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World Cup was much larger than I ever imagined when we first showed up. Aside from the remarkable gym and dance rooms, there was a muscle therapy room, showers—which I would never use—and a cafe equipped with a kitchen and tables scattered throughout. Thanks to my dad, the cafe was built as part of the agreement for me to train here.
Pushing the door open, Kova flipped on the lights. He didn’t waste time starting the private sessions. It’d been three weeks since we had our little chat and he implemented the new schedule.
The room held two exam style tables with navy blue, cushioned tops. There was a tall storage cabinet on the other side of the wall and various exercise equipment. Black folded mats, large yoga balls that were fun to bounce on, and elastic ropes used for restraint training hung from the walls. I knew he was concerned about my lack of flexibility—or so he said—but I was pretty sure he was delusional.
“Get undressed.”
My leo was already on, so I took off my shoes, pants, and shirt, and stuffed them into my bag. I always wore loose fitted comfy pants and a regular tee to practice. Easy on, easy off. I took out a pair of black spandex mini shorts and slipped those on and waited.
“So, what are we going to do?” I asked curiously.
“We, are not going to do anything—you are.” I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
I tracked Kova as he moved around the room. “You are going to stretch without stretching. A lot of athletes believe the more you do will help with flexibility. That is not always the case. Sometimes stretching aggressively backfires. It is short lived and can cause injuries.” He paused. “Every athlete is different, so what works for one may not work for the other. It is all trial and error, but I have found this helps with flexibility the best. ”
I nodded, listening to him. I’d never heard this, but then again, I’d never seen anyone bounce on kneecaps either.
“Your former coach was concerned about your range of motion.” Kova patted one of the tables, motioning me over. I closed the distance and jumped up. “I have been watching you the past few weeks, your shoulders and hips are tight. I have noticed you cannot go straight into a split, how it takes time for your hips to loosen until you hit the floor. Your leaps could use work and so could your angles. You are careful and it is obvious. Being cautious is not a bad thing, but it will hold you back. It is almost like your brain is subconsciously protecting you from over doing it, which will hinder your advancement in this sport.”
I eased into conversation. “Yes, it does take me a little time to loosen up, but I thought that was normal before a workout for anyone.”
He shook his head. “Lie back. Scoot forward so your legs are dangling off the table.” I did as he instructed. “Good. Now lift your knee and bring it to your chest. It should be flat to your chest without your other leg coming up.”
It wasn’t flat, and my knee did come up. Kova gave me a knowing look. “See?”
“Don’t you think it’s because I just walked in and haven’t stretched at all?”
“No, this is a simple thing that you should be able to do. Do it again.”
This time when I did it, Kova laid a hand high up on my thigh to hold my leg down. When I couldn’t bring my knee to my chest, he stepped in closer and helped widen my range of motion by pressing my knee to my chest, pushing on my shin, and holding down my other leg. His hands were large and capable of covering a vast amount of my skin. I grimaced inwardly so he wouldn’t hear me complain about the strain on my muscles.
“You feel it, yes?” he asked, looking into my eyes.
I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction, but I also had a feeling he’d be able to tell I was lying. “I do,” I grunted when he pressed harder, “but I also think it’s because I haven’t warmed up yet.”
Kova let go and stepped back. “Now, scoot up, bend your knees, and put both feet at the end of the table. Place your hands flat by your sides and then lift your hips.”
I wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but I did as he asked.
“How does that feel?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know, good?”
Kova’s eyes slowly grazed the length of my torso to my thighs and a shiver ran through me. “Can you not feel that your hips are not elevated all the way?” My brows cinched together and he stepped closer again. “Lift higher,” he ordered, placing his hand to my butt and holding it there. Warmth surged through me from his searing touch. I finally felt it and I couldn’t hide the tight pinch in my hips as he lifted me higher.
“I still think this is just because I haven’t done any warm ups this morning yet, Coach,” I grumbled. Apparently, I needed to remind him the sun was still rising, too.
Ignoring me, he said, “We are going to do various stretching techniques and breathing drills to help you. It is really all a mental thing, so we will train your brain to accept it.”
“Train my brain to accept it?” I paused, trying to find the right words because this was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard. “I’m sorry, Coach, but I don’t understand how basically manipulating myself is going to help with tight hips and shoulders.”
He stared at me for a long moment before he said, “It is like relearning a skill you already know how to do and learning it correctly. Like breaking a bad habit. But in order to break a bad habit, you have to think differently. In your mind, if you keep stretching and over stretching, it will help, yeah? It will give you the range of motion you need?”
“Well, yes.”
“So you are over doing it, and pushing and straining harder because you think it will make a difference when it clearly has not. Over stretching does not necessarily work. It is bad for your muscles. The stretching techniques I am about to teach you do in fact help. There will not be any strain on your body and they are safer for you. At your level, you should have a wide range of motion, but you do not. We can correct that. It is not uncommon, and this is not the first time I have seen this happen, but typically it comes with injury.”
This was, by far, the most idiotic thing I’d ever heard. Somehow lying to myself would fix my tightness. Oh, how about I just lie to myself and think I could do a triple front tuck on the floor when, in reality, I couldn’t. Training myself to think I could do it would only give me a broken neck and a wheel chair for the rest of my life, not the actual ability.
