All of us need to stretch
more. Our sedentary lives stick
our muscles together. Our bursts
of activity create strength that could use a bit more looseness.
Of course, we could just do
it. We could put stretching on our
lists of things to do and tick it off every day. If that works, great!
However, most of us don’t. We finish a workout and we’re tired and
stretching seems like one thing too many.
We promise ourselves we’ll do it later. And then we get distracted by the hot shower and the commute
home and it doesn’t happen. Here
are two things we can do to get the stretching in:
1. Get
someone else to make you do it.
Maybe that means taking a yoga class or Pilates. Maybe you work out with a trainer who
plans it in at the end for you. We
are good and obedient people, most of the time. If someone is standing there telling us to do it, we will.
2. Tie
it to something else. I, for
example, call my parents every Saturday morning. If I promise myself that I will stretch while I am chatting
about what Peanut (their dog) did, I get off the phone with longer muscles and
Good Daughter Points (not to be sneezed at!). It might work to tie stretching to doing the dishes (hi
there, calves!) or checking email (piriformis stretch anyone?). We can find something we do anyway and
let stretching piggyback on it.
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