Skipping a post-workout stretch probably won’t hurt your long-term mobility, especially if you stay active and strength train regularly.

Hunter Carter, ACSM-EP, CPT, CES, exercise physiologist at HSS said, “While post-workout stretching can be a useful tool for maintaining flexibility, the research suggests it is not the single best or most important strategy for preserving mobility as you age.” 

“For long-term health and performance, regularly moving, strength training, and incorporating dedicated mobility work into your overall fitness routine appear to have the greatest impact on maintaining function and mobility,” said Carter.

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Also called medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS), shin splints are essentially due to a mismatch between how much load you’re placing on your tibia (one of the bones in your lower leg) and that bone’s ability to adapt and recover, explained Carter.

If you’re in the middle of a run and you notice shin pain, don’t ignore it. “In the moment, shift to a pain-guided approach,” Carter shared. “Slow down, shorten the run, switch to walk-run intervals, or stop altogether.”

To stop the pain from coming back, you might want to consider a professional evaluation of your running mechanics, often called a running gait analysis. These sessions help identify potential issues that could contribute to shin pain. Then, the professional doing the evaluation will create a plan to help correct these pain points. “This type of analysis helps connect what you feel to what your body is doing, so your plan can target technique cues, strength or fatigue deficits, and load progression,” Carter continued.

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Compound exercises are movements that recruit multiple muscle groups and joints simultaneously for a more efficient, full-body workout, said Carter.

Popular examples include squats, deadlifts, overhead press, bench press and barbell rows.

"You’re recruiting more muscle mass (in order) to be active at one time," Carter said. In addition to maximizing muscle strength and growth, this can help you burn more calories in a shorter period.

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The side stitch is a sharp, localized pain that comes on during exercise and occurs in the abdomen, typically below the rib cage shared Carter. “A lot of people will describe it as sort of like a stabbing pain in the ribs,” he said. For many people, this sensation crops up on the right side of the body, he continued.

Maintaining good core activation throughout your workouts can reduce the chances of a side stitch coming on in the first place. “Abdominal bracing is going to help correct or prevent that abdominal lining from going through so much irritation,” Carter said. To help on this front, he gives the cue of knitting your ribs together and keeping them closed together (versus flared out), even as you inhale. With running specifically, he recommends leaning your torso slightly forward as you stride, since this posture can help recruit your core muscles.

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The workout is simple: Walk at an incline of 12 percent and a pace of three miles per hour for 30 minutes.

Before you dial the treadmill up to an incline of 12, experts suggested warming up on a lower grade, to give your heart and muscles time to acclimate. You may also need to build up your fitness to tackle 12-3-30, said Carter. See how the workout feels at different inclines and paces, he said, and strive for a sweet spot of challenging but sustainable.

If you need to hold on to the handrails to support yourself, that’s a sign you should decrease the incline, the speed or both, Carter shared. Otherwise, you’re “reducing the amount of work that you are doing and therefore the potential benefits.” Carter also recommended leaning forward slightly when walking at a steep incline, both for balance and to generate more force. Pumping your arms can help you engage your core and work your upper body.

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Whether you're new to strength training or looking to amp up your heavy lifting, you may find yourself overwhelmed at the sheer number of exercises to help you get there. Throw in all the different equipment to choose from, and it can seem difficult to find the right routine for your goals. Once you do, it may be even harder to plan it out with your schedule. But strength training doesn't have to be complicated or require doing a million different moves to work every muscle.

The 5x5 workout is a simple, approachable strength training plan that can yield serious gains. The workout involves doing five repetitions for five sets of a collection of compound exercises, and is an efficient total-body routine that has benefits for beginners and experienced gym-goers looking to graduate to heavier weightlifting.

"No. 1, it's compound, multi-joint movements, so you're recruiting more muscle mass to be active at one time. Think of it (as a) little more bang for your buck," said Carter. "You’re cutting down on the time that you would need to spend working each individual muscle. If you have a limited amount of time to work out, something like the 5x5 is great. The more muscles that you engage at once, the more your cardiorespiratory system is working, so it’s sort of killing two birds with one stone,” continued Carter.

Read the full article at today.com.