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At approximately 8:30 in the morning, sometime in mid-November, I woke up with the most severe case of a cramp, maybe of all time.
This was the kind of hamstring cramp where I knew I wasn’t seriously injured, but every single task I had that week became impossible because of my hobbling. This thing was seriously sore for a week. 7 days. Half of a fortnight.
I have no idea how it happened, but it led me to make one of the single greatest lifestyle changes I’ve ever made; I started stretching daily, right after I woke up.
The mysterious cause of the cramp topped my Google searches for that week, with my speculating that it could have been anything from too much walking, to a lack of electrolytes.
Whatever the cause was, I knew that if I wanted to prevent it from happening again, some changes in my routine would need to be made, starting with my mobility.
I’ve stretched pretty consistently since childhood since I grew up doing gymnastics and am now a collegiate cheerleader, specifically a flyer, so my leg is often pulled pretty close to my face.
The intriguing thing about this, however, is that despite my flexibility, I still fell victim to that abominable cramp. This completely debunked my theory that stretching when I remembered was enough to keep my body healthy and mobile.
As the New Year was fast approaching, I decided that this situation would make for a great resolution plan. It was decided—I would start to stretch every morning, no matter what, for all of December to see if I could continue my habit into the New Year.
I can feel the comments through my computer already: “Ally, a New Year’s resolution starts in the New Year, as in Jan 1st, not the beginning of December.” “Ally, people don’t test run their resolutions before they officially start them; that’s weird.”
Well, do you know what else is unusual and weird? Getting a hamstring cramp so painful putting on leggings took you ten minutes, a water break, and a brief scroll on TikTok to complete. So, let me continue.
Many of us, including myself, tend to create these huge, ambitious resolutions, only to stop them entirely about two weeks after January 1st. That is why the Rec Center will be packed until Jan 14th, when there will be an extremely steep and immediate decline in attendees. You can quote me on that.
It’s not that we don’t genuinely intend to commit to working out every day and setting a new personal record on every machine weekly, but it’s the mental burnout that comes from the all-or-nothing mindset that leads us to failure.
Going from working out a few times a week at most to attempting to go every day for double the time and triple the intensity is a recipe for failure.
It is much easier to achieve your goals when they are sustainable. For me, this meant I would not start my first week of morning stretching by proclaiming that I would stretch for an hour, using everything from a THERA band to my roommate to stretch every muscle I have to the max.
I started with two minutes of stretching. Yes, two. I had a simple routine. I would get out of bed, do a forward lunge on one side for 15 seconds, straighten my leg to stretch my hamstring for 15 seconds (crucial for the routine), and then switch to the other side and do both exercises for the same time.
Then, I stretched my arm across my body for 15 seconds on each side, and did some neck and ankle rolls for 30 seconds. Boom, done. Two minutes flat. And that was the beginning.
I did that little routine for about a week and then decided to start upping my game. I implemented wrist stretches, lower back stretches (try a seal stretch right now if you are able, you’ll thank me later), and even a downward dog.
I started going to sleep looking forward to my morning stretches and the satisfying back and neck cracks they would elicit. I credit part of the success of this resolution, to the fact that I started small. I credit the rest to the glorious benefits of stretching, and the way they allowed my day to begin on a relaxed note.
If you get anything out of this article, let it be this: stretch more. Maybe one minute more than you do now. Maybe even one minute more each day. I’m not a doctor, so do not take anything I say here as a medical recommendation, but I do know that I have felt better, and completely avoided any more mysterious cramps since stretching consistently.
Whatever your resolutions are this year, I believe in you, and if possible, try to squeeze a few downward dogs somewhere in your days. May we all enter this year as flexible as ever.