july 28 and 29, 2011 - DAYS SEVEN AND EIGHT

So last night, the 28th, I REEEEALLY didn't want to stretch. I was in the middle of a painting and I just really wanted to finish the painting instead of stretch- but I MADE myself stretch cause I want my splits so bad! And I'm REALLY glad I did because it was an awesome stretching day! I held my toes for TWENTY seconds! Not 10 but 20! So not only did I beat my goal a day early, I doubled it!!

It might not seem like much but I am so happy!! Also, I have a lesson later today (the 29th) and I'm leaving for the rink in a couple hours, so I went ahead and stretched this morning. I know I'm gonna stretch again before my lesson and probably again tonight, so that'll be productive :)

I held my toes for 20 seconds again this morning, just because I wanted to have the finality of doing it on the day the goal was supposed to be reached, haha :) Now, my next goal is:

on august 12, 2011, two weeks from today, i will be able to reach and touch my toes, when sitting, and hold for at least 10 seconds.

Wish me luck!!

My Stretching Routine!

This has it's own separate tab, but I decided to put it in a post as well since I just added it. These are the stretches I do on a daily basis :) 

WARMUP: I usually jog for around 5 minutes, then do 40 jumping jacks, 30 high knees, and 20 high skips... wierd routine haha but it works for me :) In between each of those sets, I try to go as far as I can to touch my toes. 

Then I do each of these, for 30 seconds each, usually only 2 reps. I do them in this order but it might not really matter:

Toes my toes! I do a lot of reps of this in between the other stretches.

I also do this one, holding 30 seconds to the right, left, and middle.

Butterfly stretch!

I usually do my standing touch-toes again before the sitting stretches.

I sit in a straddle position and hold each toe for 30 seconds.

Sit in a straddle and reach for the middle, hold for 30 seconds

Sit with legs together and reach for toes- OWWW!

Not sure what this is called, but I call it the Caterpillar! It's for back flexibility.

This was shared with me by someone on skating forums- it's also for back flexibility. :)

Lunges- in both directions to stretch hip flexors :)

Jazz splits- although I do these with my hips squared, so the front of my back thigh is touching the ground. I think this stretches hip flexors and back.

And then, of course, the splits!! I obviously can't get this far, but I go down as far as I can and hold it.

And that's all the stretches I do every night!! I hope some of y'all found this helpful... I'll be putting it in a post as well as a tab :)

july 27, 2011 - DAY SIX

Last night was an average stretching day. I stretched for about 25 minutes and am confident that I'll be able to reach my goal tomorrow :) I didn't stretch my splits at all last night, but instead focused on my back flexibility, as well as simply reaching my toes! since that is, after all, my goal! The only thing I'm not sure of as of yet is how, once I can easily reach my toes, I should progress to being able to touch my nose to my knees- since that is another eventual goal. I guess I might stand on some books or something and just practice reaching further down? I'm not sure xD


Also, I'm adding another tab to the top of this blog, where I'll list all the stretches I do everyday :) I'm so blown away that people are actually reading this! It's quite motivating :)

july 25 and 26 - DAYS FOUR AND FIVE

Last night, (the 25) was NOT a good stretching day. I stretched for a good five minutes less than usual, just because I wasn't feeling it. It hurt really bad, I kept getting distracted, and I was super tired. So I just stretched for like 15 minutes and then went to bed.


Today (the 26), I had my first lesson with a new coach, and I LOVE her by the way! But I stretched before my lesson and it was a great session! My off-ice spirals were actually noticeably higher! I'm still gonna stretch again tonight, but that just really felt good to have a good warmup followed by a good lesson. It really raised my spirits  after the crappy session last night. As for the lesson, I know this is a stretching blog... so maybe I should just stick to writing about stretching? But idk, I wanna write about this lesson :) We went back to the basics and worked over stroking, crossovers, edges, etc. It  was just great! It's been awhile since I worked on those things and I'm glad to have had them corrected from a new perspective. I have another lesson Friday :) AND, Friday is also the 29th, which means the day my first goal is supposed to be met! Moment of truth :)

july 24, 2011 - DAY THREE

Last night, I stretched for longer than normal - like a little over 30 minutes :) I'm actually not even feeling that sore! And I managed to grab my toes when sitting and hold on for like 5 seconds. Which seems like nothing to all the human pretzels out there, but to me that is quite an accomplishment! I'm really excited about that :) I really need to work on keeping my hips square when I try my splits, though. I go down so much further if I let them twist, but I really want to learn this the right way :/ Which of course makes it harder on me! Haha oh well :) I really think I'm gonna meet my first and second goals, so that's super exciting for me. I haven't measured my splits yet to see how far I am from goal #3, but I'll do that tonight! :)


On a skating-related note, I have my first trial lesson with a new coach tomorrow. I'm super nervous. But I think I'll like her :) I hope so. It's also gonna be my first freestyle session, which I'm SUPER DUPER nervous about since I feel like I'm not really good enough to be on one. But oh well, wish me luck! :)

july 23, 2011 - DAY TWO

So I've decided that instead of updating this right after my last stretching session of the day, I'll wait until the next morning :) This is because last night I finished stretching at about midnight and was too lazy to post this :) That is why the title date will differ from the post date- but the title date will be the actual date that I stretched, if that makes sense. Anyway :)


I did not notice any drastic improvement while I was stretching, although that is to be expected considering it's only day two :) I am, however, looking for some more back flexibility excercises. This is the only one I do right now:

And I feel that this isn't doing enough for my back. Anywho, I held my toes for ten seconds again! It was basically excruciating but I just kept thinking "SPLITS, SPLITS, SPLITS" to myself. This is going to be a difficult journey, I can tell already!

july 22, 2011- DAY ONE

NOTE: i know this first entry is very very long because i was listing my goals and such. but they won't all be like this :) bear with me!


today, i am officially starting a flexibility journal. this journal is going to be a record of my flexibility progress, every day, starting today. as of this moment, i cannot even touch my toes when i'm sitting on the ground with my legs straight in front of me, or when i'm standing and reaching with locked knees. however, my overall goal is to get at least one of my side splits (right or left) by december 1, 2011. in between now and getting SPLITS (YAY!), i have some smaller short-term goals. these goals are:

• on july 29, 2011, one week from today, i will be able to reach and touch my toes, when standing, and hold for at least 10 seconds.

• on august 12, 2011, three weeks from today, i will be able to reach and touch my toes, when sitting, and hold for at least 10 seconds.

• on august 22, 2011, one month from today, i will be within 12 inches of my splits.

• on september 22, 2011, two months from today, i will be no further than 9 inches from my splits.

• on october 22, 2011, three months from today, i will be 6 inches or closer to achieving my splits.

• on november 11, 2011, my 18th birthday, i will be able to touch my nose to my knees when touching my toes. :)

• on december 1, 2011,  i will have at least one of my splits.

i set these goals for several reasons. the two most important of these reasons are: i am a figure skater, and i desperately want the wide range of flexibility that will allow me to perform beautiful spirals, perfect split jumps, and eventually, that ever elusive biellmann position. other reasons include my decision to take a gymnastics class next year in school, as well as a simple desire for the freedom of motion that flexibility will allow me. after today, i will write in this journal immediately after my final stretching session of the day, and record my progress, as well as any other notes i may have on stretching! :) 


so, to get started: today was my first real day of stretching and i've already made a breakthrough! i touched my toes! granted, it was only with my very fingertips and it hurt like hell, but i DID hold it once for ten seconds and i wasn't expecting that for another two weeks! yesterday i didn't really get to stretch because it got suuuper late, so i only got about 15 minutes of stretching done and didn't make much progress. today, i've stretched twice and i plan on getting in a 3rd, shorter session before bed :] i stretched for about an HOUR [yes you read that right!] while re-reading the half blood prince! i just did my normal stretching routine and then just sat and stretched straddle stretches while i was reading, and then after a few hours i stretched again with my sister. well i stretched while she did ab exercises [her goal for the next 5 months is to tone her tummy while mine is to get my splits lol]. and during the second stretching session i ACTUALLY reached my toes! it was exciting! like i said, it hurt like hell and it was only with my fingertips haha. but hopefully by the end of this week it will hurt less. but either way, my first goal is definitely getting met :] as for my goal of touching my toes when sitting…. paahahahahahahahaha. that one's gonna be more difficult. i can touch each toe separately when i'm sitting in a straddle position, but when i'm sitting with my legs together just reaching straight forward… i can hold it for about half a second!! as for my splits… i feel like i'm going down SO FAR, but when i took progress photos, i'm sooo far off the ground :( i have a long way to go… but i'm committed!!! wish me luck!! PS. i'm gonna be posting progress photos, but i can't decide how often to update them. each week? month? 


if you have any ideas about how often i should post update pictures, comment and tell me :) my first ones are in the "photo" tab :)