Flex is Rex

or, Flexibility is King

When I returned from my recent Colorado hiking trip, I realized that I had worked harder than I had trained for.  Symptoms included being overly tired (not wanting to do much for about a week), sore muscles, and general stiffness.  Even after the tiredness went away, I still wasn’t at my same energy level and I found that the muscle soreness/stiffness was demotivating.  It seems to me that the prolonged muscle tightness issue has gotten worse somewhere around age 60.

I set out to attack the problem head-on.  I started stretching for 3-4 minutes 2-3 times a day.  At first, this was unpleasant and didn’t seem to be making progress. However about 3 days into this routine I realized that was no longer so difficult to bring myself to stretch and was starting to show modest but definite improvements.

The point of this article is that I've found that the stiffness doesn't resolve well on its own and has to be addressed - I've been stretching, but I also think a weekly yoga routine would be helpful.

For illustration purposes, below is how I addressed the issue this time:

• For me, the stiffness was mainly in my hips and lower back.  I started simply sitting in a chair and seeing how far I could bend forward. Eventually, I could touch my chest to my thighs.  After a few days this began to feel comfortable.  For many of you, this may be a trivial stretch, but I called it a success!
• I also started doing the modified hurdler stretch which really helped stretch my stiff hip muscles.  https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/photo-gallery/1983373/image/20673113/Modified-Hurdler-Stretch
• Finally, the first 13 minutes of this video from Yoga with Adriene is excellent. When I started this several years ago it took me several months to be able to do it, then I stopped, and now I am starting over.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY

Where We Are Going From Here…

We will continue to look into ways to maintain muscle health as we go along.

I Plan to Publish on Fridays…

Coming articles:

• Outsmarting Your Habit System
• Book Review - The Power of Habit
• Quitting Soda - How I did it
• Blood Tests – Which ones I found helpful