Stretching was a big part of my childhood -- my mom was a gy..
🕑 Added 2021-05-31 00:25:25 +0000 UTC
Stretching was a big part of my childhood -- my mom was a gymnast and I was in ballet class every day. Everyone around me was constantly stretching...for fun. Then I grew up and noticed the kids complaining about stretching in PE and the adults avoiding stretching at the gym. It made no sense to me. Especially at the Olympic lifting gym I used to go to -- guys would finish their reps and then stand there doing nothing in between. Meanwhile, I was stretching. By the end of my workout, not only had I lifted but I was also stretched out. Everyone else, felt burdened by the fact they HAD to stick around longer to half-ass a few stretches. Nobody, every took me up on my suggestion to interweave stretching into the lifting. You don't even have to stretch the muscle group you're targeting with weights. You can alternate days so while you're lifting arms, you're stretching legs (which are probably sore from yesterday's squats). If you're lifting there really isn't much downside to stretching every chance you get because your body is getting tighter everyday. You're tightening yourself up on purpose. All that gorgeous muscle but it'll become useless if you lose your mobility. For the past year I've been going heavy on the hamstrings & glutes. So to balance it out, I'm focused more on forward bending and stretching out my hamstrings. It feels like medicine that actually tastes good. My body craves the stretching. I'm always curious to discuss this with people though. I'd like to better understand what stretching feels like for someone who didn't grow up doing it much and what might help you get into more. :) Love, Cha
