's motd Friday July 11, 2008

[Guest guest]

STIFF

Friday, 11 July 2008

So what's stiff on your body? Is it your neck? Is it your shoulders, maybe? Do you feel stiff in your back, your arms or hands? How about your legs? Hey, it's not good to be stiff. It's so much better for you to be flexible!

Oh, how I love to watch those gymnasts perform their amazing routines on television. They just recently had the trials for the Olympic Games in China next month. Now you talk about flexibility...those gymnasts really have it!I like the way they lie on their ground with their legs spread so wide while just about placing their noses to the mat. How do they do that?!Or when they jump on that bar and do those splits and leg lifts, wow! Can you do those? Seriously, can you get on the floor, spread your legs and then rotate your torso to the floor? I'm betting most of you have to answer "no" to that one. (Hey, me too!) Ya' know, we get stiff when we sleep. Some of us get into our own little prenatal positions, all comfy but then wake up feeling like "half-a-ball." Then so many people go to work everyday and sit at a desk the whole day. All day long, they sit in the same position and, I don't have to tell you, all of that sitting can also make you very stiff.

The body was made to stretch. But somewhere along the way, most people have stopped stretching their bodies so much. I remember as a kid there was a little morning show for kids where they were all encouraged to reach for the sky then reach back down to the ground as they touched their toes. The lady who led the class told the kids that doing this movement every day would make them taller and more agile. And she was right, too!Honestly, when's the last time you got out of bed and lifted your arms way up in the air and, alternating, reached your arms up-and-down, up-and-down...toward the sky 100 times? It'll really stretch that torso of yours.

And when was the last time you got down on the floor, spread your legs and did alternating touches to your feet, really using your arms and hands? Do 100 of those and boy, does your body ever feel it! I did it this morning and it felt fantastic! I really didn't want to stop because it was just feeling so-o-o good! Now where was I? Oh... I'm telling you...you have to "limber your timbers" to keep that body of yours flexible. Most of you have been doing my workouts for years and maybe even for decades. So you should know most of those stretching exercises by heart. So get stretching!

Start doing them when you get out of bed in the morning, all stiffed up. Stretch! If you're at work and you start to feel stiff from sitting in that chair for so long, get up and stretch! And as you stretch, I want you to think the words "long and lean."I want you to do these stretches consistently for the next 30 days then E-mail me and tell me how you feel. Remember, you have to stretch to keep that body of yours looking and feeling young.Well, I've gotta run and you've gotta s-t-r-e-t-c-h today!Love,