The Yin (Stretching) & Yang (Strength Training) of Muscles

Strength training is an excellent workout to build strong bones and muscles as long as you balance your workout with stretching afterwards.

Yin exercises can be as simple as adding yoga, gentle stretching or pilates to your weekly training plan.  Yin exercises elongate the muscles and help to reduce lactic acid while Yang exercises contract and shorten the muscles.  Yang exercises fatigue and stress the muscle in order to rebuild stronger muscle tissue.  This is good but at the same time the muscle is very vulnerable to injury.  By adding gentle stretching after your workout you are reducing the amount of overlapping of your thin and thick muscle fibers during the resting stage, increasing muscle repair.

If your muscles are feeling tight and achy, this is the muscle sending a message to the brain that it is too tight and wants to be stretched.  Even though at first stretching may feel a bit painful and you can not do very much of it, over time the pain will reduce and your flexibility will increase.  Slow and easy stretching is the key to reducing pain. 

Both are excellent for your body as long as you balance your training with both yin & yang exercises.   Too much yang exercising reduces muscle mobility while too much yin exercising cause muscle weakness. Therefore finding the right balance for your body is essential to function at optimal health.