STRETCH: Are you stretching your strong back?

"Do you work out?" the massage therapist asked me yesterday as she massaged my back.

"Yes, I do," I replied.

"Your back is strong; you have the strongest, most relaxed back I've seen here in a long time," she said as she tapped on the massage table.

Well, that description of my back made my day! :-) Strong AND RELAXED!

Sounds like my at-home Beachbody® workouts combined with the Zoehygiea "Stretch & Relax" classes I teach are blending well. Glad the therapist saw both sides of the equation regarding my back, because there are many cases of 'strong and tight' backs -- as in not stretched out after working out.

You are not getting the "full meal" if you're only doing cardio and weights and leaving out the stretching component, says Tony Horton, creator of the various P90X™ workouts. And, I do love his obvious understanding of the IMPORTANCE of stretching that is evident in the version I have: P90X3™.

While a 10-minute stretch at the end of a cardio or weight-training session is far better than nothing at all, to me, there's nothing quite like a dedicated class that focuses on relaxing the muscles and stretching the fascia, etc. The combination of 'Stretching AND Relaxing' just puts any workout into good balance for me. Really grateful that this piece of the puzzle resonates with me the way it does.

So, don't forget to S-T-R-E-T-C-H, because isn't a strong muscle that can't stretch pretty much a muscle that's only half cooked, half juiced, half blended (or whatever way you want to term it)? :-)