Today while I stretched my glutes, I sipped coffee and tried to choose paint colours.

When I get home from rowing, caffeine is my top priority followed by around 15 minutes of stretching.

The incredible shrinking hamstrings

I focus on 3 stretches for my ‘squeaky wheel’ muscles:

• hamstrings
• glutes
• calves

My hamstrings magically shrink overnight so I’ve come to accept that I need to stretch them every day if possible.

I’ve read that to warm up your muscles, you need to stretch them for 2 minutes but to lengthen the muscles, you need to stretch them for 4 minutes.

I try to multitask to make the most of my stretch session. 4 minutes seems so loooooong.

I might review my session on my stroke coach, do a bit of social media, check emails, drink coffee, eat porridge. Not all at the same time though!

Free speed

If I can get more reach and, therefore, more speed through being more flexible, then I’ll take it, thanks very much.

More speed without having to work harder is a gift! I love to get the most out of a stroke for the least amount of effort. Yep, I am inherently lazy, or let’s say ‘efficient’.

Stretching program for masters rowers

Here’s a complete stretching program suitable for masters rowers, compliments of Decent Rowing:

I prefer the pigeon-toe pose below for stretching my glutes and it’s also a great hip stretch:

I’m not great at getting my front leg horizontal but the more I do it the better I get.