Flexibility Commitment

OK, I'm publishing some goals here. I just bought the book Core Performance by Mark Verstegen. After leafing through all the workout modules, I see there are some things that I am already doing right. My core is pretty strong! But there's one area where I've been lagging for the last several years--flexibility.

Although overall, my flexibility is above average, for ME, my hamstring/lower back flexibility has gone down the toilet. So, from this day forward, a new goal is to get that back, so that it's in line with the rest of my body. I figure if I work at it diligently enough (although gently, since I have a slight tendency to overdo), that I should see results by the Goofy Challenge.

Here's my plan: I will spend 5' in the morning and 5' in the evening (wow, only 10' total per day!) working on hamstring/lower back flexibility. What I'm going to do is:

1. Side lying twists, with knees bent, arms outstretched, supine. 10-15 of these to alternating sides. While this isn't really a stretch, it's a good warmup for the low back.
2. Tubing-assisted hamstring stretches. 30" each side, supine, pull one leg straight towards body. As of today, my ROM is 90 degrees. My goal is to get back to 45 degrees MORE!
3. Supine spinal twists, where you bring one bent leg across the chest over to the other side.
4. Seated spinal twists, it's some yoga position
5. One more set of tubing-assisted hamstring stretches.

I just did these, and already I feel loosened up in my lower back! Eventually, I should be able to do toe touches again where my hands are flat on the floor. That is something I can measure along the way as well.

I'm excited! This is an area I've neglected, and considering I have a hernitated disk and piriformis issues from time to time, this should help!