Okay so the picture attached is a massive achievement for me… massive! I know some of you will easily be able to do this without with thinking or even feeling a stretch, but for me it is torture!

I have to stretch for ages before I even attempt this, and even when I do, I so far have only been able to hold it for one or two seconds.

This picture is the first and only time I’ve ever been able to hold it one handed. To be fair, I only did it for the first time yesterday, so I will try again today.

Get Flexi Now!

So I don’t have any magic tricks or short cuts for you, but what I will say, is that stretching makes me more flexible. Now of course that’s true and sounds completely obvious, but I’ve only recently realised how much work I need to put into stretching.

I’ve recently competed in two competitions, and some of my feedback was to work on my back flexibility. Now this isn’t news to me, but I don’t like stretching my back, so I usually just stretch my splits.

However, having had multiple comments from judges and amazing polers in private sessions about flexibility, I’ve realised that one of the ways I need to progress is with my back bends, and shoulders.

I have a lot of bend in certain movements but the one I struggle with the most is the exact position in the picture.

So the answer for me is to stretch!

I’ve only been stretching consistently for 2 weeks (well, a week and a half, as this is week 2!) but I’ve already seen the benefit.

I’ve finally stopped watching other people thinking ‘I wish I was as flexible as them’ and just got off my butt and started stretching. 

For some reason, I thought that my token stretches here and there would make a difference, but it doesn’t really. And I knew that at the time.

More Stretching!

Of course, if you don’t want to get any bendier, then dedicating a lot of time to it, might not be worth your while. (I would suggest doing always cool down stretches after every workout though).

But if you want to see results, you have to put the hard work in. It’s not just a cheeky cobra here and there, but making sure you properly warm up first, and work through safe but effective stretches multiple times a week.

My Plan

Incase anyone wants to know, I warm up throughly before stretching. I work through cobras poses, crabs and shoulder stretches. At the moment I’m doing this 5 times a week after pole training. My stretching lasts a minimum of 30mins but I like to go up to an hour if I have the time.

My main focus is my back as it really needs some work, and then when I have a good routine with stretching, I’ll feed in some box and regular splits too.

Keep Going!

For me, the main reason I feel so focused now, is firstly that I know why I’m stretching – I know what moves I want to be able to do with my new found flexibility. Secondly, I have already seen progress which is massively keeping me focused.

I always dedicate time to stretching now, rather than just seeing if I have time to.

I hope this has helped give you some kind of motivation to stretch. If you want to see results, you have to put the work in. Keep your body safe and show me your flexi moves 😀