For many athletes, stretching is one of those areas of preparation that often is not done as thorough as it probably should be.

When it comes to stretching, particularly for flyers, there are two main ways as to how it should generally be approached.

The first way, is in direct preparation for an event you are about to participate in.

This could simply be practice or it could be a major comp you are about to compete in.

Either way, this component of stretching is to get your body tuned up for what you are about to do next.

In these types of situations, stretching is often done with your team with either a coach or an athlete taking you through different stretching progressions.

Flyers have stretching that they do in addition to what the rest of the team does for skills that are more applicable to what flyers may need to throw/pull, which are obviously much different than those of their teammates.

Equally if not more important is using stretching to strengthen your flexibility when you are away from the mat.

The best way to approach this is to have a daily stretching routine which you take your body through so that you maximize the time you set aside for stretching.

Every athlete is different.

Sometimes athletes are perfectly fine on their own setting aside time to get their stretching exercises in and develop disciplined habits for doing so.

Other times having a coach or someone else that checks in with you daily to make sure you are getting your stretching in is a better way to make sure your stretching is getting done as it should be.

If you are not sure which way makes more sense for you, perhaps first try stretching daily on your own and if after a week you find yourself not sticking to schedule, then reach out to a coach or friend to see if they would mind helping you out.

Diversity in stretching exercises is as important as setting aside time to do the actual stretching.

Though there are sometimes different terms used by different people, for flyers as an example, some basic stretches to focus on are your front/heel stretch, pencil, bow & arrow, arabesque, scale, and scorpion/needle.

When stretching, each position should be held for a minimum of 10-15 seconds.

Rest for 10-15 seconds.

Then repeat each stretch for a minimum of 3 times.

The longer you are able to hold each position and the more reps you are able to get in, the more flexibility you will ultimately be able to attain.

Whether at comp or in the off-season, because of how much is physically required to be an athlete, stretching is enormously important.

Stretching is super critical in helping one develop as an athlete and although so much work goes into it, the rewards often are realized at comp when all of the effort put into stretching pays off as you appear to effortlessly balance and perform skills in the air that often seem to impossibly defy gravity and can all be traced back to your stretching work habits and techniques.