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Keep your joints and muscles lubricated. Start your workout with low impactstretches and work up to a full stretch workout. Later, wind down your routinewith low-impact exercising.

Do stretches eery day and work at it progressiely. !his is important if youwant to become flexible" #emember, you can$t become flexible oernight.

%ork at the rate you are comfortable with, and then slowly increase thedifficulty &length of time, length of reach or both'.

(ake sure you hae superision. )f you hae no idea what you are doingyou$ll undoubtedly injure yourself. (ost martial arts schools and gymnasticsclasses hae extensie programs and teachers aailable. *heck them out.

(aintain a healthy diet. +at more green leafy egetables, and drink plenty ofwater. )ncrease your protein and calcium &drinking milk will increase yourintake of both of these'. !he most important thing is to balance eerything.(ake sure that eery morning you eat a good, healthy breakfast.

(ethod of Stretching !echni/ues

0elow is a list of basic stretching exercises for specific areas of your body.#emember to be careful and take each one slowly. !he more comfortable youbecome with each techni/ue, the more you can push yourself later on.

(ethod 1 of Shoulders

Stretch each arm as far across your chest while holding it as you can withoutfeeling pain for 2 or minutes eery day.

(ethod 3 of 0ack &0e +xtremely *areful'

Lie down on the floor.

Sit up straight, leaing your legs out in front of you. !hey don$t hae to beflat.

!urn your upper body slowly, and make absolutely sure that you stop turningwhen it starts to hurt. )t is relatiely easy to damage your spinal cord if youstretch improperly, so pay attention.

%hen you stop turning, hold that position for 2 to seconds. !urn the otherdirection, and repeat.

!ry and do a backbend4bridge. 0e ery careful not to go too far" 5nce you are

in the bridge, push through your shoulders, and try to put your legs togetherand straighten them. Don$t go onto your toes"

6ou can also stand up with your arms hanging out to the side and then eryslowly twist from side to side. 7nother stretch is to lay flat on your tummyand then use your arms to put yourself in a snake or seal stretch.

(ethod 8 of Legs

Sit down as you did before for the back exercises, only this time, make your

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legs as flat on the ground as possible, right beside each other.

Stretch down toward your knees. Do not bend your head to face your knees,face forward.

!his will also stretch your neck muscles9 if it hurts your neck to do this

exercise, face your knees and stretch. 6ou can also sit down with your legsstraight out and take your right leg and swing it oer your left leg a fewtimes. Do the same with your left leg.!ry doing the splits as well as possible,but carefully for about 8 minutes per day. )f you are adanced and flat on theground, take a sofa pillow and put one of your legs on it to gie more of astretch. #emember you must always be patient. !he key to being flexible iswaiting calmly.

(ethod 2 of :pper !highs &0utt'

S/uee;e both sides of your thighs together.

lip your hands onto the floor with fingers facing you, like 6ou can also,

after you do the stretch aboe, flip your hands in any way &fingers facing

outward or inward to the side, whateer'.

(ethod B of Cositie Eegatie Stretching

#emember to include both the positie and negatie motions when youstretch. Keep it symmetrical. )f you are stretching your left, stretch out your

right too. )f you are bending forward, bend backwards too.

(ethod of +xtra !ips

emember that all this stuff comes from you" !hink positie and say, @5h, )

know ) can do this"@(ake sure when you are doing gymnastics at home or at

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a friends, you are comfortable. &i.e tank top and shorts, leotard')f you don$t

feel strain in your muscles, you$re not doing it properly"