Tag Archives: stretching

Going through the motions

I’m trying to commit to stretching more as part of my morning routine. I know this will help me feel better in the long term but I’ve never enjoyed the process. I now have a 10 minute routine that I regularly do, but many days I go through the motions without really pushing myself.

This is something that also sometimes happens with my workouts. I go through the motions but I’m not really working hard. For example, I do a set of pushups and I stop when I can do more. I reach a nice even number, like 20 or 30 on a set and while I could probably do a few more physically, I mentally hit a wall. Or I choose a speed on my bike or treadmill that’s less challenging than I’m capable of.

There is a balance that’s hard to find. Yes, I’m proud of the commitment I’m putting in, but I am beating myself up about the effort. I know that greater effort with less commitment would not be as effective, but doing both is hard. Even now, I procrastinated too much this morning and I’m writing this while on my stationary bike. My speed is respectable, but I’m not breathing too hard. I’m going through the motions.

It’s not realistic to be pushing myself to the maximum every workout, and that’s not what I’m trying to do. I just think I get into slumps where I don’t remember how to really push myself. It’s in these slumps that I tend to be too hard on myself. I think part of it is that I’m externally motivated, and I no longer have a team or event I’m training for, and I mostly work out alone. So, sometimes I need to accept that just doing it is enough, even if the effort isn’t really there.

Small gains

I’ve been doing some Physio stretches almost every day since I was given them to do in June. I have an Enya song I listen to twice, once for each leg, doing the same stretches. Then one more to do some lower back stretches and a couple rather painful roller stretches on my quads.

I’ve made some small but positive gains in my flexibility, and it occurred to me that I would never have noticed them if that was the goal. If that was the goal, I would have given up long before I saw the gains… they are too small and took too long to be realized.

I think that the mental shift from ‘I want to see benefits from this’ to ‘this is a good habit to have, and I want to be someone who commits to stretching as part of my health routine,” was a big part in getting me here.

I now stretch for 3 songs, 10 minutes, almost every single day. I probably won’t notice any new gains for a couple months, but if I continue this for a couple months I will indeed see gains. If I was doing it just for the gains, I probably wouldn’t make the commitment because the results are too slow and too small to give me the reward I would be seeking.

No, I’m just someone who values stretching daily. And hopefully I’ll have less back pain and back issues in the future… and some small positive gains along the way.

Stretching my back and my mind

Stretching my body has always been a chore. I find the discomfort of stretching tight muscles painful rather than uncomfortable. But I need to do it. I was 4’11 at the end of Grade 9, and grew to 5’6½” at the end of Grade 10. That growth spurt included a torque in my back that left me with mild scoliosis and back issues that persist to this day. Add hamstrings that are tighter than a piano wire and I’m a walking corpse with rigor mortis set in, when I don’t take the time to stretch.

But I hate the feeling of stretching.

My challenge now is to stretch my mind before my body. I need to re-evaluate how I think about stretching. I need it to be part of my routine, rather than feeling like an add-on that I don’t want to do.

Both stretching my mind and my body in this area feels unnatural. Just saying that tells you I’m failing at stretching my mind. I realize there is a knowing and doing gap here, but telling myself this doesn’t seem to help.

I wonder what mental roadblocks other people have that are similar? Is there something you do that you know is bad for you, or don’t do and know that you should? Where do you need to stretch?

And if you made that stretch… what’s your secret?