Experiencing muscle tightness after a workout? Tight muscles are not only frustrating and painful but can also limit movement. Worst of all, they can make it harder to stick to your exercise program. Knowing how to manage and prevent tight muscles will help keep you exercising. Muscles can tighten up for a number of reasons. Three times when muscle tightness can occur are during periods of prolonged inactivity, during exercise, and after exercise. So, what causes muscle tightness? During periods of prolonged inactivity, for example, long days and weeks working at a desk, working at a desk, some muscles can get tight as a result of their restricted movement. When you are seated at a desk, your hips are in a bent, or flexed, position. This puts the muscles on the front of the hip (hip flexors) in a shortened position, and the muscles on the back of the hip (glutes) in a lengthened position. In addition, as you sit at a desk reaching forward to work on a computer, your chest muscles (p