“Some people are born flexible and some aren’t,” Greg said. “It’s as simple as that.”
“Oh really?? replied Coach Woo. “Why is it then that ALL new born babies are super flexible?”
Greg exclaimed, “Huh? What are you talking about? I’ve seen teenagers who can’t touch their toes.”
“So have I, but let’s get back to your original point,” Coach Woo stated. “You said that some people are born flexible and some aren’t. Now you’ve jumped all the way to teenagers who can’t touch their toes to make your point.”
“Whatever,” Greg grimaced. “Whatever you want to think. The fact remains that flexibility is largely a matter of genetics. You either have it or you don’t.”
“Is that the final word on the matter?” Coach Woo asked. “You’re either a blue blood or you’re not? And if you’re not one of us, too friggin bad.”
“Essentially, yes.”
“Well buddy, I got news for you. Flexibility and mobility have MORE to do with how you are trained to move, how you breathe and what you focus on than you can currently imagine. Just because you couldn’t touch your toes in high school doesn’t mean you cannot learn to do so at age 40, 50, 60 or 70. But if you buy into the genetics deception, you’ll be stuck for life. And frankly, that’s where you are now.”
“Look at you and how you do the splits,” Greg countered. “You really think people can learn to do that? You’re a genetic freak.”
“So the time I spent working on the splits and the methodology I used didn’t have anything to do with the results I got?” Coach Woo replied.
“Stop being so defensive.”
“Stop being so OFFENSIVE,” said Coach Woo.
“Why can’t you just admit that you’re a freak?” Greg asked. “No one can do what you do.”
“No one?”
“There you go again, arguing.”
“There you go again, universalizing. I’m curious, have you ever tested yourself to see how flexible you are?”
“Yes, many times. And I can’t be flexible. I’m too tight.”
“Well how about we take a different approach?”
Greg agreed to get into position and see how close he could come to touching his toes. His fingertips barely went past his knees.
Coach Woo took note of where Greg was, then gave him a series of seemingly simple exercises to do, exercises that appeared to have nothing to do with increasing flexibility in his stiff muscles.
After doing them, Coach Woo had Greg test his flexibility again.
What happened shocked Greg into submission. He was now able to touch his toes.
“I can’t believe it,” Greg said.
“You don’t need to believe it because you’ve just done it,” Coach Woo replied.
For years Greg had bought into the genetic freak theory. It was a convenient excuse to not even bother trying.
The reality is that genetics do not determine your level of flexibility. It’s true. All of us came into this world with soft, pliable and flexible limbs.
As we moved beyond babyhood, if we lost our flexibility, it is not due to genetics; it’s due to lifestyle factors.
What’s good to know is that we can regain most, if not all, of our suppleness. We can recapture the flexibility we lost… if we are willing to put in the time and work at it.
If you assume a lack of genetics is the reason you can or cannot do something, you may be correct. Then again, you may be a million miles off the mark.
In my Combat Stretching DVDs, you learn to bypass your ideas about genetics and move to the head of the class, whether you’re “supposed to be there” or not.
It’s easy to look at someone doing the splits and say, “I could never do that.”
It takes courage to observe someone doing the splits and say, “I want to do that,” and “I’m going to do it.”
Very different orientations toward life, eh?
Which one you gonna choose?
I suggest the one associated with my best-selling Combat Stretching DVDs.
Here endeth the lesson.
Matt Furey
P.S. If you want to learn to write emails such as the one you just read, if you want to work from home as a kick-butt info-publisher, if you want to go beyond the idea of “genetics” predetermining your every move, then you owe it to yourself to become a member of my Zen Mastery Info-Publishing Group.
