Polecat88 started this discussion ·
I really want to improve my flexibility, I've started yoga classes but I can only afford one a week, so I was wondering what stretches you all do before and after exercise and for how long? What stretches do you do on rest days? Any advice is welcome x
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I have recently discovered the wonders of netflix. They have a bunch of yoga videos for streaming. :D
I'm not in the usa, I'll check out to see if there's a uk version. :) Thank you. My laptop is awful I'd rather just have a dvd to throw on really. I've looked at some martial arts flex dvds but not sure.
id be interested to find this out too. (im from the uk 2) I was doing really well last year with my splits progress.. and now i feel like im back to square 1. Do you always need to warm up before strecthing? or can you do stretches but just hold them for a much shorter time if your not warmed up? x
@ hazeldej, nothing's easier than getting warmed up! try 5 minutes of rope skipping, and you'll know what I mean. you also move the wrists with skipping, so I like to do it before getting on the pole. concerning stretching: there are a lot of good books on the market, why don't you go to the bookstore and take a look at some of them! there's a book many people like. I don't know its English title but translated it would be "the anatomy of stretching", by Brad Walker. And then there's "superstretch" by Jacqueline Lysycia, which I like.
stomp stomp stopm ( penny makes a run for netflix)
I just did a little pole workout, a 10 minute netlix yoga session, and then some deep stretching and I've already seen a difference. Just a basic warmup followed by some deep stretching, or a yoga session will increase your flexibility tremendously.
byrdgrrl ·
Gaiam.com has a lot of all kinds of yoga and other workout DVDs. Don't know about shipping to the UK though. Some people mentioned Netflix, but don't forget YouTube too.
Hey there girls :) Yes, you do need to be warm to do stretching...muscles, as Veena said, are like cheese: they crumble easily when they're cold, and they stretch when they're warm! It's far easier to injure yourself from stretching when you are cold. You could take a nice hot shower, or whatever you like, as long as you feel nice and warm when you're stretching! As for things to do...while I love Yoga, and the idea of it, I don't really feel that I have the time. Perhaps one day I will work on it when I have a little better of an understanding about my time, but for now...I'm just plain old stretching when I work out! The most improvement I've seen is in my hamstrings, which I've been stretching almost every day, IN the shower. Put my leg up on the back part of the bathtub, and just lean over it, slowly. I'm warm from the shower, the tub wall is a good height for me, and...well, it just worked! Otherwise, you can look up all kinds of stretches online, and just work them into your normal routine. It doesn't have to be anything fancy...just something to get the job done, if that's what you want! Also, Veena has some stretches on here, and they seem good. :)
I second the shower routine!!:)I actually do a few standing yoga poses also : mountain pose... can add small circles in either direction (rotating upper body from the waist)... with back facing shower head ,so that warm water is on lower back, I like to do simple foward folds with both feet on floor.... also similar stretch to what Rumenist34 said -some times going higher and putting foot on back wall....tree pose and its variations ...standing bow pose and its variations :) Love me some hot water!!!!
damn.... i wish I had a bigger shower... i think id get stuck if I tried any strecthing... and that would be an interesting one to explain. 😲
Hot yoga 3x per week opened up my hips and hamstrings more than pole or stretching exercises ever did. I highly suggest getting the Resistance Stretching DVD by Dara Torres. Heard it works for a lot of ppl. I've been doing just one quad stretch she posted on YouTube and that helps me loosen my hamstrings before class.
omg! i totally stretch in the shower too!!! i can stretch my calves by doing a variation of downward dog in my tub. there are also great yoga based twists agains the back wall of my shower that stretch my back muscles and intercostals.
Yay, shower stretchers! Hazeldej: I know how you feel. I tried doing a splits stretch once in the shower...I both didn't fit, and gave myself a cramp because my leg was like "wtf do you think you're doing?!" So, I understand! I never thought of yoga poses in the shower, though! That would be cool. I'll have to go through my yoga book and pick some out...😉
Safire ·
There are even hour long and half hour long yoga videos on youtube that you can try in your home.
I wasn't expecting the thread to go the way it did! haha shower stretching! @Safire that's exactly what I needed! I will be using the ashtanga ones this week. =D
Hazeldej... You had me laughing envisioning that scenario!!!!:) As I was in the shower... after I had written that...I thought I should add make sure you have a bath mat for secure footing:)
I've been taking stretching classes twice a week for several months. The instructor uses isometric stretching, a lot of his exercices are similar to the ones found in Bob Cooley's "Genius of flexibility" except we use therabands, he says that with this method, your muscles don't need to be warm and that you get a deeper stretch this way.. I haven't been injuried (yet?) and really feel like I'm getting more flexible and the stretching is almost painless! So I don't know, maybe some type of stretching can be done on cold muscles.
Always, always warm up!! And like Veena and Runemist and Gingercake say, it's so easy! Hot showers, jumping rope, I do 50 jumping jacks (cause that's what they make us do to warm up at my studio) I've also had a lot of success with Dashama's leg stretches on YouTube - they're yoga stretches, and they're incredible: http://www.youtube.com/user/shadovvfaerie#grid/user/17C37043DE4AE8C9 I play them and strech in the order they're set up because that seems to work best for me. I have to play video #4 twice, because in the video she only stretches one side. try it!
There are actually stretches that you do cold. I've gotten homework from my stretch teacher that I shall do cold, and she knows what she talks about. Of course, these are not stretches where I take it to the limit, but sometimes it is legit to stretch cold.
