As a dancer for most of my life, I used to pride myself on my flexibility. I could high kick all day and pop into the splits with ease. While I'm not exactly the Black Swan these days, I've been fairly attentive to my muscles and made every effort to keep myself as limber as possible.
That is, at least, until I started running. For one thing, this whole running in the morning thing usually leaves me with far too little time to properly stretch after a workout. But mostly, I feel like running just makes me stiff... period. Maybe it's the repetitive motion and the constant beating on my feet and legs, but lately, I've noticed that the old men in my "Ab Lab" class can pull their legs up further than me.
I don't particularly love the constant stiffness, so I'm challenging myself to take this whole stretching thing more seriously. And to incorporate more yoga into my routine to see if I can find my once-lithe self again.
And wouldn't you know it? The oh so lovable Jenny H. has some helpful flexibility exercises to get me started on the right track...
Thanks for sharing! This is probably the component of fitness that I often neglect myself. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteOne of my New Year's resolutions was to take a dance/yoga class at least once a month. So far, I've utterly failed on that particular resolution... but it's never too late to pick it back up! I too miss the days of my dancer flexibility.
ReplyDeleteGood stretches. I do some of these regularly in my yoga class.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to incorporate more yoga and stretching as well. It's amazing how tight running can make you. It's a good idea to stretch that all back out.
ReplyDeletei got my yoga on last night after running, and i have to say, it really made all the difference. though i was beyond disappointed about how much harder the movement was for me (i literally could not do a warrior II. like, seriously??), i felt like i was breathing air back into my muscles. definitely need to keep this up.
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