Rhythmic Gymnasts Unite!!

stay-strong-in-life asked: First off, I love your blog! :) I'm not a rhythmic gymnast myself but have always admired it and those who are able to do it! I was wondering if you could possibly give me tips on how I can improve my flexibility? I really need to get better but I've run out of idea! if you could help, that would be great! :)

Sure! First off, try to stretch TWICE a day. Once when you wake up, and once before you sleep. If you can’t do both, try to aim to do it at night. The reason for this is, your body is quite stiff when you wake up, so if you want to best see how your flexibility is progressing, test it at the same time everyday. At first it may seem like you’re not making progress, but it happens gradually, and if you really want to see the change, take a photo every few days.

Start with a routine something like this (increase or decrease as you like, this is just a baseline).

- Warm up - jump around, dance around your room to music, run a few laps of your house, WHATEVER. I like to take a shower, and then warm up, because it warms up your muscles.

- Start stretching. You can look up good flexibility stretches on Youtube, and you can make them specific (targeting a certain type of flexibility) or overall flexibility.

- Hold each stretch for 15 - 30 seconds. Try playing music and counting to that, as sitting this can be quite boring! Do bridges, butterfly stretches, splits, middle splits, whatever you want! If you do ANY type of sport, try to mimic the stretches you do before that lesson. 

- NOW, let’s say you want your splits to be better, but this can be used for anything. After stretching all your muscles and increasing your general flexibility, target your *insert here*. In this case, splits, so hold your splits on each side for an extra 20 seconds, do some nice, easier stretches, and then repeat. Stop after this - don’t overwork your muscles.

If you feel any sharp or sudden pains, stop! This means you’ve worked too hard and may have injured something. Start slow, and then slowly increase times/amount.

I know this is long, but I hope it helps!!!