Isn’t That Interesting

In 2007 I was helping an athlete who plays Australian Football (AFL) with a shoulder injury, I asked how much stretching they do at team training. He said “about 30sec for each lower body muscle group and a warm up”.

His value of having appropriate tissue length and tension has gone up considerably with the work we’ve been doing on his shoulder. So I showed him a quick 20min pre-training stretch to do prior to training and playing. After just one session, he reported noticing a difference in his legs and ran more freely.

Isn’t that interesting.

In 2009 I caught up with a former client who played Rugby League in a team I used to train. He told me they’ve had 7 hamstring tears within 4 weeks of a competition season that spans 22 weeks. He said “we do no stretching anymore!”.

Isn’t that interesting.

In 2010 I was talking to a wrestler and we briefly discussed injuries from his competitive career and the more recent wear and tear from his regular training.

I asked him if he stretched, to which he said “No. But funny you say that. My hamstrings and back get tight and I’ve got to push in here (pushing his thumb into his hip flexors) to make them feel better”.

Isn’t that interesting.

In 2015 I was asked to help a young athlete who had so much inflammation in both knees’ he couldn’t bend them for the first 15mins upon waking up everyday. Forget training and competing…

We had a consultation the week before he left for a 2-month training and competition tour to the United Kingdom. I learnt he did no stretching before training or competing.

We added pre-training stretching and daily rehab stretching into his program. Within 2 weeks, he was back training. Within 3 weeks was training pain free in a full time environment. He achieved his highest place in a world tour tournament at the conclusion of that training camp. Before flying out, he was worried about just getting through the camp.

Isn’t that interesting.

In 2020 a retired gymnast as me to help her. She had back pain upon standing, trouble bending forward, Tight Sock Syndrome and frequent pins and needles down one leg.

I started partner stretching her twice weekly before knocking it back to once a week and some soft tissue work occasionally. She soon stopped complained about those things. She’s kept up the weekly partner stretching and two years on is still free of them.

Isn’t that interesting.

To quote Jim Rohn:

“You must constantly ask yourself these questions:

Who am I around?

What are they doing to me?

What have they got me reading?

What have they got me saying?

Where do they have me going?

What do they have me thinking?

And most important, what do they have me becoming?

Then ask yourself the big question:

Is that okay?”