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In addition to the physical based activities I share, I'm going to try to also share some things I'm learning (both on the forum, and other resources) for both myself and perhaps for others who may stumble on this thread. I often like just randomly stepping through threads on this forum and the biggest takeaways come from other members; in this scenario, this user shared an article on "internal performance" vs "external performance." Earlier this week, I shared how I "pushed" myself during the hamstring lunge C+R. I felt that this "push" differs to my previous attempts over the years, where I did NOT listen to my body when it was sending me pain signals. The sensations during this hamstring lunge was ... a different type of ... signal. My body was resisting but not in a painful way. For this reason, I felt comfortable going beyond my current level. Anyways, from the YouTube video that was shared, I extracted my favorite snippet:

200 viewings!! I can imagine though having seen some newbuilds in the UK. Swiss building is for sure very high spec, and the trades are very specialised and generally very skilled and proud of their work, so as least it defintely shouldn't leak! I hadnt really thought about the energy cost of such builds. It's ironic as it is basically specified as a "passiv haus" to minimise energy use, triple glazing, ventilation with heat recovery, automatic blinds, solar roof, hot water from community heat factory etc etc. I guess it's the same claim as electric cars with zero [tail pipe] emissions.

That must be SO exciting to see! It is, isn't it? The sheer energy contained in modern housing (especially the concrete and steel) is staggering, when you see it. But, being Swiss-built, will last a long time and it probably won't leak. I'm afraid that we cannot say the same thing here about locally built apartments. We looked at about 200 over five years – believe it or not – before we bought the one we're in now. The strata reports, as they called here, were devastatingly critical of the building standards of most of the apartments we looked at. There is one multi story apartment in Wollongong, for example, that was finished three years ago and has never been inhabited because a building certificate could not be issued for it. It actually has a visible lean as the foundations crumble. You honestly can't make this stuff up. Best of luck for your build, and you're right: we cannot influence the US elections, but I do fear for democracy. Perhaps this was inevitable. Best, Kit

It looks beautiful Kit! Had a virtual visit courtesy of google street view. Delighted you have both found a new nest to settle in after some quite tumultuous years! Do you have a mooring for the boat nearby too? Our place is gradually revealing itself in 3D having committed the project off 2D plans and site visits. The first floor slab has been poured, the amount of concrete and rebar is mind boggling. The lake is the Vierwaldstättersee, about 250m away, you can just see the "Badi" bathing area and there's a rowing club next to that I will definitely look into. Patience. We cant influence the US outcome so there's not much point fretting about it imo, but the quality of the people and debate is indeed depressing.

Great to hear from you, Danny. We also have moved (to a South Coast town called Kiama, pron. Kie-yama); just beautiful. Surf Beach (and park) directly across the road from our front door. We bought a small two bedroom apartment (deliberately; downsizing became a necessity!) with a great kitchen. It's three minutes from the electric train station (I mention this, because this station is the beginning of the electric line that goes to the heart of Sydney, in two hours). We walk everywhere. And between the front door and the surf beach is a set of decent chinup bars... I was sold immediately! Great result from the Great North Run—"very little DOMS" is what we all hope for! I am going to write up my current play routine; my legs are the strongest they've been in years, and no weights! And then there was the debate last night... I am hoping for a reprieve from the madness of recent years!

Exactly. It turns out the small things are big things! :)

Day 118 of stretching and flexibility journey Day 03 of following my own program Squaring the hips seems to be, for me, the biggest bang for the bunk, in terms of body adjustments when stretching the quads during the lunge position. Yes, the contract and relax (i.e. dragging knee towards front) and driving the heel (of the target leg) back towards the wall increase the intensity of the stretch, but my current feeling is that it's easy to cheat/avoid hitting the hip flexor when the hips are not squared. Anyways, I'll probably start introducing some adjustments (i.e. revert back to some earlier modifications) to reduce the intensity of the lunge since I'm struggling to hold the lunge position for more than 5 deep breathes (whereas with certain hamstring stretches — my previous worst enemy, now friend — I can hold for as long as 2-3 minutes). Also, I am constantly experiencing joy when I happen to find myself get into a position (e.g. cross legged at the computer) that normally I hesitate due to anticipatory pain. Yes — there's still lingering pain but the magnitude of the pain has reduced substantially. Another tiny little victory.

Great North Run half was last Sunday. Considering much less diligent training and dragging an extra 4kg around 2.5 minutes slower was fine, especially as set out on a goal pace that would have been about 6.5 minutes slower then decided after 5k that was way too slow, and cranked it up and ran quite a heavy negative split, last km in 4'30, 45s faster than average pace, so still had too much in the tank. Most importantly no injuries and very little DOMS afterwards. Definitely time to focus a bit more on strength and mobility and find some variety from the running heading into the cooler weather and shorter days. Otherwise on the golf front having some good matchplay success but scoring rounds have hit a bit of a plateau. Generally life is more settled though still a bit waiting for the big move next year. House goes on sale soon so it's becoming more real progressively. Hope all are well.

Oh, also did some more Yamana body rolling and welcome back stretch marks (which tend to only show up when working pecs and shoulders; other areas like quads and hamstrings unaffected)

Day 117 of stretching With second pass of starter program complete, I'm now on day 02 of following my own stretching routine: screenshot of my "plan" below. I have become aware of my (very ingrained) habit of overthinking to a point of paralysis and resisted the urge to create the "perfect" program and instead, continued on the theme of just showing up and stretching. Though the first 100 days of stretching I deliberately tossed out all expectations, objectives, goals — apart from developing consistency — I'm noticing that with certain positions (like the forward fold below) that suddenly, as if overnight, there's been an exponential increase in range of motion (ROM). It's true what I read about in the forums, blogs, videos: at first, there's little to none, visible progress. Very glacial. Then as if suddenly, there seems to be what appears (and feels) like sudden bursts of breakthroughs. I'm mindful of my desire to "push"; I feel confident in doing so as long as 1) I move slowly and 2) I'm relaxed 3) I'm deeply and rhythmically breathing. In the past, "pushing" was accompanying with tension running throughout my whole body and unable to breath. Not anymore. Really excited about the forward fold progress. I used to think that this position was ALL hamstrings and now have become aware of the lower back's significant role in this movement.

"both inspiring and intimidating, surrounding by many people who've been practicing long before they could even speak." To learn classical ballet, you have to be able to put up with humiliation. Because if the teacher is good, you will be getting lots of corrections (in front of the whole class, of course). You only know when you've got something right, when they start correcting you on something else. Of course one tries to hide in the crowd. That falls to pieces rather when in the big travelling moves they say "why dont we do it from the corner in twos?" (I know why not!). Then you have to do it in front of everyone else, with everyone looking on. The trick I learned, is to go early, and pair yourself with a good one. Then you hope the class will all be looking at the good one (to learn if possible), not at you. The tendency is to go as late as possible, then you will have two useless ones going together (and nobody to model yourself on if its a complicated sequence). Even worse, if they run out of pairs, you may have to do it on your OWN. No escaping everyones' eyes then. But you do get to hang out with lots of gorgeous young women with perfect bodies in figure-hugging clothing. And they're NICE to you as well! (out of pity, probably).

I love everything about this post. From denial to acceptance about one's own (stiff) body. What did really surprise me was that even after several years of yoga, your body was still tight (unless the type of Yoga didn't focus on flexibility because in that case, that makes sense). Now, as a 36 year old who got into street style dance within the last year, I admire your willingness to live your dreams, to pursue classical ballet — at age 52! I've taken a couple ballet classes and find the whole environment both inspiring and intimidating, surrounding by many people who've been practicing long before they could even speak. Not only that, you continued on and proceeded to perform too. Bravo! It's fascinating and motivating and admiring to see someone go from "hmm, I'm having challenges sitting crossed leg" to eventually teaching stretch therapy classes.

The forum system's approach to "liking" is pathetic but, old friend, I LIKE this very much! More to come.

Update then on my own transition to a new life. Age 45, I was an uptight inhibited scientist, tight body, in denial of my body and of physical activity generally (also medical issues had held me back when younger). Emigrated from the UK to Australia, which was the beginning of a new life. I then discovered it was difficult sitting cross-legged, and decided to do something about it. Started yoga, tried many different styles, learned a lot, but all the time kept coming back to the same hatha yoga teacher. Not much happened to my tight body for a few years. But then I decided, as a scientist, I should experiment and find out ways to overcome my inflexibility. I discovered that by absolutely exhausting the muscles first, they would not pull back so much, so I could stretch them. I started to make progress. The teacher, seeing my keenness, introduced me to Kit's work. Also meanwhile, I decided to live my dreams, and started classical ballet (age 52). One thing led to another, and my dance school started performing dance pieces in concerts - and we found that dance comedy went over well. Not all of us were good dancers, and if you keep the audience laughing they tend to overlook deficiencies in technique. That led to an interest in clowning, and also performing using flexibility. Performed (solo or small group) in local cabarets, on stage at international Contortion Conventions (among the best contortionists in the world; I contributed by adding some light relief and comedy), have been invited onto Britains Got Talent and Austrlalia's Got Talent (didnt do well in either by the way, but that was OK by me). At 78, still stretching (legs better than ever, spine much worse). I've been teaching regular (bi-weekely at first, now weekly) ST classes using Kit's technique, but am not performing so much now (though havent given up). So what is the conclusion? That you can attempt to live your dreams, at any age. Do so!

Congratulations: a little milestone, there. Keep going!

Keeping this one short. Final post (related to second pass / round at Starter Course). Program 21 out of 21 ✅

I'm in the middle of actively "programming" a 6 week routine for myself. And today, I wanted to start off the morning with practicing the squat position and holding it for several minutes, following (more or less) the same routine (by Olivia) that I had discovered on August 19 (this comment). Unfortunately, as soon as I put myself in the squat position, I felt a twinge of sharp pain located around the IT band, lower part of the hamstring. This sensation is all too familiar and I recalled how, some instances in the past 100 days, I've been able to self-diagnose the problem — something that brings me lots of joy, as someone (like many others here) value independence. So, I eased out of the squat position and then stretched out my right hamstring (again, what once was a source of frustration has now become source of joy) for a couple minutes, then returned to the squat position and: voila, pain gone. There's something truly satisfying about being able to diagnose ones own pain, especially in the past I would see PT after PT after PT, who would prescribe generic exercises (to their defense, I wasn't able to clearly communicate the sensations going on in my body so how could they pinpoint the problem). Of course, I know it'll take time for the "IT" band pain to fully dissipate but I have faith and know that time will come. In any case, almost every time I experience the 1) pain 2) self-diagnose 3) stretch 4) pain relief , I am reminded of a quote from one of Kit's articles. Though the article centered on diagnosing and treating sciatic pain by relaxing the piriformis, I find that the advice can be applied more generally to other muscles: [^1]: https://stretchtherapy.net/piriformis-and-its-role-in-sciatica-for-students/

Spend time on your toes (I do this every day) and shift your weight back and forth, and go higher and lower. Strength in the feet is critical. If you have some weights, hold these in front of you while you do this.

Please try this exercise: Learning how to activate supraspinatus (the rotator cuff muscle you may have hurt) will both loosen and strengthen the area.

Neither did they—and (we think not coincidentally) many of these students had back pain that had not responded to other interventions. Loosening the quads–hip flexors together was perceived by these students as a massive release of tension in the lower back muscles. And yes, they were surprised by both their own inflexibility in this particular ROM, and the same in other flexible people. Many of these students had decent front splits (but always through hamstring length and not hip flexor length) too, but the ROM at the hip joint was radically reduced when the back leg was flexed at the knee. This is why we have so many HF and quad exercises. My solo quad-HF exercise reveals this dramatically on workshops and in classes: We ask everyone to do the relaxed back leg version first, and see/feel what depth they can get that way (we teach in mirrored spaces, so this is readily visible) then we repeat the exercise with the back leg loosely folded. The majority can't even get the thigh aligned with the spine in this version—but consider this for a moment: how can you run efficiently if you don't have this ROM when in a loaded stretch position? To run efficiently, you need this ROM in a completely relaxed way!

> it's possible to have loose quads (when stretched on their own) and loose hip flexors (when stretched by themselves), and very reduced ROM when both ends of these muscles groups are stretched at the same time—this is completely unexpected by flexible people (like dancers and gymnasts) but we have seen this literally hundreds of times, both in the clinic and on workshops. This is very interesting and not something I would've expected. Out of plain curiosity: were the flexible people (e.g. dancers, gymnasts) surprised to see OTHER individuals who had loose quads and loose hip flexors with reduced ROM on both ends when stretched at the same time, or surprised that they themselves (i.e. the dancer/gymnastic) had reduced ROM in that same scenario?

I'm about to start creating my own 6 week program for the target muscle groups — shoulders, feet/ankles, hips — and last night (while practicing dance), I had reattempted a beginner version of a dance move (Hopak) where in a squat position, you kick out alternate legs. I noticed a huge discrepancy in both feeling and inability between the two sides. When single leg squatting (on the tip toes) of my leg side, I can kick out my right leg. At the moment, I cannot perform the same movement on the other (right side). Looking at the photo/videos below, I had originally thought that the sole issue was a tight (RIGHT) hamstring. However, I actually think that is PART of the challenge but looking it a bit closer, I noticed that I cannot support my full body weight on the tip toes of the right foot. Perhaps the two (tightness in hips, weakness in foot/ankle) are related however as part of the next six weeks, I'm going to (continue) loosening the hamstring AND (continue) strengthening the foot/ankle muscles. Then I'll retest in about 6 weeks.

> but when you just feel like doing a follow along, pick one of the part three programs which are approximately intermediate standard. That is the kind of flexibility that most people really need after all. That's a good idea. I actually forgot momentarily that I had originally purchased the mastery course and that that still sits there as a resource, assuming that's what you are referring to when you say one part of the three programs. > And thank you so much for your detailed commentary and experiences. Absolutely. I've always (since I was young) enjoyed documenting and sharing (the various journeys) and on some level, though I am moving towards a direction in my life where I'm just doing me, part of me feels like this forum operates like a community and as such, has helped me (perhaps without folks realizing it) with sustaining some levels of motivation.

That is the gold, my friend: we cannot feel these changes happening when they're happening, but in time the results become obvious to everyone.

The chiropractor's tests are not as accurate as the standing test I described in the clip above; there are many reasons for this claim. Nonetheless, let us assume that you do have a structural leg-length difference (let's use the shorthand of LLD from now on) of 1cm, or more. The 11 studies I referred to briefly above were whole-body X-ray studies (just what you measure on a whole-body X-ray to determine LLD led to a vigorous debate all by itself). A 10mm LLD was claimed to be the point of significance but with zero arguments to support this; the 10 studies subsequent to the first one simply accepted that significance point and ran with it. Lesser differences can be significant, depending on lifestyle. 5mm is definitely enough to cause all the problems you have noted and a great many more. Let us accept the chiropractor's assessment of 10mm. Heavy lifting will exacerbate all the adaptations the body must necessarily do to adapt to the asymmetrical forces acting one it, because the body needs to distribute these forces as widely as possible throughout its structure, muscles, bones, fascia. All have to adapt (this is automatic and out of our control, BTW; and not a problem). An induced scoliosis is one such adaptation; I have one myself, but it is of no significance now. You can see my scoliosis in the video above; it is exaggerated when I put the blocks under my longer leg, and when I put the blocks underneath the shorter leg, my spine becomes more or less completely straight. So—what to do? First, adopt a relaxation practice, daily, and commit to three months. If you do this, you will notice many changes, and most will be permanent by then. The nexus here is that the majority of the discomfort in your body is coming from the asymmetrical adaptations your body must have made; all the stronger places are also holding more tension. Learning how to really relax will make an unimaginably large difference in your daily life, more than literally anything else you can do. Held tension is what is causing the "irritability" in the body you mention in your first post. As many others have reported in this forums, you cannot imagine the effects of this before you feel them—so get started today. Some background here: https://stretchtherapy.net/relaxation-wiki/ Next, a simple stretching program is needed, and the key muscle groups to loosen are the three hip flexors. You will need to concentrate especially on the partner hip flexor stretches, and the quad-hip flexors stretches—it's possible to have loose quads (when stretched on their own) and loose hip flexors (when stretched by themselves), and very reduced ROM when both ends of these muscles groups are stretched at the same time—this is completely unexpected by flexible people (like dancers and gymnasts) but we have seen this literally hundreds of times, both in the clinic and on workshops. Here are the best exercises: https://www.youtube.com/@KitLaughlin/search?query=quad hip flexor You will notice that you are much tighter on one side with any of these exercises—this is a major consequence of your LLD, and the main cause of the SIJ "rigidity and stiffness", too. You'll recall that the origins of all the fibres of psoas and iliacus are the anterior surfaces of all the lumbar vertebrae, and they share fascia with the lowest part of the diaphragm, and quadratus lumborum, and their insertions in the femur mean these muscles have significant leverage on the rotational positions of the vertebrae (as well, this is a major factor in the scoliosis you mentioned). The reason it's essential to balance quad length is because of its attachment (anterior inferior iliac spine, or AIIS)—asymmetric resting length here is a very significant contributor to anterior pelvic tilt and rotation; again visualise the scoliosis. We have found that the greatest bang for the buck (in terms of results gained for time spent) is to do two strong stretching sessions a week only (one session can concentrate on the quad-hip flexor exercises; the other on only the partner hip flexor exercise) and need take no longer than 15–20 minutes. The third recommendation is a small (5mm I suggest) heel lift in the shoes you train in. If you train in bare feet a quarter kg plate underneath your heel when doing any of the vertical load-bearing exercises will work just fine. Use something thinner if this feels too much. This heel lift needs to be relatively non-compressible. I used a piece of leather that was about 6 mm thick in my Olympic lifting boots, and in the days when I used to wear shoes a similar lift in them as well. The fourth recommendation is to concentrate on unilateral training for six months or so (single-leg strengthening in particular) because while you might not feel this, one leg and glute will be weaker than the other. The general rule is to loosen the tighter of any pair of muscles, and to strengthen the weaker of the pair. This way whole body symmetry will be attained, in time. Doing the relaxation exercises speeds these adaptations, too. Comfort in the body (along with improved function) will be the result.