If You're Not Stretching, You're Not Trying

The headline for today’s blog can be literal or figurative. When I first started using a Vasa swim trainer, I could barely pull myself along the body-weight-bearing pulley system. It hurt using the device because I hadn’t used those muscles in my swim stroke to that extent.

The physical discomfort was real from stretching my upper lats near my armpits, along with the realization that I hadn’t been performing to my potential all this time.

Recently, I started working with a new athlete and experienced the same feeling — that sense of unease that comes with “new.”

Then it occurred to me how important it is to be uncomfortable. To stretch ourselves not just in training, but in our lives.

It’s vital to seek out our own flaws, or ways we can stretch, to become comfortable being uncomfortable.

If we’re not stretching and feeling that palpable sense of unease, are we really trying our best to be our best?