Flexible Like A Bendy Pretzel Bobcat Thing

If you have seen the movie, "Two Weeks Notice", the title of this post might seem familiar. Now I do not remember the exact quote of what she said, but the effect is there, bendy like a pretzel.

At one point we were all flexible. For most of us it was probably when we were like 5, but either way we were flexible. I was flexible at 5 maybe even 6, but I wish I was still flexible like that. Like most I grew taller, and my flexibility sort of went with it. A lot of attention is given to cardio and to strength training but not a lot of attention is given to balance, or flexibility, or to stretching. I am guilty of that as I think I have one post that says anything about flexibility. So I am going to remedy that now.

Flexibility is a key idea to most anything. Oh my hamstring hurts, I can't run....I have said that a few times in my life. I have really tight hamstrings and sometimes they hurt more than they should when I run. Even though I know this, I usually tend to ignore it. Bad idea. I would say flexibility is one of those things that you need to spend time on along with your cardio and strength training. Yoga and pilates are the two most known ways of getting more flexible, but simple stretching is a good place to start.

You want to stretch after you workout, or at least after you are warmed up. I have read that static stretches, one where you are stationary and are trying to stretch an individual muscle, is actually bad for you before your workout. They say that you will actually lose power because of it. I do not remember the details, nor are they overly important. The point of it is just make sure you are warmed up. I would say start with the biggest muscles first, your hips, your quads, and your hamstrings. I like to start with a butterfly stretch and then work in some hip stretches. I then like to lay on my back and stretch out my hamstrings. I stand up, stretch my quads, my calves, and then move onto my shoulders and upper arms.

This is a quick quick version of how I like to stretch. When I get more time I will dive into some more in-depth writing on stretching and everything else.

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