Stretch

First things first - we didn't get any trick-or-treaters last night.  I was a little disappointed but not really surprised, and - glass half full - was able to console myself with a huge bowl of fun-sized Reese's pumpkins.

On a completely different topic, I don't remember where I found it, but here's an interesting video series geared toward runners showing ways to self-massage and stretch to promote recovery and eliminate the tightness that can turn into injury.  The guy in the videos sounds like foam roller dungeon-master who is 3 cups of espresso past the legal limit, but he seems to know what he's talking about.  I played around with doing some of the exercises last night, and they were that perfect combination of hurts so bad/so good.  Here's one about working out tightness in your calves and Achilles tendon.



Because I sit at a desk and type/use a mouse for way more hours of the day than I do anything physical, I actually have a lot more tightness in my upper back and shoulders than I do in my legs right now.  Curious to see what he had to say about upper body mobility, I went searching for shoulder exercise videos, and found this one:


Although it's geared toward weightlifting-type people, all the problems he's talking about are exactly what I call "computer shoulder" and are responsible for all of my illicit* Advil consumption.  We have a foam roller and a couple tennis balls at home, and I'm curious to try out some of the moves when I'm at home this evening.  One thing I miss about doing yoga more often is how much better my neck and shoulders felt when I was doing regular upper back and shoulder stretches.

Do you stretch?  Foam roll?  Often?  Love it?  Hate it?

*Advil is on the "no-no" list when you're pregnant, but I think it works waaaayyyy better than Tylenol for computer shoulder.