Stretching My Limbs (and My Limits)

[kauac]

Hi...

As the new year is just round the corner (not that I am that into new year's resolutions ), I thought it would be time to document a goal that has been on my mind lately. I really need to get into a regular pattern of stretching, in order to improve my flexibility and reduce soreness during exercise. Who knows how many injuries over the years could have been prevented if I had just put a bit of effort in to stretch? But the past is of no importance now: I just need to knuckle down and stick to a solid stretching game plan.

Some Background Info:
- I have naturally very tight muscles (due to genetics, I believe), which have become particularly burdensome over the last few months. Not only has it caused some discomfort during exercise, but I have found that it has been an issue when sitting down for long periods of time.
- Due to a vertebrae fracture 4 years ago, my back and abdominal muscles have been really tight and "tangled" over the past years.
- My main form of physical activity at the moment is running, and I generally do some stretching post-run - but this is definitely not adequate.
- I am slack about pre-workout routines and don't do any form of warm-up or dynamic stretching.

The Plan:
- What plan??? Jokes, I haven't made anything specific yet, but hoping to do so sometime around New Year's - basically when I have a decent amount of spare time. 
- Focusing on my calf, hamstring and quadricep muscles, as these are the main offenders.
- Some other areas I would like to work on are: abdominals/back muscles (to help with my back, which still causes me occasional grief, 4 years on!), knees and hips (which tend to become quite stiff on long runs).

I am happy for anyone to suggest any stretches or stretching routines they find helpful! Especially need to find some decent knee and hip stretches, as I have attempted to do some in the past, but it made them more sore!?

As a goal, I would hope that one day I would be able to touch my toes from a standing position. Not expecting this to happen anytime soon, but if I stick to a regular routine, I think it will be achievable. This is coming from someone whose last result on the "Sit and Reach Test" was something like negative 14!! 

They say that flexibility is the fastest type of fitness to gain, but the easiest to lose. I guess this thread might bear witness to whether this is truly the case. 

[jazcstuart]

Love this! This is a really good goal, particularly now so that you can build up a routine before uni or whatever you are doing next year.

I can definitely relate to the tight hamstrings, maybe I should use this thread to motivate me as well.

One thing I can really recommend is Body Balance, if you can find a class near you. It is a combination of yoga, tai chi and pilates, so you get heaps of good stretches plus strength stuff for your legs, abs and back. It is all to music, so generally there is a track for different things, eg. a hamstring track, back track, balance track etc. Can definitely recommend looking into this, I love it and I am not flexible at all.

Good luck creating your game plan, hope you notice some benefits!!!

[kauac]

Ok, thought I would have come up with a plan already, but life gets busy, I guess. 

My friend, who is dancer, showed me some good stretches, so I will definitely be using those. It's just a matter of putting a schedule together and seeing how it goes from there.

Feel free to keep me accountable if I haven't posted my plan in the next say, 2 weeks. 

EDIT: Seeing as I had enough time to write this post, I figured I had enough time to make a start on the plan.  Finished my morning schedule, just have to write my night one now.

[kauac]

Back again (sooner then I thought haha). As promised, here is the stretching plan.

I only trialled the morning routine today (due to an inconvenient illness halting any stretching plans). Was quite relaxing actually, so hopefully it will be helping my muscles down the track. Haven't tried the night routine, as I only just wrote it. Each routine is ~7 min in duration, using static stretches, as I thought these would be the most suitable for increasing my everyday flexibility. There are even a few yoga poses in there (don't expect downward dog though, my hammies are way to tight to do anything remotely like it  ). Also tried to make the stretches helpful for the time of day I will be using them - in the morning I start with lots of gentle floor stretches and finish this way at night too.

Let's see how I go sticking to it, and whether any modifications will need to be made. Enjoy the random stock images of flexible humans! 

[Joseph41]

Cool! Even just looking at those poses made me feel tight haha. I should probably do something very similar.

How are you going with it all?

[J_Rho]

I used to have similar problems with tight muscles etc etc and YOGA helped me so much

[mango8]

I think this is fantastic! Love that you've set this goal for yourself and will be back to hear how you've been going. It also reminds me that I should also start something similar. After stopping dance, my flexibility has gone flying out the window and I can also relate to tight muscles. How have you been faring so far?

Loving the idea of this and I hope you'll see results in time

[kauac]

Woah, so this thread was long dead, but I realised that I actually achieved my goal:

I can now touch my toes, which is really cool!

The funny thing is, I hadn't been super intentional about stretching for a while. But I was doing some deadlifts at the gym every so often, which literally lengthened and stretched out my hamstrings over time haha.

Since uni has moved online, I've tried to make a habit of doing leg and hip stretches to reduce stiffness from sitting down so much. I normally do some stretches before heading to bed each night, especially if I've gone for a run or did a leg workout.

Moving into the new year, I'd like to maintain this current leg stretching routine. I think it would also be valuable to do some consistent arm stretches, but I haven't come across any really good ones yet... keen for suggestions if anyone has any.