Stretching

Make sure to stretch, could not preach this anymore! I feel this is a very unpopular topic, which leads most beginners to overall avoiding doing so! Although I guarantee you each and one of their idols are stretching before and after each session.

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., I was training on my apparatus (silk, aerial pole or pole trapeze.) In the afternoon, I was doing one or two hours on the pole with a good stretch at the end. Five days a week.

I personally like to have my days off during the week as active days; meaning that I either do low intensity cardio and stretch, or I focus on mobility. Your body needs time to repair in order to grow, so do not neglect your recovery.

A typical day for me, I wake around 6:30 a.m. stretch then eat breakfast around 6:45 a.m. followed but a quick jog around my surrounding area. I’ll then drink a protein shake and head over to the gym. followed by a check up with my assistants.

I don’t have a specific program that I follow, I love mixing my training up to keep it interesting but I always start with the basics, like a good warming up stretching session followed by step techniques and ending it with a good cooling down as if it’s a religion.

I try to exercise every day, it can be a quick 20-min exercise on a full body strength and flexibility with resistance bands and basic exercises with a lot of stretching and water hydration.

The idea is to prepare the body and build overall capacity to reduce the likelihood of injuries occurring. Examples like loaded stretching and out alignment drills are a great way to strengthen the body and prepare it for the work you will be placing upon it in training and in life.

Yes! I’m taking on clients right now! In spite of the pandemic, I am now safely training clients in the safety of their homes. I specialize in giving the client what they need…from fitness to yoga, Pilates, barre, water aerobics, hands on stretching, help with diet, etc.

Mid-week is normally crazy and too busy to fit a good stretch in after my main workout session, which is not ideal at all, so I have been trying to make a Sunday an active rest day.

Between massages, using my theragun, catching up on much needed body rest/sleep and stretching I keep myself from getting injured.

I can not remember my last injury. I am all about mobility and functionality, I stretch and invert a lot and focus on movements that will help increase my range of motion.

I’m not a big fan of travelling as it really disrupts my routine, however, whenever I travel I make sure I stick to the healthy eating as much as I can and train wherever it’s possible. Generally for recovery, I drink plenty of water, increase my calories and do a lot of stretching.

I try my best to get a good eight hours of sleep but a six to eight will do. I do take yoga regularly and on stretch more on my active rest days just to recover and still get that training in. I have a foam roller and a ball ready just in case I do need some form of release on the muscle tensions.

I always stretch longer before starting my routine no matter what and a quick cool down (5”) right after.

In order to avoid injuries and setbacks I have become much more diligent when it comes to stretching, mobility work and listening to my body.

It’s the best method of recovery for all of us. Most people don’t need to foam roll, stretch or train less intensely. They just need to sleep more. Which is always a relief to hear because it’s a lot cheaper than a $100 foam roller or a $500 massage gun.

A typical day of training for me is pretty simple: I wake up, eat breakfast, and start warming up. Then I do handstands for many hours, followed by some strength training, and if I have time (I never do), I stretch. Finally, I eat a big dinner, read a bit, and then go to bed. I tend to start training at around 11am or 12pm and finish at 9 or 10pm.

I avoid injuries nowadays by stretching properly and icing/heating when necessary.

If I get an injury, I always seem to manage a way to work around it. I do be careful to rest the injury but don’t use it as an excuse to give everything up. My fav recovery tool is the ribbed roller. And a good stretch always.

I make sure I get at least seven hours of sleep per night. I always stretch a bit before, during and after my training sessions whether that is juggling or unicycling. There are many jugglers I know who have had injuries including RSI or tendonitis. I’ve never had an injury and I firmly believe it is because I am always cautious on stretching, warming up and having breaks throughout my training sessions.

I train six days a week. I love to train in the morning just after waking up. I always skip breakfast so first thing I do is a 20-minute yoga/stretching routine and soon after that, I train (how many hours depend on the calendar of the day and how my body responds to the train). You can watch my YouTube video.

A good warm up, stretch and hydration before getting into a full action course be it gym, exercises, cardio, dancing, teaching, etc.

I always start right after I wake up on my mat moving my body through, stretching a bit, using my blackroll, get the blood flowing and then I eat a delisious breakfast and then its go time.

Start with some basic home exercises, stretching, cycling, yoga, jogging, brisk walking. Indulge in outdoor sports of your choice. Make training a fun activity for you, so that you don’t give up.

Luckily, I’m a Physiotherapist and I can prevent and handle injuries in a great way. I always listen to my body to understand if it needs rest. I usually recover with a slow run or active rest day based on fitness workout and a lot of stretching.

After journaling, I stretch for 10 minutes. I usually use this as a pre-workout routine as I workout immediately after I stretch. By the time I’m in my garage gym, it’s usually about 6AM. I workout for about 1 -1.5 hours. Ward painted me a chalkboard wall in the garage so I am able to write all of my workouts from Monday- Sunday on the board.

In my opinion, the best way to recover is a combination of stretching, epsom salt hot baths, foam roller or deep tissue massage, hydration and sleep.

This is one reason I got into Pilates. A typical Football player who twisted his knee and torn an ACL ligament. I was a player with no knowledge of Pilates, stretching, or recovery. A small jog to warm up and down was it. This caused mobility issues, so when I damaged my knee it got worse and worse.

Some of the best hacks for life outside the gym include a thorough stretching on rest days.

I get regular massages now and stretch during my workouts. My dad has always told me to use the good ol’ ice and heat trick when treating injuries. (ice to reduced inflammation, heat to loosen the muscle)

I make a point to do 15-20 minutes of calisthenics everyday, and before any workout. Post training, I stretch immediately.

Regardless of whether I’m on a contract, I do have a daily regime of physiotherapy exercises, core stabilization, and stretching.

I record some of these freestyles in order to critique my technique and form. Fluidity motions also serve the purpose of actively stretching my body.

On rest days I usually don’t do intentional physical activity, though sometimes I will do some mobility or slight stretching if needed.

I believe in pre-hab over re-hab. I foam roll, stretch, warm-up every session. I do yoga and meditate on weekends. I take my vitamins and drink my water. When all else fails – anti-inflammatories, rest, and deep heat.

A typical day of training for me currently looks like this: a morning hour long session (max) including warm up and cool down/some stretching + sometimes I will get some kind of short activity in the afternoon before training my clients.

My friends love training with me because I can help them to hold their bodies upside down and every day, I say to many people, not just my friends, that stretching is really important in a workout. Why did people forget that?

For splits I use multiple methods to achieve: these include passive (sitting in a split), active (engaging muscles in a push/pull effect for 30-60 seconds per stretch) and ballistic stretches (fast movements like power kicks).

For recovery, that would be stretching, which I am a little slack at doing, foam rolling and a good remedial masseuse are essential as is a rest day, good nutrition and supplementation and structuring my training correctly.

This involves taking A LOT of time to stretch each day. I end up spending at least 30 minutes to an hour and 30 minutes each day stretching by practicing yoga and foam rolling.

When it comes inside the gym, always start with dynamic stretching since everyone races to the treadmill.

For cardio I like to do 30 min HIIT training or 60 min cycling followed by a 30 to 40 min stretch session. I don’t really plan my weight training sessions.

My typical training routine starts at 11 o’clock with 10 minutes of running. Afterwards I spend 20 minutes of workout and 30 minutes for stretching.

Wake up at 5:30 every morning ready to push human performance forward. Drink 1L water Stretch a bit Light Breakfast Ultra Cold shower Expose to SunLight Hit the Gym for a two and a half hour daily workout.I sit for 15min, close my eyes, and listen to the silence around, giving my brain a moment to reach its peak. It’s worth learning how to control your brain so you can reach the state of higher performance.

Sometimes it’s not possible, in this case I use the furniture and walls in my room and I do stretching and own weight training. I always bring along some ribbons and ballet shoes so I can train with them.

I stretch, ice, theracane or whatever I need to recover my body and shower, always ending with cold water to wake the body back up!

Now that I have a set time limit it keeps me on track with my stretching and it means that I don’t always get a combination looking perfect.

The rest of the week, I do isolation movement exercises. Basically, 0.5 hr entry cardio, 1 hr muscle training, 0.5 hr core training and 0.5 hr exit cardio/stretching.

For my recover and rest, I really like to do mobility exercises. I feel so much better when I have done a good stretching session. I stretch before every session and have my own routine for this. I also dig my massage gun, this tools should be in everyone’s home.

I always listen to my body in order to recover properly. If I had an extremely hard workout one day but I feel ok in the triceps and biceps the following day, Ill do some light accessory work and stretching the following day just to keep moving.