OG influencer Amanda Bisk’s tips will improve your flexibility

Oh, hello, welcome to the Body and Soul podcast Got Healthy Ish I and Felicity Halle I hope you are indeed feeling healthy ish. Joining me today is former Australian pol vater and exercise physiologist Amanda bisk Now. She is one of the original fitness influencers, and today she's discussing the importance of flexibility and shares easy ways to increase

Thank you so much for having me. You know, we know each other from way back.

We were just talking about that and I was actually so excited to wake up and talk to you this night.

Well likewise, I know listeners, we well we were just working out maybe eight years a decade when Amanda appeared on the cover of Women's Health when I was editing that. So it's nice to have you back on and talking about well, your jam which is really flexibility. Why is this so important? I mean, this is this is your life in many ways, this is what you sell and this is what you do. Why is it important? Well, not just for you, but for the rest of us.

I think if you think about, you know, babies and little kids, how mobile and flexible they are. You know, we are born flexible, and I think it is so important to try and maintain that flexibility throughout life because it does give us youth and longevity, It keeps us injury free, it helps us feel good. I mean, there's so many benefits, and I think it's just, you know, so important, you know, to maintain that through our whole entire life moving into later life.

Because you know, we all just want to feel good.

So yeah, I know I do. Look at well, my kids and my six year old who loves gymnastics, and she can just go into the splits in a second, and I'm like, oh my goodness, I'm so envious. But adults some seem more flexible than others, especially when I go to yoga, and you, of course you are the most flexible of us all. Is it? Some of our bodies the physiology just more flexible than others.

That definitely does play a factor, not only things like what your tendons and ligaments are consisting of, but also the shape of your joints as well. That place a factor. But I think in general everybody can achieve better flexibility and mobility. It's just about really exposing yourself to that as often as possible.

So how do we do that? What should we do? Give us some tips because I feel like it's a hot topic, especially mobility flexibility. It's such a hot topic right now, So how can we increase our flexibility?

So flexibility is a funny one, the mobility as well. The more you visit different positions and stretches, the more your body is going to be used to that. So I think the key to achieving better mobility and better flexibility is just exposing your body more regularly to different movements. You know, where creatures of habit.

We love to.

Do things that we're really comfortable with, and I think with flexibility and mobility, it really forces us to kind of explore the edges of our movement, which sometimes can be uncomfortable, can be painful, can be scary, but I think it's really important. It's also like you know, in life, it's important we test our edges, so the more you can visit different positions and including it in your warm up if you're going to the gym, like that is the most perfect time.

Like that is something I have.

Incorporated into my life is you know, I'm going to be working out anyway, and I need to do a warm up before I work out, So why not incorporate some mobility and flexibility before I do?

Now, how long do you spend doing that and what sort of moves do you do?

So I would say my warm up would be about ten to fifteen minutes, just depending and this is probably before something like a weight session or a running session at the track. And I would definitely try and do a lot of hip mobility. The hips can be very very tight. It's also if anyone here is done yoga before, it's where we store a lot of emotional energy as well.

Oh yes, yeah, I've done that, have had after classes. Oh my gosh.

Yes, So I think the hips are a really important area. So you know things like hamstring stretches, hip flexus stretches, glut stretches, and doing mobility exercises as well, so you know, like leg swings and hamstring scoops and all the things that really helped to open.

Up and mobilize the hips.

And I also love doing any sort of mobility for the shoulders. I feel like that's really important as well, because you know, we're all used to sitting down at a desk or sitting on the.

Couch or driving the car hunched over.

So anything that can really open up the front of the body, I think is really important as well, and I like to include it in my warm up.

What sort of moves do you do for that?

So anything with like spinal rotation, so arm swings, armed circles, you know that good old doorway peck stretch. That's a great yeah, Reaching arms up and over the head, reaching side to side, anything where you're opening up.

The front of the body.

Now.

I also read a tip of yours that instead of just resting between sets if you're doing strength training at the gym or at home, instead of reaching for your phone, to actually do some stretching. I thought this was a brilliant tip because so many of us, Oh, you know, I just have to rest my body for an hour or two. Oh what's happening on Instagram? Blah blah blah, such a great tip.

It actually is so good.

And this is something that my partner incorporated into his workouts and he instantly was like, oh my gosh, I have the best session. Not only was I not on my phone and getting distracted, but I really felt that my exercises that I was doing were so much better because I was working on this mobility and I was feeling really free and.

Open and energized.

So yeah, definitely making the most of that time in between your exercises, is you know, like gold, what.

Else do you do for flexibility aside from the warm ups at the gym? Because you are just extremely flexible, what else do you do to make sure you maintain this?

So to be honest, apart from you know, trying to mold it into my life as much as I can around workouts, I probably have one session.

In the week where I really really think.

About pre and rehab exercises where I include mobility and flexibility as well, and I think this is kind of my check in for the week, so I can kind of be like, oh, where's my body at this week? What does my body need? Where do I need a stretch? And it's usually the time that I do those stretches that.

I don't like.

What are those?

Oh I'm really inflexible. Could you imagine?

No, I can't carry on in.

My side bending.

I remember I went to a yoga class in Bali and I was doing yoga the whole time and we got to.

This side bending stretch and the teacher was like, oh, wow, can you not go any further? And I was like no, and she was like, that is a surprise. So side bending for me is tough. And I think that's because I have a tight lower backs.

Okay, that you just made us all feel seen that you do struggle with some flexibility.

Thank you.

Yeah. Now, just quickly before we go, I have to give a shout out to Xpro, a festival coming well near you in Perth and for the rest of us if you want to travel over. There's what's this all about?

So Expro is a fitness festival and summit. There's two days. So the first day on the eighth is the summit, so we have fitness experts speaking and you can go and go to the summit and learn all the things. And then on the ninth it's actually the festival day, which is exactly what it.

Kind of says on the tin.

Yeah, exactly.

It is a festival of fitness, which is so cool, and the fact that it's here in Scarborough Beach, it's my hometown.

I'm so excited. It's going to be right on the beach.

We have a beautiful amphitheater there with lots of different stages, so if you are into fitness and any type of fitness, it.

Is the place to be.

You know, we're going to have workouts, yoga, pilates, there's you know those trampoline jump things.

Yes, there's bikes.

There's everything. It's going to be so cool. I'm going to be running a mobility class and also hit workout on the main stage, so I'm really excited to be sharing that as well with everybody.

Yeah, I'm loving that We're seeing so many fitness festivals popping up around a street and I think it's such a great thing. And this one especially I'm giving a shout out because it's got a very impressive list of all lineup of people who are like yourself taking classes. So thanks for coming on Healthyish and telling us all about it.

Thank you so much for having me.

And folks. I will leave a link to that festival in Wa on the eighth and ninth of November. In the show notes, well, I hope you enjoyed the tips from Amanda, some great ones there. Just put your phone down and perhaps still a few stretches instead between your sets in the gym. If you did enjoy it, jump