In modern society our media has thought us to believe in a false picture of reality, and no more false picture was presented than that of the macho man. Viewing our era’s media such as movies or tv, one would easily fall for the false picture of the alpha male as a huge pile of over trained, steroid induced muscle and an overly aggressive attitude, this picture is as far from the alpha male as one could get. The true alpha is an inward balance of masculine and feminine energy where the masculine energy dominates ever so slightly, and outwardly he is not a chunk of bulky meat, but rather a well-balanced physique, well-trained and healthy looking body. And while I agree that if it is your purpose in life is to get “jacked” and “shredded” as much as possible that you have every right to do so, for an everyday guy striving to be the best man he can be and thus achieve alpha status, working out with heavy loads three times a week is enough. There is though something equally important as working out which contributes to one’s health and physique, but which is commonly overlooked and rarely mentioned and that is a good stretching routine.

Ask any man over 50 years of age whether he would like to have more strength or more flexibility, and the answer he gives you will open your eyes to the reality of health and fitness. One should work out three times a week at the least in order to stay healthy and good-looking, but in my opinion, a common man should do a quick stretching routine of almost every part of his body at least three times a day in order for his joints and muscles to stay healthy into old age and in order for his posture to stay upright and domineering. Those man who are more muscularly build or who work out more often should consider doing more complex stretching exercises and rutines in order to escape the ever looming shadow of muscular dis balance which can hurt a man’s physique and posture, and of course, with bad posture comes an instant drop in confidence. Stretching does wounder for both the body as well as the mind, for the body and the mind are one and stretching and freeing the one helps stretch and free and evolve the other.

I myself like to think about stretching as a form of self-massage which I use to mobilize my body, to bring life into the stiff and rigid parts of the body as well as to relax and calm my mind. Before I started doing my daily stretching routine I experienced back and neck pains daily, by overworking my pecs and shoulders I ruined my posture which I later needed to fix by strengthening my back and stretching out my front torso muscles, ever since I started doing stretching as neurotically as I work out I experienced a great relief both in my body and my mind, which in turn got me into moving meditation and researching the whole concept of the wholeness and oneness of the body and mind. Which is now one of the core principals of my beliefs today.

Stretching is important, learn how to do it and do it daily, for more resources on stretching as well as some good and easy stretching routines check out the following links:

Critical stretches by Eliot Hulse:

Daily mobility routine:

Harvard Health on Stretching:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-importance-of-stretching