I got a call from my friend Katie the other day. I like Katie, she’s from small town Georgia. She’s highly competitive. Her sport is tennis. You can take everything I know about tennis and fit it on the sharp end of a needle. But that’s not the advice Katie was looking for. She just wants to stay in tip-top shape so she can continue to kick ass in the sport. I guess that’s where I come in handy. I told you that to tell you this. Katie’s questions concerned stretching. The first question was when to stretch. She said she had heard from some to stretch before, others to stretch after. She was right on both accounts. It’s good to warm up with stretching, but it doesn’t have to be a lot. The majority should come after exercise is done, during the cool down period. I was almost off the phone when she said something else. I almost thought she was kidding. She said, “I do about 10 seconds on each muscle after tennis and jogging.” I asked if she was kidding. “No, no one ever tells you how long to stretch,” she said. She was shocked when I said each stretch should be held at a minimum of one minute. I mentioned I hold stretches for three and four minutes when I have the time. She was surprised by this information. That’s why I figured if someone as fit as Katie didn’t know this, it might be a good idea to mention it on this blog. While I’m at it, if you have the time and the money for a yoga class, great idea. But as mentioned in this blog before, yoga won’t do much more than make you flexible. It’s not a fitness routine.
