Flexibility

Flexibility is my favorite component of fitness.  Stretching out my quads after a hill run, or doing a back arch the day after a particularly demanding abdominal workout is heaven.  You can feel the muscle fibers elongate and the oxygen enter your cells.  When you have good range of motion you can feel free, relaxed, mobile, elongated.

The benefits of stretching are:

• improved circulation
• wider range of motion
• better posture
• less joint stiffness
• less muscle tension
• more ability to relax

I didn't always love to stretch.  For many years I struggled and pushed, as I suffered and strained.  I tend to be competitive, and am not naturally bendy, so I spent all my time looking over my shoulder at other people, jealous of what they could acheive and impatient to get similar results.  Then one day I went to a drop-in yoga class and the instructor made me shut my eyes and concentrate on what I was feeling.  A light-bulb went on, and I realized where I had been going wrong.

It took me a whole year of yoga to fully understand, but slowly I learned how to benefit from stretching.  The key is to focus on aligning your body and lengthening the target muscle.  For example, if you think "I must touch my toes!" you will probably hunch your back, squish your breathing, and strain mightily.  You may or may not reach your goal of touching your toes, but you probably will not stretch your hamstrings to their fullest extent.  If you perform the same stretch, but think "I want to legthen the muscles in the back of my legs" you will probably stretch your spine, breathe calmly and extend your legs fully.  My challenge to you for today is to do the hamstring stretch both ways and note the difference in how you feel.  You will be convinced.

                         Good way - elongating hamstrings.

 

                          Bad way - touching toes.

To improve your flexibilty you could take a yoga class, or dedicate 20 minutes after your workout to totally stretch out your major muscle groups.