Stretch yourself. Literally. I mean it. Stretch. With the discussion about age yesterday, I remembered that stretching and being flexible reduces your "true age". In other words, it keeps you young. Yay for youth!
First thing about stretching: never stretch cold. Do not static (stationary) stretch before you run or do other aerobic activity, but warm up with dynamic (moving/swinging) stretching. Only stretch warm muscles. A study I read showed that static stretching prior to running increased injury risk and provided no benefits to the overall run. Dynamic warm up stretching was beneficial.
See this article: http://www.livestrong.com/article/462832-should-stretch-cold-muscles/, and this one: http://www.runnersworld.com/the-starting-line/should-i-stretch-before-or-after-my-runs
A good place to start is to stretch for 10 minutes after you work out, holding each stretch for 30-60 seconds.
Here's a chart of basic stretches:
This fall when I started running more, I was getting really tight in my hips, and my IT band started giving me trouble. I did some research and found this stretch routine, called the "Cannon Ball". Doing this immediately after my run really loosened me up and felt great, even improving how my foot felt (plantar fasciitis). Here's the link: http://vimeo.com/4498054.
Second, practice some yoga. I love p90x yoga x. It is 90 minutes: 45 minutes of yoga & 45 minutes of comprehensive stretching, and it feels sooooo good. I don't often have 90 minutes of attention span for indoor workouts, but when I do, my body is happy. In the p90x program you do this once per week. It's a doozie.
Here is a chart for a good short, beginners yoga routine:
Third is a You Tube channel that I found: Tara Stiles Yoga on You Tube. Once you get over the sheer spectacle of her spidery spaghetti noodle-like body, admire her strength and flexibility. A former model and ballerina (of course), she has been practicing yoga since high school, which means she's fully gumbi. Her goal is to make yoga and its benefits more accessible to everyone. She has short videos to teach you sequences, in varying difficulties. She's very pleasant to listen to, and I don't find her weirdly zen, just normal. Check out her channel and do some wandering to find something you might like to try on these snowy cold days: https://www.youtube.com/user/TaraStilesYoga.
Yoga can help you in many ways. This article (http://www.yogajournal.com/health/1634) give us 38. Yes, 38 benefits to doing yoga. Don't snore, just read the highlights, then read details if you're interested. When you are sick, as we are all bound to be sometime this winter, yoga is a great exercise to do. Yoga is also great for pregnant women, and there are many yoga routines that are low impact and beneficial for you and baby.
Watch the snow fall, find peace and center yourself today by doing some satisfying yoga.
Stretch Yourself!
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