Off And Chillax!

‘Go hard or go home’. It’s the saying that the workout crowd seems to live by. HIIT, boxing, heavy lifting, boutique cycling — today’s fitness fan is a sucker for a tough workout. But here’s the thing: every once in a while, it pays to slow down. You need to chill out and let levels of the stress hormone cortisol downgrade. Stretch sessions are a great place to do just that. At a stretch class, you can expect to reduce muscular tension, increase your range of movement, balance out your body and, importantly, up your levels of happy endorphin hormones.

It’s not only about lengthening your limbs, but also about releasing knots in fascia tissue via a technique called myofascial release. This will make you feel limber. ‘There’s also an emphasis on the use of breath and the importance of deep diaphragmatic breathing, which contributes to good posture and core muscle strength,’ adds Gemma Bass-Williams, instructor at Barrecore.

BarreSTRETCH is a 45-minute recovery workout, which is broken down into different sections including: beginner stretches, dynamic stretches, myofascial release and deep stretches that use the barre and props. The benefits of this session are big. ‘It helps to reduce muscle soreness, improve muscular range of movement and relax your muscles,’ explains Bass-Williams. ‘It also balances opposing muscle groups (such as releasing the quadriceps while activating the gluteals), which will reduce general stiffness from everyday activities.’

Not London-bound? You needn’t head to a class to get your fix. BarreSTRETCH is available online at barrecore.co.uk/video_workouts. And if you want to start with a taster session, we’ve tapped the team for an exclusive STRETCH workout. It’s time to cool down.

STRETCH IT OUT

This story is from the November 2017 edition of Health & Fitness.

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This story is from the November 2017 edition of Health & Fitness.

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