#Diatia 7: Think about moving.

You need to stretch, you need to stretch regularly, you need to stretch regularly in a proactive manner.  So now that I’ve said that, what should we do?  The first thing is mental, you need to make a self-conscious decision that you WILL work on your flexibility / mobility.  Added to this, you need to accept that it may be a long slow process.  Then you need to do something, and do that something regularly.  I’m going to give you some ideas, which I’m going to split into three areas, they aren’t split into levels of difficulty, but ease of access. 

 

Firstly, online.  There are good apps that guide you through various stretching routines.  To get going these can be brilliant.  They offer routines, diagrams, videos, and even use TTS (text to speech) to talk you through what you’re doing!  There are some really good YouTube channels for yoga: Yoga for BJJ and Yoga with Adrienne.  Unfortunately I’ve never found a good one for Pilates, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, it just means I haven’t found it! 

 

Secondly, IRL (in real life). With a quick online search you will find local classes for Yoga or Pilates, these will require an investment of time and money, but it can prove to be money well spent.  If you haven’t worked on your flexibility for a long time, this will be the best place to start.  You have the regularity of the class: a time, a place, a teacher, the encouragement that flows through a group of like minded people.  The most important part of any class is a good teacher, they explain and demonstrate the movements clearly, they make sure you are doing them properly, and they encourage you to keep going.  I remember one time doing an exercise, I thought I was doing it properly, but the teacher changed the form of the movement very slightly, what I had found really easy suddenly became really hard!  Having written this, I’ve suddenly realised I’ve never come across a class that is for stretching or flexibility!