Page 94 - Demo

94 || FITNESS MAGAZINE || JANUARY 2016 CAN YOU REALLY GAIN FLEXIBILITY AFTER 40? I often wondered that due to my past workout history of heavy strength training for so many years. As you age, your muscles lose strength and elasticity. You know that phrase, %u201cIf you don%u2019t use it, you will lose it?%u201d If you don%u2019t stretch regularly and properly, you will lose your flexibility fast. But with regular maintenance, you will regain some back. I wanted to share my personal journey with you and inspire you to get your stretch on. Besides my regular strength training and cardio sessions, I did my dynamic stretches before my workout and static stretches after my workouts for years. I thought that would count as flexibility and help my body feel balanced. Twelve years later I was feeling really imbalanced. My back and my neck hurt. I knew my body was off. As a fitness trainer, I know the body needs strength, cardio, and flexibility to be balanced. If not, we get muscle imbalances. I have changed up my strength training and cardio workouts over the years, but never my stretching routine. Not sure why? Well, yes, I do. I will admit it; I am not a fan of stretching. I love all types of fitness, why can%u2019t I love stretching? It seems so boring and slow. I guess I needed to embrace patience of a slow stretch pose. The bi-monthly massages and weekly chiropractic sessions were still not cutting it either. I knew that my body needed a deeper stretch and I was really feeling imbalanced. So I decided to try yoga one day because my body was so tight after many years of bikini bodybuilding for fitness competitions. I was NOT a fan of my first yoga class. I was trained mentally for so many years to have aggressive workout sessions that I felt that yoga wasn%u2019t doing