Stretch series with seriously limited time

All,

I have always been incredibly tight throughout my life, and have sustained quite a few injuries because of my lack of mobility. I bought the stretch series to remedy the situation, but after completing them sporadically, I have come to realize I simply don't have the time to consistently complete the stretch series. 

Has anyone found a good way to still get all of the stretching in across a week without having to dedicate an hour to each session? As someone working near 100 hours during the week, and on the road almost every weekend, I'm lucky to just get a few good workouts in. I want to make my mobility a priority, but I need to adapt the program to fit my needs. If anyone has found a good way around this issue, I'd be much obliged!

Cheers

Hi Jacob,

thanks for reaching out.

First of all, how is your time availability? You may alternate the courses on a weekly basis if you are able to dedicate 45-60minutes once a week  

Hi everyone,

I’d also be very interested in any tips here. My situation is similar, but slightly different. I can more or less consistently put in about 30 minutes before the kids wake up in the morning. If I do just the first 25-30 minutes of a stretch routine, will that create any imbalances, or is it still going to be a net positive? To rephrase; should I do that half hour and cut the routine short, or am I better off not doing the routine at all unless I have a full 45-60 minutes to set aside?

Thanks for any pointers and ideas!

Hey Carl,

It is ideal to perform each series in a single time block so that you gradually warm up to the deeper stretches. That said, I know that ideal is not always possible. So, when it's not, go ahead and split the series up into two sessions and just be sure to take it extra easy when performing the back half. 

Thanks Everett! I was worried about missing that gradual warm up that you mention, but I’m glad to hear it’s not a deal breaker. I’ll go ahead and try to split each stretch routine into two sessions. That’ll probably mean the stretch series will be done on a two-week basis, rather than every week. But still, that should be a lot better than nothing.

Thanks again for the tips!

@Jacob Zuberi @Carl Sandaker  One way I used to do, and still am doing when I'm short on time, is to cut each element's hold time by a half, or a third. This can significantly reduce the total time for a session. I still get benefit out of it, vs not doing it at all. The prescribed hold time is ideal tho. Definitely do that if time allows. I agree with @Everett Carroll that the first half of the stretch session is usually like a warm up for the second half of the session. That's why I personally prefer doing the whole thing, but with less hold time on each element, vs doing first half, then start the second half sometime later cold. Probably still works, just down to personal preference.

@Carl Sandaker, personally, if I would be in your position, I would get up 15 minutes earlier on the stretch days… and fit the whole routine in…  15 minutes is not that bad, if it is just 3 times per week  :-) 

So I actually really like the idea of doing one full session a week. I can definitely manage that.

Are there any good, shorter, daily stretching routines I can do to maintain flexibility (I tend to backpedal on it very quickly) and stave off any soreness/tightness? 

Hey Jacob, generally speaking, you can find the muscles that tend to become tighter along the day and week for example hips flexor and calves and perform a daily stretch of them. this concept can be extended also to the other stretch series, it is a sort of maintenance work.

If you have access to the Online Courses (in your Dashboard under Fitness), there are some shorter follow-along videos--some even around 15 minutes long.  Take a look under Lower Body Flexibility and Shoulder Flexibility.  There used to be a lot more, but I think they've been taken off line.