Ready for this?

You’ve been hanging tough so far.

Lets see if we can stretch your perspective and challenge your awareness a bit further.

In an earlier post I told you that I find it interesting to watch people move about their day in the world.  It’s fascinating to witness the compensations being made because of physical or psychological boundaries.

I hate to break this up and divide the conversation into gender specific boundaries and compensations, but if you’ll bare with me for a moment I’ll explain how nature and nurture effects us differently.  Then maybe I can bring things back around again and speak more generally.

Because of the amount of time we sit, (have you noticed how many times I refer back to how much we sit?) both genders are experiencing difficulties and struggles with loss of flexibility and mobility.

For men, flexibility of the hips seems to be challenged slightly more than women.  For this reason and because males tend to lift heavier loads with less flexibility throughout the hip region, we see more back pain and injuries in men versus women.

The male of the species tends to carry more muscle mass as well which may challenge flexibility.

Regardless, if you are male….STRETCH!

No, it’s not a waste of time.

Yes, I realize it’s uncomfortable and even slightly painful.

Does that tell you anything?

No one’s ever told you it’s cool to stretch?

Bare with me for a moment while I point something out.

Yes, you have to keep reading.

Have you noticed how muscular male sprinters and gymnasts are?

They stretch…

A LOT!

If they didn’t stretch, you know what would happen?

They wouldn’t be competitive athletes for long.

They’d be injured and rehabbing…constantly.

What you may or may not know is serious professional and Olympic athletes spend a large amount of time stretching or being stretched.

It’s part of the regeneration process, the recovery process, the preparation process and the process at which one strives to increase their physical abilities…including strength, stamina, speed and size.

The nature aspect of the male’s ability to recover from or prevent knee pain as it pertains to flexibility, seems to hinge on the physiological make up of the male hip joint/pelvic structure and possibly even muscle fiber type and amount (muscle mass).

Conversely, nurturing and guidance must be present to provoke and rationalize the necessity of stretching.

In essence, if it doesn’t appeal to the masculine or animus of the beholder, it will likely be avoided.

So how do we appeal to the male psyche?

Provide it with a set of rational reasons to make flexibility training seem necessary (which it absolutely is).

Here’s the rationale:

Stretching is cool.

Why?

Because it gives you the ability to increase muscle size and strength.  Want to pack on more muscle, then you better get to stretching.

And not just a little here and there.

You must be as serious about it as you are your bench press.

If the physique of the male athlete is what you’re after for yourself, then you must train the body in such a way that elicits those characteristics.

If professional and Olympic athletes stretch regularly, why aren’t you?

Got knee pain?

Got testosterone?

STRETCH!

As the pendulum swings toward the feminine, we begin to take on differing physiological and psychological boundaries.

Back to the hip structure for the feminine of the species, we notice females are wider at the hips for obvious biological reasons.

The width of the hips along with the muscle structure of the upper leg and the bone structure of the feet determine where and why a female may develop knee pain.

There are other factors that contribute to female knee joint pain as well. A weak core and poor posture being among the greatest of these factors.

ACL injuries are much more common in women athletes than in men.

Width of the hips, weak, untrained core musculature, hormone fluctuations and an imbalance of the muscles that surround the knee joint from the hip to the knee all seem to contribute to the increase in knee pain and knee injuries in female athletes.

For the non-athletic female, being over weight, general overall musculature weakness and a lack of body awareness are the largest contributing factors to the knee pain epidemic.

Those are the feminine factors derived from nature.

Now, hold on to your bee bonnets for the nurture portion that comes next.

I am still from the generation that was reminded as a female the proper way to sit is with knees together.

Never made much sense to me since it was uncomfortable and didn’t seem like a stable platform to operate from.

But, such is the case.

Even runway models stride with a narrow, sort of cross in front stepping action.

So if during the nurturing process you were told as a means of self protection and proper morals to keep your knees together, don’t you think it would eventually become unconsciously second nature?

Nature and nurture in the same sentence…

Huh…go figure.

So a combination of the nature (wide hips which creates a harsh angle at the knee joint) and the nurture (a proper lady sits with her knees together) poses a significant problem for the female knee.

Still with me?

So what’s the take away?

STRETCH!
then…
GET STRONG!

Essentially, stretching is cool and morals don’t count when it comes to exercising, working out and moving your body.

Everybody needs to stretch.
Everybody needs to move their body.
Everybody needs to live in their body.

Pay close attention to what your body is asking for.

If you feel weakness…get strong.
If you feel tightness…get more flexible.
If you don’t know…pay attention.

Did I succeed in bringing it back together after the gender separation?

OK…it’s your turn.

I know I said something to stir up a comment or question.

Ask or do tell in the comments section below.

I gotta go…building a fire to relax by.

Talk to you in the comments section.

In the meantime…

Get strong and stay strong (and flexible),

Rochelle Gravance