Flexibility Self Change Project Results
Before the program my daily exercise patterns contained little to no regular flexibility training. During the program I sustained four weeks of regular flexibility exercise excluding two missed days (see Figure 1 for a graph of the sessions). At the outset of the program I anticipated that more specialized settings for flexibility training such as the gym and yoga class would be the most influential factors. Over four weeks I only used the gym on one occasion and attended yoga class twice. In contrast, shorter workplace stretches and home workouts were far more numerous at 13 and 15 occasions respectively (see Table 1 for a complete record of the sessions).
The workouts were identified and recorded by location including: office, home, gym, or yoga. In practice those distinctions proved excessive as workouts were really were of three varieties: (a) 10 minutes of stretching that could be done anywhere without breaking a sweat (b) 30 minutes of more intentional stretching related exercise that included changing into looser fitting clothing and the use of a yoga mat or (c) 60 minutes of yoga class with basic yoga equipment and an instructor (see Table 1).
The first week total minutes aligned with the time investment I anticipated at three-four hours per week entering into the self-change project. Part of the time spent during the first week was wasted, as I had to keep referring to diagrams and lists of stretches that I hadn’t yet memorized. After the gym session on Tuesday of week one, I went for a short 25km ride on the bike and reported “feeling really good, with legs surprisingly loose and strong. I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t connected to the past two days of stretching”. I went into the first yoga class inspired by the first few days of success but was surprised by pain in my left wrist. I noted in the log “I might need to come up with an additional coping strategy if the pain persists next week.” I missed a Saturday session due to family commitments.
The second week saw a slight decrease in total duration but was marked by daily stretch exercise. This week involved four evenly distributed home stretch sessions, three office sessions, and the weekly yoga class. In the workout journal, following a 20-minute brief home session I commented, “This week has felt balanced. I have enjoyed each session and none of them has felt like a burden. I intentionally cut today’s home session short to remind myself that I am in control of the time. That control is important to me”. Suggestions from my yoga instructor and from a reply posted to my blog helped me manage my wrist pain more effectively.
The third week was the most difficult. I was traveling so no stretch program occurred on Monday. I did regain a few minutes of free time the following morning before breakfast. In the training log Tuesday March 2nd I recorded, “Phew, yesterday I didn’t have a moment of free time and was worried today would be the same. Fortunately breakfast isn’t until 8:30am. I should be able to manage 15-20 minutes for stretching each morning if I use my study breaks for the course well”.
Week four was characterized by a backlog of work because I had been away for four days the previous week. One of the coping strategies I had set-up was “do something, no matter how small, and it will be better than nothing”. I retreated to this strategy for four days in a row doing portions of the office stretch series as breaks. The qualitative reflection during this period was brief with sometimes only a word or two, “relief” appeared in the training log during that period as the stretching had become one of just a few study/work break options.
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