You Gotta Stretch It Out
After some days of fantastic fitness, you might feel like you’ve been hit by the CFO Mac Truck. It’s all sore, and stiff and you find yourself doing a stellar dance break of “The Robot” without an ounce of effort. When this happens, you need to stretch it out. I have 2 wonderful stretches for you and while any stretching is better then none, the longer amount of time you can donate to these poses, the more efficient they will be for your body. When one first sits in a pose, things are tight an uncomfortable, which is why staying there for a couple minutes, if not more, allows your body to settle, your mind to settle ad your mind forcing your body to passively sink deeper into the pose.
The first stretch is a seated forward fold. Bring your feet together, legs in front of you and allow your upper body to sink towards your legs. If falling forward is uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time and you find you can’t relax in it, place a pillow on your lap to lay on; it will allow for that comfort and time. This fold may not be very far for you in the beginning but with time, in the stretch, and revisiting this stretch daily or weekly, you’ll see a difference quick. Focus on releasing tension in the feet, knees, hamstrings, glutes, hips, lower back, shoulders, neck and face- let it melt away.
Second stretch is a cross shinned forward fold. Same idea as the first stretch with what our upper body does, while our legs are in a cross shin (“criss cross apple sauce”/ “indian style”) position. The legs do not need to be crossed if the mobility is not there yet; you may start with knees bent and with one shin in front of the other. Again, fold that upper body over and focus on melting the tension, from the toes to the nose, into the floor for about 2 plus minutes and then switch legs and repeat.
So next time your sore self is hating a trip up a flight of stairs or just sitting down to the potty , give these stretches a try… and let me know how it goes!
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