Welcome back to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays where we are talking about one exercise topic for two minutes and giving you three reasons why you should follow our advice. Now this week, we are talking to those of you who are chronically tight, who are chronically achy, and who spend a lot of time stretching and getting massage. What considerations do you need to take to maybe help address this tightness or achiness in a way that you may not be familiar with?
1) Try To Not Stretch
Tip Number One if You Are Chronically Tight – Try to not stretch your muscles. Try to not go get your massages. Sometimes when you get in a rhythm of stretching all the time and massaging all the time, you can get into a cycle of continuously flaring up the issue you are experiencing. So, do an experiment with yourself. Let’s try not stretching and see how that affects your symptoms.
Action Step: We know, we know. We hear it from our clients all the time, but they are always shocked at how well this works. Consistently, without fail, the clients of ours who stop stretching the soonest start to feel their body relax the fastest, so if you are finding that your muscles feel chronically tight, consider not stretching for a week and see what happens. If nothing changes, then maybe the stretching wasn’t doing anything in the first place.
Related: Achy joints and muscles? Here are 3 exercise tips.
2) Add In Strategic Resistance Training
Tip Number Two if You Are Chronically Tight – Add in very strategic, internally focused resistance training. Doing resistance training can help get your focus on squeezing specific muscles that might be a little bit underactive and causing other muscles to become overactive. So, find a personal trainer or a Resistance Training Specialist that can strategically design exercise for your body.
Action Step: Click here to find a list of all the mastery level RTS specialists in the world and see where one may be in your area!
Related: Resistance Training – 3 Life Benefits From Doing It Consistently
3) Find An MAT® Specialist
Tip Number Three if You Are Chronically Tight – Find an MAT® specialist in your area. One of the telltale signs that you have underactive muscles is if you have overactive or tight muscles. Often times, we can spend so much energy trying to get overactive muscles to relax by stretching them and massaging them and doing other modalities, that we forget that a lot of times the cause of the tight overactive muscles can often be the underused and weak muscles. MAT® is designed to find those weak muscles and get them back up to speed.
Action Step: Find a certified MAT® specialist in your area here!
