Stretching for Flexibility, Fitness and Quality of Life

I came across this article recently and thought it would be good to share with you for 2 reasons.

1 - It makes some very points that are in line with my philosophy on stretching and fitness.

2 - There are some points that I would approach and advise people on in a different manner. I will address those in the next article…

Here it is - as printed from The Oregonian - ‘Fitness on a Budget’, June 18th:

The most neglected component of fitness is stretching. As you learned in today’s cover story, meditation offers huge benefits, and during stretching it’s really easy to get into a meditative state.

Unfortunately, most people either don’t stretch correctly and long enough, or they skip it altogether. For people who are tight, stretching can be painful — their muscles shake, and they usually can’t wait to release the stretch. It’s easy to see why they eliminate stretching from their workout.

After working in the fitness industry and training clients for more than 20 years, we’ve come up with a system that has even our most rigid, tight, “can’t touch their toes” clients enjoying their stretching segments. We’ve found that if we can make a stretch comfortable enough that clients don’t even realize they’re stretching, they will often hold it long enough to allow the muscles to lengthen.

For this reason, we’ve found wall stretches to be most successful. While clients stretch, their back is in its neutral position, which is comfortable, and they don’t have to use their muscles to support it. Instead, they can relax and focus into the stretch. Or read or watch TV, which can increase the length of time they hold any stretch.

Our clients find these stretching segments so enjoyable that they hold stretches longer than they ever have and now stretch every day. They would have never dreamed of stretching this much before!

Sample wall stretches

Hamstring: Lie on your back with your legs against the wall, heels toward the ceiling. Find a position where you feel a light stretch in the back of your thighs. To make the stretch more intense, move your buttocks closer to the wall; to make it less intense, move your buttocks farther from the wall. Hold for as long as you feel comfortable. Try to relax and breathe into the stretch. Feel free to read or watch TV.

Hips and back: Start with your legs in the hamstring stretch position. Slowly let both legs fall to one side until they are resting comfortably on the floor. (If you’re tight, it’s OK to have the legs suspended above the floor.) Bend the bottom leg and keep the top leg straight. Try to feel this stretch through your hips and lightly through your back.

Adductors: Start with your legs in the hamstring stretch position. Slowly separate your legs into a V-position until you feel a light stretch through your groin area.

Glutes: Move about a foot from the wall. Position one leg so the bottom of the foot is in contact with the wall and the knee is at 90 degrees. Cross the other leg over so the ankle is resting on the thigh. To make the stretch less intense, move your buttocks farther from the wall. To make the stretch more intense, move your buttocks closer to the wall, or lightly press the crossed leg away.

Remember to hold each stretch for at least 30 seconds. This is when the real stretching begins, so holding a stretch for anything less than 30 seconds will not increase flexibility. And remember that light stretching is much better than deep, painful stretching.
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Not a bad article - but again there are some points I will address a bit differently in the next article - stay tuned…

Your trainer,

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book-cover-preview.pdf

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Don’t Be Like Everybody Else…

Be Fit!

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