Flexibility and Stretching

Quick life update…

I’ve not written for a while, but I’ve been stretching quite a lot.

My stretching has been a little random in so much as I’ve not been sticking to a set routine lately. Much of my stretching has just been short reps of front and side splits. Most of the time I’ve been holding them for less than 15 seconds.

I still think PNF is the most efficient form of stretching, but at the moment I can’t face it. It’s a lot of effort and a little daunting. Short reps seem really easy and I don’t even think about it. There’s a lot to be said for doing something you enjoy.

My back bend training has gone by the way-side. I keep meaning to get back into it, but I always forget.

Cheers

Tim…

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Dynamic Flexibility…

I’ve just added a page about Dynamic Flexibility and a Weekly Stretching Routine. Click on the links and check them out.

I’ve made a couple of minor changes to the site. There is now a fixed homepage and the blog is a link on the “Pages” menu. I think that makes a bit more sense since the pages contain more specific information than the blog.

Cheers

Tim…

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Back Bend Progress

It’s a month later and another photo has been added to the back bend progress page.

Cheers

Tim…

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More Progress…

Last night showed another marked improvement. Looking at the current rate of progress I think I’ll be back at my best on side splits and left front splits within a couple of weeks. I think the right front splits will take a bit longer. It is dramatically better than it was a few days ago, but it is not responding as quickly as the left leg. It’s hard work holding myself back, but if I try to move to quickly I’ll just re-injure it and put myself back again.

Cheers

Tim…

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Yoga Tree…

I noticed this picture on the net today.

Cheers

Tim…

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Injuries, Splits and Back Bends…

About a week ago I was doing a right-side open split and I felt a “ping” in my right butt cheek. I got out of the stretch pretty sharpish, took an ibuprofen and massaged the hell out of the area.

The next day I attempted some stretches and noticed that all my splits had regressed by 6-8 inches. I didn’t feel pain when stretching, but it felt like my legs wouldn’t move any further. I’ve been nursing a hamstring injury for a few weeks, so I decided to visit the osteopath to check if I’d got any alignment issues.

I went to see him on Tuesday and, sure enough, my pelvis was misaligned a little. He put it back and on Tuesday night a did a bit of stretching and it felt good. Last night I tried it out again and there was a little more progress. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to get back to normal, but I’m confident it will be soon.

As a result of all this drama I’ve not been doing my back bend practice much, but last night I made a firm commitment to start again, so I have a couple of weeks until my next progress shots.

Cheers

Tim…

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Back Bend Update…

As I thought, there is little or no progress!

Cheers

Tim…

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Links Page…

I’ve just added a Links page, with some links to assorted video clips I like.

The stretching has been a little eratic over the last few weeks. I seem to be back on target now, but I doubt the back bend progress shots for this month will be much good.

Cheers

Tim…

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Experimenting with new routines…

I’m experimenting with new stretching routines at the moment. Rather than holding stretches for a long time, or doing PNF, I’m trying short reps. Typically, I’m doing one of two things.

• Hold for a five count, then rest for a five count.
• Hold for a five count, switch to another stretch for a five count, then switch back.

I generally do 10+ reps of each stretch.

So far it feels really good, but maybe that’s just because it’s different. 

Cheers

Tim…

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Back Bend Update…

I’ve added the latest progress shot to the Back Bend Progress page.

Cheers

Tim…

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