I lost flexibility! Now what?

So you've been working hard at getting crazy flexy when life happens. Suddenly there is no time for stretching, or you have health issues, or just plain old fall off the wagon. Lost splits, back flexibility--it happens. But now what?

 It's time to find motivation again. 

 For some people, this might mean watching videos of your favorite muses or searching flexy pictures. Maybe you just need to listen to the right music, like the songs your favorite flexible dancers perform to. For me it is most helpful to combine those ideas with scheduling time to stretch. Just do it. Stretching for the sake of repeating tried-and-true stretches and for that happy, good stretching pain.

Don't look back.

The splits I could get before,
without a proper warmup.
Taken in chat (hence mess + blurriness)

This is horrible for me since I have a couple fuzzy pictures of myself in my front
right splits to torture myself over. Yup, back up to three inches from the floor and hating it. If you have to cover a mirror in your stretching space or stretch with friends for a distraction than so be it. Beating yourself up over some lost flexibility is a great way to discourage yourself and lose even more.

Start slow. You won't regain what you lost over time in a few days so do a little bit. Remind yourself you are just stretching to stretch, not to slide into the same positions you could before. Maybe do a few stretches each day on two or three days a week. Don't rush it, flexibility comes slower if you overdo it and it backfires if you injure your muscles. As you get back into stretching your body will remember your old routine and you will find you can slip back into it.

Find your support system. For me, this is a combination of ladies I stretch with right here at Flexines every week, StudioVeena, and my pole friends on Facebook. These are the people that understand when I am !ZOMG-so-exited-I'm-another-inch-down! They know how much work goes into a back bend shot and get that a picture of the splits sometimes includes a messy backdrop and almost always a sweaty, messy me. In short, find the people that understand your flexibility journey. Need a place to start? Contact us.

Got any tips I missed? Have you been here too? Feel free to comment below :)