Happy Tuesday! It’s time for another edition of Tuesday Topics. This week’s Tuesday Topic: Your year in bling! Remember to link-up with Kim and Zenaida and the bottom of this post.
I don’t really have any bling to share from this year (although I did get a medal for OTF Marathon Month), so I decided to check the National Day Calendar website for this blog’s topic: National Stretching Day.
Yesterday was National Stretching Day,
a day dedicated to educating people on the numerous benefits that come with practitioner assisted-stretching.
As runners, we know about the importance of stretching both before and after workouts. It’s a great way to get your body ready for a workout and can also help in preventing injuries. I’ll admit that I am not the best when it comes to this. I definitely do not stretch before and after every workout. I often use the excuse that “I ran out of time” which is such a bad excuse because there’s always time for a quick 5 minute pre or post workout stretch. Over the past month I have been making an effort to stretch more and I can tell it’s making a difference.
Here are a few articles that I have used the past month to give me ideas of different stretchiest do before and after a workout:
The 10 Best Running Stretches – Outside
I particularly love the hamstring stretch, glute stretch and long adductor stretch.
The best stretches to do after running – Runner’s World UK
The lying spinal twist always helps when I have lower back pain.
Tell me: What’s your favorite stretch?
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Topic for next week – Your year in photos. We hope you’ll link up with us!
We could all benefit from more stretching! I used to be so good, but now I’m so bad at making time for it.
No bling for me either and I only ran one race (a turkey trot) in 2023. They didn’t give out age group or finishers medals, and instead, made a donation in our honor to a local charity.
i love the idea of the race making a donation to a local charity – that’s awesome!
Ha, that’s a great reminder! I always do few dynamic stretches before my runs, but I need to improve on my full body stretches. It’s one of those things that adds up over time if you neglect it.
Thanks, Kim!
I totally need to improve on my full body stretches. I may make that one of my goals for 2024!
You hit my weakness. I hardly ever stretch. Thanhs for the reminder.
No problem! I think we all need this reminder from time to time!
I’m still favoring the basic forward fold… my hamstrings seem to be the tightest muscles on my entire body. I have gotten much more disciplined with before & after stretching, but I think I need to do more throughout the day & evening.
I’ve noticed my hamstrings have been more tight than usual lately and I think it’s because I’ve been doing a lot of powerwalking uphill – ouch!
I hate stretching so much. I guess if I’m doing a good one, it’s child’s pose to relieve my back, or anything that dips into my glutes. That’s where I hold so much tension.
It’s definitely not fun but I look at is as a necessary evil lol
Stretching is so important! Thanks for bringing this up. I think it has kept me injury for so long.
My favorite stretch is malasana/deep squat. I could hang out in it all day LOL
*injury-free!
i love the deep squat stretch too!
I am guilty of it too. I don’t stretch before or after a run and then wonder why I am sore. I do like pigeon pose and downward dog.
I love pigeon pose but it always reminds me how inflexible I am lol.