The common phrase “use it or lose it” is one of those principles that applies to all movement.
Flexibility is definitely one area we can look at it.
I’ve been known for my bridging skills over the years.
Whether this was supporting half a ton on top of my wrestler’s bridge, or doing stand-to-stand and kickovers in the gymnastic bridge, I’ve certainly done a few things outside of “normal” in this realm.
But until I restarted up on 7 Minute Flexibility, I hadn’t done any bridging lately.
…and it showed!
I couldn’t even touch my nose to the mat in the wrestler’s bridge without lots of strain.
I couldn’t quite lock out my elbows in the hand bridge either.
My flexibility had back slid!
But there is a not-so-well-known part of “use it or lose it” that applies here.
We might term this “re-use it and regain it faster.”
Anytime you’re pursuing new boundaries of what you’ve done before, it’s forging all new ground.
But if you’ve done something before, to get back to that, even if it was years and years ago, tends to be easier. It’s as if the muscle memory is still there, even if buried in dis-use.
This progress always tends to be made more quickly.
Now, fast may be relative. It still might not be as quick as you’d like, but it will be faster than if that previous experience wasn’t there.
So after two weeks my nose is easily touching and my elbows are locked out strong. And all it took was seven minutes per day.
How much will I regain in the continued daily training before the end of the year? Will I get to some all-new ground before then? We shall see.
(I’m especially curious to see if with just seven minutes I regain my full front splits. When I did that before it always took significantly more training time and focus.)
If you’d like to join me in the 7 Minute Flexibility challenge than grab the program here and use the coupon code CHALLENGE to save $20 when checking out.