FINAL DAY of The July Challenge: Flexibility Challenge & Performance (31/07/22)
Reflections, lessons & announcing my August Challenge.
My report for Sunday 31st July 2022 - the final day of my July flexibility challenge.
This report structure will be a little bit different. I’ll start with my reflections & learnings from this challenge in the form of:
My lessons & reflections from carrying out this challenge,
My improvement points if I were to replicate the challenge,
My practical actions I’m taking into the future even after this challenge has finished.
I’ll then talk about my August challenge, and finish with my ‘experience’ of the day (as I do in all posts).
July Challenge Reflections:
My intention was to stretch daily, with the intention of progressing in two key movements:
The Splits
The Single-Leg ‘Pistol’ Squat
The daily component of this challenge was achieved (wooh!), but ideally would have done it multiple times a day to expedite progress.
I made progress in the splits, but not to the extent where I can do them fully. But that’s alright - still a win in terms of the progress made.
I also managed to do my first single-leg squat, holding a weight in front of me to make up for my lack of ankle flexibility. Some progress still needed to do it without the weight, but I’ll get there!
Overall, a big win!
So, let me summarise 6 lessons from this challenge:
Everyone talks about stretching being so beneficial. Spoiler alert: it is.
Muscle soreness significantly reduced from the past, when I wasn’t stretching as frequently or for a prolonged period.
Fewer small injuries/niggles than in other months - I’m pretty sure stretching contributed to this.
However, overstretching is something to be very careful of.
Pushing too far too fast is a recipe for injury.
After day 3, my adductors were sore to the point where I thought I’d pulled a muscle, so made a good decision to tone things down.
Stretching teaches a powerful mindset around ‘breathing into’ discomfort.
Even a light stretch can be uncomfortable - and our instinct is to run away from discomfort, or minimise the length of time for which we have to endure it.
However, with stretching, duration matters (point 4 below).
If we resist the discomfort the stretch, it gets tougher to hold. It takes mental energy. Our breathing becomes ragged. We may even tense up in other parts of our body and cause muscles to spasm!
But if we accept the discomfort of the stretch, we can ‘breathe into’ it. We can gently notice the tension, and then release it with our exhalation. We can embrace the discomfort, rather than running away from it.
One single piece of ‘high-value information’ can transform the entire way we perceive something.
With the single-leg squats, I was struggling. My ankle flexibility was too much of a limiting factor.
Then, a coach gave me a suggestion to try it holding a 5kg weight plate in front of me. It acts as a ‘counterbalance’, and allows me to make up for my lack of flexibility.
I didn’t think it would work…but lo, and behold, it did!
The strength was always there, and all it took was a single piece of information to allow me to leverage that to complete this movement.
Whatever you’re doing, always ask yourself where you can find ‘high-value information’ to help you shift the way you perceive challenges and break through plateaus.
(Now to work on my ankle flexibility to do it without the weight…)
You don’t need to stretch to the point of intense discomfort to get flexibility benefits.
I didn’t know this at the start of this challenge, but as I did more research, it was really good to see that progress in stretching isn’t conditional on intense discomfort (light discomfort is sufficient, haha).
Cool study I referenced a few days ago showing how you want to hold stretches for at least 30 seconds in order to maximise flexibility benefits.
But the good news is that you don’t have to be more than a 3 or 4 out of 10 in terms of your perceived discomfort to get those benefits.
With stretching being a ‘focus’ for this month, I found myself stretching even in brief 2-3 minute intervals I had during the day.
Definitely something I want to carry over into my day-to-day life, especially in the case I can’t make time for a dedicated stretching slot.
What I would improve on if I were to do this challenge again in the future:
Perhaps set a specific time to do the stretching each day. My schedule was quite variable in July, hence my hesitancy to do this. But for the longer term, it would be good to piggy-back stretching onto other activities (e.g. after exercise, or in the morning after Wim-Hof breathing).
Perhaps a more realistic challenge? Doing the full splits within a month is nigh-on impossible, especially given I didn’t want to sabotage my tennis or other forms of training. Nevertheless, the value I attained from the process is far more valuable than the outcome itself.
3 Action Points from this challenge that I will take with me into the rest of 2022:
Create a dedicated time to stretch (15-20m period) at least 5 days a week. Aiming for holding each stretch for minimum 30 seconds.
Take advantage of 2-3 minute breaks between activities to stretch. Or even when watching a video on a break - may as well stretch while watching it!
Keep building that ankle mobility! While the full splits may not even be feasible in 2022, the bodyweight single-leg pistol squat is definitely possible. I’m 100% going to achieve this by the end of 2022.
Where I am now with past challenges I’ve done in 2022:
January Challenge: Eating Whole-Foods Plant Based
Still eating plant-based and feeling strong. Mostly whole-foods. Some dark chocolate and olive bread. Include protein powders in my morning oats breakfast.
Body in good shape. Haven’t measured for a month (though I should!). Hitting personal bests in quite a few lifts (40kg x 4 on Weighted Ring Pull-Ups, and 50kg x 8 on Bulgarian Barbell Split Squats). Tennis has been in great form - shoulder has almost fully recoverd.
February Challenge: Sleep Optimisation
Good the last week. Been in bed before 11:45pm, waking up before 8am.
March Challenge: Reading
Deprioritised. But I am currently reading some books around leadership. Not as huge a priority this month as the time I’d allocated to it was replaced by thinking & planning for my business.
April Challenge: Meditation
Not being doing the meditation practice from April, but have been meditating on average once every 2 days for 10 minutes. Has been closer to daily in the last two weeks as I’ve been waking up earlier.
May Challenge: Running
Still aiming to run 20km a week. Been a bit on the backburner as I’ve been prioritising tennis fixtures, but still in the 10-15km range.
June Challenge: Social Media
Exams finished, so took a pause on the TikTok posts. No need to spam the feed with academic & exam content - no one really wants to think about that in summer!
But still posting weekly on LinkedIn. Slow, steady, and consistent.
So, what’s the challenge for August?
August Challenge: ‘Curiosity Calls’ every weekday
Over the last few years, I've been so fortunate to connect with so many incredible people on platforms like LinkedIn.
But there are so many of you that I haven't had a chance to speak with yet.
There are also many old friends that I’ve been trying to catch up with for years, but haven’t got around to.
So, in August, I'm opening up my calendar to ANYONE in my network who would like to have a 30-minute call with me.
You can book in a call on this Calendly link (or message/email me directly if none of the suggested dates/times work for you)
By anyone, I mean:
Anyone who I haven't yet conversed with.
Anyone who I've exchanged a few DMs/comments with, but never a call.
Anyone I've spoken to less than a handful of times in the last 12 months (e.g. old friends or colleagues, new connections).
On these calls, we can discuss anything:
Tell me about yourself. Your journey, your ambitions, your dreams, your fears, your challenges.
Tell me about what something you're passionate about. Music, sports, cinema, AI, climate change, TikTok...whatever it may be
Mentoring/Coaching. If you'd like me to coach or mentor you on anything, the 30 minutes are all yours!
Q&A. If you have any questions about me or my background, happy to answer them too.
My one rule is: no unsolicited sales pitches from either one of us.
I can ask to learn more about your services, and you can ask to learn more about mine, but we don’t just jump into a sell.
So, why am I doing this?
First, I want to learn more about the amazing people I interact with on this platform and foster genuine relationships.
I also want to learn from you, whether in hearing about your journey, your passions, or your current projects.
Second, it’ll be a fun challenge to create time in my schedule with these calls, and report on them in my SubStack.
So, with the permission of whomever I speak to on any given day, I'll be writing about insights from these calls on my Substack.
I'm also happy to promote your website, social media, and services.
And if you prefer to stay completely anonymous, that will be 100% respected.
Finally, if it's an enjoyable experience, I want to create more slots for these 'Curiosity Calls' going forwards.
For August, if you're interested, the Calendly link is here.
At the moment, I'm offering just one time slot (11:15-11:45am BST) to ensure my client/work/personal commitments are also fulfilled, but I'm aware many can't make that.
If that's the case, just DM me with your preferred time on your chosen day, and we can be flexible!
Hope to get a chance to speak to many of you soon.
So, that’s the August challenge. Let’s see how it goes!
My Experience (Sunday 31st July 2022):
Reflections on My Social Media (LinkedIn & TikTok) Challenge:
Reflections on My Flexibility Challenge:
Duration Stretching: 20 mins
Time of Stretching: 9:55pm
Stretches completed:
Shoulder mobility stretches: 2 minutes
Horse stance (for opening hips): 1 minute
Quad stretch: 2 minutes (1 min L, 1 min R).
Hip flexor stretch: 2 minutes (1 min L, 1 min R)
Hamstring Stretches: 2 minutes (1 min L, 1 min R)
Ankle Mobility Stretch: 2 x 30 sec holds (2 x L, 2 x R)
Splits & pistol squat practice:
3 x 45 second split holds.
Reflection:
Spent 8 hours of the day as a passenger in a car while my friend drove us to Manchester to celebrate another close friend’s birthday.
Did some stretching at points while at service stations, but managed to do a longer stretching session at home.
Much needed as my muscles were super stiff from the long car journey.
End of the challenge, but definitely going to continue stretching.
We’ve made it to the end of the July Challenge! Thank you so much for reading - I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Hope that you have an amazing day ahead. Now to tone down for the night…
Until tomorrow,
Kam