Tom Hampton. Wow. I was told Slowtwitch was a supportive place. You're cyberbullying someone you don't know, whose body, level of fitness, and history you don't know. If I followed your advice, I'd wind up with quadriceps tendonitis and shoulder impingement in a day. Two, tops. I've been working steadily for years with a few doctors, therapists, and trainers to overcome a few niggles and I need to be careful.

For everyone else, here's a morning after report: I took the combined advice of the hivemind and made a few changes both last night and tonight. I made sure I was drinking enough water later in the day, I stretched more than usual at night, and avoided sitting too much. Felt much better this morning, and used the morning coffee time (usually spent in partial stupor, again sitting) to walk around, loosen up, do both static and dynamic stretching, whatever felt good. I felt way better. Much better. I think that I can play around with a few of your ideas and see what works for me. In the meantime, thanks for all the advice!

I'm not that old, only around 40. But I'm trying to figure out morning workouts and I just can't seem to overcome morning stiffness without an hour of static stretching beforehand. That makes the whole morning too long to make it realistic to get to work on time. I know that current understanding of stretching has it that static stretches are detrimental before a workout, but after I wake up in the morning, my lower half is tight tight tight. I need rolling, plus hamstring, quad, and hip stretching, otherwise I'm just not loose enough for a decent workout. Morning or evening. I tried dynamic stretches and eventually went back to long, static, delicious stretching. This morning, I tried to cut it short by doing a quick rolly olly and then just short static stretches. I got to the gym and attempted lunges, but felt so stiff that I spent my 45 mins... stretching.

What do the old, stiff people of slowtwitch do to loosen up? Any hacks out there? Do I just need to add an hour of daily stretches as a midlife necessity?

I’m not quite old yet ... but I find just getting out and moving loosens me up real quick

I don’t feel perfect when I get out of bed, but 2-3 mins of turning my legs over, I’m in good shape.

Hey y'all, thanks for reviving this thread. I've been doing this for a whole year now, so my body has just acclimated to working out at this intensity. I think I just needed that.

PS-I know the discourse surrounding static stretching, dynamic stretching, warming up, etc. I'm on team stretching. I wouldn't stretch intensely or for a long time before a workout, but lighter static stretching is good for me, followed by some dynamic stretching with full range of movement. Everyone's different, though.

I'm not that old, only around 40. But I'm trying to figure out morning workouts and I just can't seem to overcome morning stiffness without an hour of static stretching beforehand. That makes the whole morning too long to make it realistic to get to work on time. I know that current understanding of stretching has it that static stretches are detrimental before a workout, but after I wake up in the morning, my lower half is tight tight tight. I need rolling, plus hamstring, quad, and hip stretching, otherwise I'm just not loose enough for a decent workout. Morning or evening. I tried dynamic stretches and eventually went back to long, static, delicious stretching. This morning, I tried to cut it short by doing a quick rolly olly and then just short static stretches. I got to the gym and attempted lunges, but felt so stiff that I spent my 45 mins... stretching.

What do the old, stiff people of slowtwitch do to loosen up? Any hacks out there? Do I just need to add an hour of daily stretches as a midlife necessity?

Haven't gone back and read all the replies from last year, but don't older folks naturally get up earlier? I'm in my 50s and couldn't sleep past 5:30 if you paid me too.

For warming up, isn't static stretching counterproductive? Just start moving. Didn't think anyone did static stretching anymore, especially not before warming up. But maybe that's what the thread has been about.

Haven't gone back and read all the replies from last year, but don't older folks naturally get up earlier? I'm in my 50s and couldn't sleep past 5:30 if you paid me too.

For warming up, isn't static stretching counterproductive? Just start moving. Didn't think anyone did static stretching anymore, especially not before warming up. But maybe that's what the thread has been about.