Earlier last month, I shared my Workout Routine (Read Here) and I obviously spend too much time working my body hard and too little time working on my flexibility and stretching.
Stretching is so important, amongst other things, it helps with muscle recovery and injury prevention, I should know! I wasn't stretching enough a couple of years back and one day, I leaned over to pick up a kettlebell after teaching a class... and I felt this HORRIBLE spasm in my lower back! I couldn't do anything for almost an entire week. I had to see an osteopath and I found out it was because my mid back was too tight (yep, not enough stretching!!!).
I decided to dedicate an hour every Sunday to stretching... well, I kinda fell off the wagon after a couple of weeks. Good thing is - I'm back on it :)
Today...
The above is called a 'Bridge', trust me, I'm no yoga expert so this isn't a perfect bridge.
This has many benefits but I notice it helps stretch my hip flexors, my back, shoulders and chest. I aim to stay in this pose for at least 30s and relax into it, instead of forcing it.
Be careful with this, if you haven't tried it before or have shoulder or neck injuries or problems with your lower back, there are a couple of regressions, check out www.yogajournal.com/basics/2322
Every Sunday will be a freestyle mix of stretching, amateur yoga (things I remember from yoga classes I've attended) and yoga videos. Ideally, I'd like to attend one yoga class a week but I can't commit to that right now with my current schedule. Once I can afford to drop a spin class, I'll immediately replace that with a yoga session - FOR SURE!
I hope I remember to post a picture here and on Instagram every Sunday, this way I'll not forget to stick to this very important addition to my routine.
Do you stretch? Do you attend yoga classes?
Have a nice Sunday and a great week!
Stretching is so important, amongst other things, it helps with muscle recovery and injury prevention, I should know! I wasn't stretching enough a couple of years back and one day, I leaned over to pick up a kettlebell after teaching a class... and I felt this HORRIBLE spasm in my lower back! I couldn't do anything for almost an entire week. I had to see an osteopath and I found out it was because my mid back was too tight (yep, not enough stretching!!!).
I decided to dedicate an hour every Sunday to stretching... well, I kinda fell off the wagon after a couple of weeks. Good thing is - I'm back on it :)
Today...
The above is called a 'Bridge', trust me, I'm no yoga expert so this isn't a perfect bridge.
This has many benefits but I notice it helps stretch my hip flexors, my back, shoulders and chest. I aim to stay in this pose for at least 30s and relax into it, instead of forcing it.
Be careful with this, if you haven't tried it before or have shoulder or neck injuries or problems with your lower back, there are a couple of regressions, check out www.yogajournal.com/basics/2322
Every Sunday will be a freestyle mix of stretching, amateur yoga (things I remember from yoga classes I've attended) and yoga videos. Ideally, I'd like to attend one yoga class a week but I can't commit to that right now with my current schedule. Once I can afford to drop a spin class, I'll immediately replace that with a yoga session - FOR SURE!
I hope I remember to post a picture here and on Instagram every Sunday, this way I'll not forget to stick to this very important addition to my routine.
Do you stretch? Do you attend yoga classes?
Have a nice Sunday and a great week!
4 comments:
Okay, I will join you on this one. I'm stretching 30 minutes today.
Yay :)
Enjoy!
I love yoga and love stretching. Taking a yoga with weights class now n I love it.
@Titi I still haven't tried one of those yoga with weights classes, maybe I will soon :)
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