Looking to add a simple 30 or so minute stretching/yoga routine to my day. I liked Nate’s idea of trying to replace some of the unproductive time of my day spent watching tv/on my phone with something productive. I was thinking of incorporating some stretching either first thing in the morning or at night just before I go to bed. The latter makes more sense to me since my muscles should be warmer and it will help relax me ahead of sleep. Would be good to hear other trainerroad users opinions and what has worked for them.
My take is it depends on what you want to accomplish. If you want to get things moving in the context of warm-up either for the day or for a training activity it works in the morning as long as you keep it to motion based “stretching” with short holds at best. If you want to gain mobility and activate “rest and digest” the evening works with longer holds over 90 seconds, up to 5 minutes in an individual position. I use my evening practice to set up my sleep, no pain cave deep positions, just find the boundary and stay there for a 2 minute hold. You’ll find 60 - 90 seconds into the hold your body will release a little and allow you into a deeper position.
I try to do both each day for about 30 minutes per session.
I do teach yoga so I always recommend finding a good teacher to help get you started.
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Great intel Doc. The aim is to increase general flexibility so I’ll start with adding an evening session into my routine.
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I’ve always struggled to introduce stretching to my daily routine. Having 2 kids (just got the 3rd one actually) and preparing an Ironman was hell of a challenge and every minute counted. So I tracked down those useless minutes and here is what I did for stretching - I always wait for the bus in the morning when going to work, 3-10 minutes.
So I figure out, it’s the perfect time (usually spend on just listening to music or reading news) for some stretching. I’ve got a small routine - 3 stretching exercices 1 minute for each leg, ~6 minutes total. It works wonders for me. I don’t think a particular time of day is important - what’s much more important is consistency.
I always stretching the the morning AND before bed.
This! After several years of doing it, I can’t imagine starting out my day without 10-15 minutes of stretching. I also find that doing another 10-15 minutes before bed helps me unwind and get to sleep sooner.
I stretch when I’m warm after workouts and/or in front of the TV at night. I like doing it too on days when I’m not in the gym or on the bike. Makes me feel like I’m doing at least SOMEthing for my body.
-Hugh
my blog: ex-prosays.blogspot.com
