The stretches you should be doing after hiking and baby carrying

You’ve finished your hike, you’ve taken your little one out the carrier, put them in the buggy or car, or they’ve ran off somewhere. You’ve got them back, unloaded everything and just carry on with your busy life.

Yes we’ve all done that, I’ve done that many times, but I’m asking you to take 2 minutes after to stretch your upper body. You don’t need to do it straight away, you can stretch when you get back home, when the kids are strapped in the car, before you go to bed. But I promise you you’ll feel the benefits if you do.

Stretching has many benefits for us, but there are a few different types. I’m going to focus on static passive stretching after a workout/exercise, in this case, hiking.

Static stretching involves taking a specific muscle to the point where you feel the stretch sensation, this is when the muscle is at it’s longest. It shouldn’t be painful but you may feel discomfort.

Ideally you hold this for 20 - 30 seconds to feel the discomfort slightly ease away.

The benefits of this type of stretching afterwards include:

• Improved circulation around the body - enhancing your body’s ability to recover and reduce your muscles feeling sore

• Mentally preparse you back to your resting state

• Helps improve posture - a really important one after carrying your baby/toddler!

• Improves flexibility of the muscle - a long muscle is a strong muscle!

• Improves range of motion at that specific joint - helps to decrease the risk of injury and improves robustness

So now we know the benefits of stretching, here are a few you can do after a hike: