Day Five - Project 2

  Okay, not in as much pain today.  I think about the phrase "feeling my age", and I think, "YEAH!  I would LOVE to only feel my age!"  I'm feeling my age, and the ages of an indeterminate number of septuagenarians who haven't been out dancing in awhile.

  Like I said yesterday, I'm making a short list of what to do for a stretching regimen, and what I've been doing wrong.  I've been reading little blurbs on the aptly named www.improveflexibility.net, and I realized I never did things properly.  I would bounce during my stretches, trying to use forward momentum to get a little closer, I would hold my breath, and I wouldn't hold a stretch for a long enough time.  So, as of this project, I:

• Hold a stretch for about 30 seconds
• Remember to breathe
• Hold steady instead of bouncing forward/backward

  I am not warming up enough before my earlier stretching in the late afternoon, but I do my later stretches after my exercise bike workout, which does seem to give me a little better results.  I touched my toes for two  full breaths in a standing position tonight, and hit 70 inches for the distance between my feet in an attempt to do the splits.

  I don't really know about the splits now.  I don't think I'm getting any closer to the ground.  That said, while it might be outside the range of my body's ability, the whole stretching routine is becoming a welcome addition to my otherwise lazy evening.  I think this project's a keeper.

-Mike