1. Remind yourself of the benefits

Stretching and mobility work is SO important, no matter what type of exercise you’re doing. Whether it’s pilates, running or lifting, stretching can improve our range of motion for any activity.

Stretching lengthens the targeted muscles, increasing blood flow to the region, allowing them to become more flexible, strong, and healthy. Flexibility looks different on everyone, but stretching across the board allows us to maintain the range of motion in our joints, not only to benefit our workouts, but to improve our functionality in day-to-day life.

It can also help with delayed onset muscle soreness AKA DOMs. I find I notice a difference in my recovery time if I’ve taken that little bit of extra time to have a stretch. It helps me look forward to my next workout, knowing I won’t be too sore to do the movement I love!

2. It’s me time!

5-10 minutes just for myself. How awesome does that sound? If I flip my mindset and make stretching something I GET to do, rather than HAVE to do, I find I look forward to it more! Thinking of it as time just for me helps me feel like I’m putting some mindful movement into my day and I feel so good knowing I’m doing something my body will thank me for.

3. Make time for it within my exercise routine

Something that’s been helping prioritise stretching, is actually making time for it within my workout routine! I’ve been guilty of blocking out only the time I need for the workout itself, so I inevitably run out of time to have a juicy cool down flow. To help, I’ve been adding in that extra 10 minutes to my calendar to make sure I know I have enough time for warming up, doing my Lift session and then cooling down. It sounds simple, but having that extra time blocked out makes it so much easier to make stretching a part of my routine.