I've been performing the stretching routines usually every other day depending on how I feel and so far don't have much soreness.

I've been off of weights and gymnastics for a couple of months outside of some simple bodyweight exercises.

What I'm trying to understand is how to approach going back to more intense gymnastics / weight training after a couple of months off and stretching.

My assumptions are :

- Take it easy as I'll have access to new ROMs and sensations

- Do this to ensure the body has time to recognise these new ROMs and don't put too much force too soon otherwise the muscles / joints may strain

- 'Condition' i.e. slowly ramp the reps / volume in gymnastics to give the body time to acclimatise to the new ROMs

I'd love for some advice on how to go about this as I'd like to return to gymnastics but don't want to come back inappropriately

I am Phil. I am a 25 year old, I am not an absolute beginner, but someone unfortunately blessed with some restricted shoulder and hip movement. I was working on my front splits in the morning, but I found the stretching to be too intense, particularly for the morning when I am tighter. I have decided to make a conscious effort to improve my flexibility for a while now, I have not seen any major leaps or bounds just yet. I feel more comfortable in the splits and other poses like the cossack squat and deep squat. 

Since I have found big stretches in the morning to not feel good for my body, I have decided to focus on them later in the day. Really I just want consistency in the morning and not anything to scary for my nervous system. So I have chosen to focus on this absolute beginner series, mainly just to explore my body and deficiencies. I am finding it very enjoyable so far and I am looking forward to getting up and doing it.

So my question to you guys is, what type of stretches or movements do you like to do in the morning and  do you find it is normal for someone to be able to do stretching sessions in a day? At the moment my body feels better with less intense stretching in the morning and then following it up with an evening session.

Thanks

I guess my main goal would be to reduce the time I am tight. secondary goal would be just to get my stretches in at a convenient time - even though it might not be optimal.

for example:

1) in the morning it takes me ~ 2 hours to really loosen up...by then I'm off to work so I miss my chance schedule-wise. is there anything I can / should do first thing in the morning if I wake up like The Tin Man?

in the case it's hard for me to even get into a deep squat or touch my toes...where mid day I can do both of those

2) how about anything following an intense workout? like a very hard cycling session or very hard weight lifting session? or later that day/next day when I have DOMS from the workout?

thank you!

just wondering what everyone else has done to get the most of out this material / organize this all.

I am very much enjoying the starter course. I am having some trouble with organizing this. I understand this course is meant as a teach-a-man-how-to-fish course, but I am finding I really enjoy the follow along structure. The cues you give are excellent and I don't remember them all when I try on my own. 

and tbh I guess I am being a bit lazy in terms of programming. I love to just turn on a video and do it.

does anyone just keep cycling through all of the lessons? like just do 1 or 2 a day in order? or is there a list somewhere of all of the specific stretches? or should I just pick a handful and do them for a set period of time. 

I am rather equally full body inflexible so I am finding benefit from everything really. I can basically just turn on any lesson and it's great! but I know doing it without the follow along would be the most ideal so I can just do this whenever/wherever.

thank you!!

Not looking for shortcuts or anything like that. I just bought the Starter Course and I'm dedicated to going through it step by step.

I am >45yo male in good shape. I've done mobility and stretching on / off - so not super beginner but never found a consistent practice I enjoyed. I think I will really enjoy this type of stretching with the purpose being to learn how to relax.

anyway, as I go through, I would like to concurrently work on a fairly big limitation of mine. My Right Hip movement is fairly limited and it it gets pinchy towards the end range of movements in all directions. I feel like I struggle to even get to the muscle to stretch it because my joint kinda stops. I can fight through in some ranges of movement with adding weights, but it's an unpleasant pinching that's impossible for me to relax into - rather than an intense stretch.

got x-rays...it's not pretty but not awful. didn't get an MRI. no trauma I can think of - but thinking back I feel like I have always even as a kid slept in a position on my stomach with my Right hip bent up. quite a bit of sitting day to day.

I've tried banded hip capsule stretches. One thing that seems to get me a touch deeper is a 90/90 stretch with a block between my thigh and chest and I contract relax into the block then put weight on my back (or have someone help push me down). but my cold flexibility never really improves. 

anyway, any ideas for me to try as a supplement to my Start Course I'd appreciate. thank you!

I have really enjoyed the starter course and done most lesson 3 times now. 

I have been stretching pretty consistently for many years now, but one of the things I have always struggled with is folding the hips past 90 degrees - so if I was sitting with legs straight (or even standing) I can't really get the lower back and hips to fold past 90 degrees.

As I have been stretching my hamstrings a lot over the years and stretching standing trying to use my body weight rather than sitting, but not making much progress, I wondered if I should be approaching this challenge differently. Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you,

Stuart.

These cues are emphasised right from the start; in lesson 9 Olivia introduces them, then they're gone when Kit first treats Hip Flexors in Part 3 (lesson 16), return in lesson 21, and then are gone again in the Mastery courses Hip Flexor stretches.

I still need the bolster under the back knee to get a good hip flexor stretch, as per lesson 9, so it seems counter-intuitive to skip ahead to more advanced lessons. But my toes are extremely tight so they become a limiting factor. Is there any reason not to just forget about the cocked toe / heel back contractions and use the Solo Hip Flexor limber from the Mastery course, but with a bolster, until my toes are less tight?

i am new here, but i already profited from your knowledge! While doing the stretch therapy starter course, i discovered that i had a hard time keeping a straight back when sitting in a straddle position. I saw a post which recommended the wide legged elephant walk specifically for this issue, so i implemented it into my training (i do them 1-2 times a week, but only since 2-3 weeks). I attached a picture of me in this position. You can see me monitoring my form on my phone between my hands while i film myself with my laptop, which helps me a lot to keep up a good form during my exercises.

Now to my question, which is mostly out of interest: While i am in this position, my erector spinae muscles are working HARD! Does this mean i am too weak or too unflexible (or both)? And what would be your consequence out of this? Do some isolation work for those muscles (i don't do isolated core work except from bouldering 3x a week) or just keep doing the WLEW 1-2 times a week and leave everything as it is?

Thanks in advance and regards,

Timm

First, the seated legs apart poses are far and away my tightest, specifically through the glutes when trying to fold shoulder-to-thigh with a straight back, and along the sacrum as I go into spinal flexion between the thighs. I dread the ‘anti-tuck’, which is also preventing me sitting up straight in the seated piriformis stretch or in the tailor pose. It's so much tighter than everything else that I’m keen to make this my focus. But while there are seperate stretches with contractions for most of the muscles involved (upper hamstrings, piriformis, adductors), there’s seemingly only warm-up/limbering movements that get at these lines, and while those feel great, I'm not sure doing them alone, with no contractions, will lead to progress?

More fundamentally, when should one progress from an easier to a harder variation of the same stretch? I’m finding there are points where doing the harder version imperfectly seems to work the target muscle more powerfully, but at the cost of the form cues, such as how straight my back is or the position of my other leg. Is it better to move on and work on improving my form in the harder pose, or to stick with the easier pose until the other muscles involved are sufficiently limber to allow good form in the harder position (i.e. hip flexors catching up before moving on from the seated to advanced piriformis stretch)? Relatedly, how much overlap is there between the first, squat, component of the Mastery course and Part III of the Starter course? When will I know when I’d benefit from moving on?

Finally, the Tailor pose is doing wonders for me externally rotating the hip, but abducting the hip via the squashed frog (related to the first paragraph) is very tight for me, and not really progressing. In the video Olivia mentions that there are many more nuances to frog pose though, might you be able to point me toward somewhere these nuances are discussed?

I’m getting ready for my second run through of the starter course, which i simply ran one workout per day every day sequentially. I’m  thinking about switching things up a little bit for a more long-term plan. Because I lift weights five days a week Monday to Friday, my thoughts were to do one ST session right after each workout, and pick and choose workouts based on overall body part focus for each day, e.g. Monday: lower body dominant ST session; Tuesday: upper body dominant ST session; Wednesday: lower body dominant ST session; Thursday: upper body dominant ST session; and Friday: whatever I feel like that day, possibly an ST session targeting particular problem areas I’m trying to improve. I would also try to rotate ST workouts each week such that I’m cycling through most of them.

Thoughts?

I recently found an edition of Stretching & Flexibility, which I’m quite found of :). I’m still trying to master the daily 5, getting a better sensation of the stretches without getting injured.

The piriformis exercise though, tends to hurt my knees. The simple fact to cross on leg over the other, and hold the knee in my elbow, gives a twist in the knee that hurts after the exercise.

I have quite arched legs, not sure if that helps understanding.

1. Do you have a suggestion to stretch the piriformis that would relieve my knee from this twist and pain?

2. Do you have a suggestion to increase the flexibility in the knee?

Many thanks !

I've been having hip pain lately and was told that it is probably bursitis. I have previously purchased the Stretch Therapy Starter Course as well as the Overcome Back Pain Course. Could you recommend some lessons from these that I can do to help stretch the right area? Thanks!

This appeared to be the best place to post general questions, rather than course specific ones - I hope this is correct!

The first section of this post is to provide personal context, before diving into my question. A lot of this has been the result of self exploration/reflection so I apologise if any of the terminology is confusing. In lieu of any external framework of understanding what has been going on, I have sometimes ended up choosing my own words to capture the feeling of something.

I first ran into the Stretch Therapy system about 4 years ago. At the time I had been starting to accumulate a lot of nebulous body pain/issues in an around my back, neck and shoulders. These would manifest as hot, semi-sharp pains in response to certain movements. Some of them would be basically permanent (e.g. in the shoulder every time in response to pull-up like movements), others would have a sudden onset and then fade, often in response to seemingly arbitrary movements (e.g. I would twist my torso to pick something up and there would suddenly be intense heat and aching in say my middle back, associated by sharp pain with certain movements such as twisting my neck, which would slowly fade over days and weeks).

This started to happen more and more often, sometimes multiple times in a week, to the point where I would be pretty moderately debilitated. Things like putting a motorcycle helmet on, riding my bicycle etc would be intensely uncomfortable, and I would have underlying pain almost all the time. At the time I was not attuned to my body well, and was very much in a 'pushing my body for external goals/validation' mindset. I was doing a lot of calisthenics at the time, with a heavy focus on achieving impressive holds and looking good, rather than the internal sensations in my body.

Initially I attributed these sudden pains to 'clicking' my back out somehow, as they did come on almost immediately, and started getting chiropractic and physio treatment. This would provide some short term relief, but didn't seem to help much with reducing occurence. There was one experience I had where, after 2 weeks of very relaxing holiday sailing, swimming, reading etc I was lying down, and then did a crunch movement to sit up. There were three very solid, very deep almost 'thunks' in the middle of my back and I had an intense relieving heat spread across my back for almost 3 days and some of the more semi-permanent symptoms subsided. But this was an outlier I was unable to recreate in chiropractic treatment, and retrospectively would attribute to the relaxation rather than anything else.

I then became more and more interested in stretching and found that there were some stretches that would cause almost ecstatic relief (truly some of the most intense sensation I have felt in my life). These would vary over time, and often I would be unable to recreate the intensity of the first release. Some of the earliest were external rotator cuff, bicep and deltoid stretches, more recently chest, spinatus, trapezius and at present the central abdominal muscles, rectus abdominus and diaphragm. These were a distinctly different sensations I would get from stretching other muscles. Often one side would generate this feeling of relief, while the other would just feel as you would expect stretching to. I have also found that when these sudden pains come on, I can now partially diminish them by stretching them straight away.

Over the next few years I went on a long and slow journey (with plenty of dead ends) of learning to feel and understand my body better. Along the way I have experimented with:

• Stretching (sometimes amazing, often good, but sometimes made things worse) - primarily working from the Overcoming Neck and Back Pain book
• Limbering (almost always good) - walking, gentle movements, tapping, very unstructured typically
• Exercise (good, if done in a body-feeling-centred way, rather than a goal-driven-way) - things like surfing, squash, kitesurfing, running
• Meditation (mostly good, but seated position could make some pains worse)
• General relaxation (mostly good, but depends on how the relaxation interacts with my mental state (e.g. am I avoiding something else or truly relaxing)

And have come to the following understanding of what is causing a lot of this pain:

• I default to a lot of anxiety and worry, particularly under stress
• This anxiety/worry is manifested as chronic muscular tension
• The presence of this muscular tension predisposes me to cramp/spasm under innocuous movements (I have seen Kit mention cramp being the result of activation of contracted muscles)
• These cramps are the sources of these variable pains. This would explain why they occur in different places (e.g. it is not a recurring injury) and why they can be relieved immediately with stretching (again not a feature of an injury).
• I had a rib injury around 5 years (possibly a fractured/broken rib, or a cartilage injury of some kind, sustained while kitesurfing) which I suspect may have acted as the seed for a lot of this muscular tension to start to causing more severe issue, possibly by muscles around it tightened to protect it. I observed a year or two ago that the pattern of pain distribution seemed to be 'approaching' my left rib, as I have worked through different muscles (starting from the arm, moving into the shoulder, down the back and up the front). Some of the recent release I have had in and around the upper abdomine have had a very fundamental feeling to them.
• Some of these cramps have been semichronic, which is why they create such a huge sensation of release the first time, and then are diminished over time.
• When I have been 'stretching' and generating these releases, I have not been truly moving into new ROM, but simply release the muscle under cramp and restoring previous ROM.
• Stretching one muscle can put another into a contracted state, which is why sometimes stretching has made things work/caused a new pain. I have found this particularly difficult in and around the neck, where stretching on one side (scalenes) is difficult to do without the other side feeling uncomfortable.
• I also found that sometimes when releasing I would inadvertently 'move' the pain from one muscle to another (e.g. I would stretch the bicep and shift the pain to my deltoids).

I have been searching through the forums to find discussion on cramp/spasm but I have not been able to find too much and so thought I would pose the following questions here.

• What is the difference between muscular tension and cramp?
• Is it possible to have muscle undergo cramp for extremely long periods of time? (e.g. years) most of what I have read about cramp only discusses it as acute.
• I have seen Kit mention predisposition to cramp - could something like that be the cause of all this? Or do these patterns suggest an alternative source?
• Is it possible to 'shift' muscular spasm from one muscle to another?
• My current approach to dealing with this is heavily relaxation focused (meditation, dealing with stress, exercise etc) - are there any other possible solutions to explore?

Many thanks,

Bruce

Many years ago I started classical voice training with the hope of becoming an opera singer.  I had a persistent problem that I could not shake off and eventually gave up on music.  Every time I sang, within seconds or minutes I began to feel tension in the right side of my neck and upper right shoulder, eventually I would strain the vocal cords so badly that I just had to stop singing (and sometimes even talking!) for the day.  At some point in my search a highly trained Iyengar Yoga instructor told me I had a very tight diaphragm and that that caused me to place too much tension on the vocal cords in order to produce sound, which eventually hurt my neck and upper right shoulder muscles.  The problem got so bad that even talking stressed my muscles.  The problem was always random, meaning the time it took from starting to sing until I felt too much pain was always different, so I couldn't figure out what was causing it.  Eventually I just gave up...

...then I discovered this place and in the hope of addressing the problem (if the Yoga teacher's diagnosis was correct) and - who knows? - maybe even return to singing one day, I wanted to ask: 

Is there an ST exercise specifically for the diaphragm (and any other muscle related to voice production)?

Thank you so much!

P.S. I discovered ST right around the time Corona started so I managed to keep up a regular practice of the beginner's program for a few weeks until quarantines and lockdowns made life at home too difficult to continue.  The system did me wonders and I am extremely grateful for it.  Thank you, Kit and Olivia!

P.P.S. I just remembered that in a different context I was told I had very shallow breathing.  I'm sure that's also diaphragm related, no?

I apologize that this is not an ST related topic or even a stretching related topic, but I wanted to ask my question here because I feel I can truly trust your opinion of health in general.  I'm looking to incorporate a core strengthening routine into my week, alongside my ST routine, for no more than 30 minutes at a time.

Can you recommend such a routine on YouTube?  I know there are many many options there but perhaps there's one you are already familiar with and find the exercises (and the instructions) accurate and safe and effective?

Thank you!

Many years ago while working retail I developed a serious case of plantar fasciitis and could barely stand on my own feet. After months of careful, gentle stretching, I've always made sure to wear good shoes like Finn Comfort, and Haflinger slippers around the house.. seriously, I'd recommend these to anyone looking for stellar house shoes!

I've always had occasional cramping in the soles of my feet, but over the last year or so have realized that I can trigger spasms and painful cramps simply by raising my big toe and lowering my remaining toes.. I have difficulty exercising or even massaging my feet because this cramping/spasming is triggered regularly through the activity. It isn't a problem (thankfully) during regular walking, but does trigger when sleeping and my feet are twitching or moving during sleep.

I found Kit's detailed Foot Awakening Sequence on YouTube, but before I start into it, want to share that I don't believe flat footedness or overpronation is my issue.. can I use this sequence for any foot related  maladies I am looking to improve? Are there some other super gentle methods I can use to soothe the muscles in my feet to the point where I can graduate to other stretching programs like the ones I've invested in?

I have the Stretching & Flexibility book, and have just yesterday begun the ST Starter Course. Years ago, I ran and also regularly practiced yoga, but it fell by the wayside and now I'm a bit overweight and very inflexible. I'm finding I face a big issue with the inflexibility of my ankles - I cannot bend my feet back at all. I can point my toes all day long - that doesn't even feel like a stretch - but I cannot flex my foot the other direction. This gets in the way of many exercise movements, and now I see that it prevents me from getting into many of the stretching forms too. Where would you suggest I start to begin correcting this? I found this video mentioned in another post, Foot Awakening Sequence | Over-pronation ("flat" feet), bunions, high arches, foot/ankle mobility - YouTube, but that position about 10 minutes in? I can't get my knee within 6 inches of the floor when I'm on my toes like that. Even the first stretch in the Daily 5 is unattainable because I am literally on the tips of my toes with my toenails pushing into the floor. I know I didn't this way overnight, and I'm willing to put in the work, I'm just not sure where/how to begin if my feet aren't allowing me to practice basic stretches. Thank you for any input!

I have followed Kit (and yourself) for a number of years, and my stretching routine is based on your methods. A question for you please.  The hamstring and hip flexor stretches I use both come from a similar starting lunge position, with minor positioning alterations.  I find that both stretches stretch both the hamstring and hip flexors but to different degrees.  My main question is, does it matter what order they are done in?  e.g, hip flexor first, then hamstring, or the other way around?  Actually, this question could be expanded to include all stretches, but my question starts with the 2 stretches specifically.

I hope this is clear?

Olivia's reply:

Thanks for your message. My apologies for my slow response – crazy times.

I wonder if there is a fascia release exercise (maybe with a partner) for the lower back / glutes area? Or is it the pancake one that you linked to? No need to respond urgently, as I'm sure you're busy, but it would be amazing to see this topic featured later; every single of my friends I referred to your site actually struggles with the lower back, so I'm sure it will be very well received.

Thank you!

Olivia's reply:

Assuming you have watched the thoracic fascial release, note that Kit worked on the whole of my back, including the lower back – in doing this, he (we) found that the most stuck part in my body was the middle back (thoracic), hence the name of the video. The bigger point about this release is that, in doing forward bends like the pike position I'm in in the video, I felt that the restriction was in my calves – a muscular/neural restriction –  but actually the restriction was upstream of that, in the middle back.

The pancake video is a release for gracilis–inner hamstrings.

I know from your separate email to Kit that you have both the Starter and Overcome Back Pain Courses. Please focus on working with the material in those and see how that changes your body, including your lower back and glutes. Related to my point above, and as our long experience with working with tens of thousands of students, exploring all ranges of movement and identifying then redressing left–right asymmetries is sufficient to making one's body completely comfortable. The key here is do the work, pay attention to the feelings and your capacity to relax, with no regard for the outcome: in a few months you will be living in a different body.

I often judge (to harshly) myself as a stiff person and i have been trying several methods to become more flexible, on advice from flexible people (yeah, you just have to stretch, push it, don't mind the pain it will go away, maybe you're getting too old (i'm 46 now), you don't do it enough, don't mind the soreness, try this, try that etc).

I am a Pilates teacher and where i feel my advantage in some exercises when it comes to my already pre-tensed muscles (planking, holding static positions etc), i definetely feel  that i'm too stiff. I got a fairly good knowledge of how "the body works" - but since i subscripbed to this course, my eye-opener was definetely RELAXATION. I used to go to bed and feel ache in my legs from tension and i had no clue on how to relax them and that that would be possible. It's still difficult for me to do, some muscles in my body are to eager to stay awake late at night when the rest of us want to go to sleep ;). Anyway, this relaxation part is so important to me - even if i am a fairly calm and relaxed person (on the outside), i now understand that i probably keep much tension inside (anger, sadness...life - whatever emotion or struggle). I'm sure i'm not alone, but this is hard for people to admit, i guess. 

Anyway, I startet this course a couple of weeks ago, and i have been doing the exercises around every third day, or more. I feel a huge benefit of the hamstring stretches, they are more relaxed and less aching. My questions are about the hamstring-quads AND the backbend:

1. My hamstrings are tight. My quads are also tight, and even though i feel my quads less on a day-to-day basis, they are (for the time being) the most painful (as in deep internal uncomfortable stretch pain) to stretch. In my head, when imagining both of these huge muscles really tight, i would think (logically) that this would not be possible, or would shorten the leg physically (haha with both musclegroups being tighter and shorter), or would create some kind of crooked shape in the hip-leg-lower back-region - which i don't have. How is it even possible for these agonist-antagonist muscles to be so thight at the same time ? Is this related in some way? My calf muscles are also a bit tight, but i can easily stretch them and it feels good right away, no pain, no felt tension here. 

So, can this be related? Are the quads the ones holding "back" the hamstrings in some way? It feels like it. Like the quads are holding myself up, they're my front "armor" but i feel they are also retracting (it's like they are always ready to figth but at the same time so scared), holding back - together with my chest muscles. And my upper back muscles AND hamstrings are tight/not working as they should/could.

2. When i do the backbend exercise on the belly with straight arms, it feels good. I can relax well into the pose, but i have my lower back pinching some. Not much, but it feels awkward. When we do this exercise in Pilates, it's less a stretch exercise and more a strength exercise. We tilt the pelvis to protect the lower back (so this pinching won't occur). But here, apparently, lower back is supposed to relax and not work.

I wonder which "mecanism" lies behind this pinching - is this muscles being squeezed or is it nerve pinching......it's more unconfortable than painful, but it feels a bit disturbing. I also have a client who felt this, without really feeling the stretch in the front body. She couldn't go deeper into the stretch because of the pinching. To her it felt like if she was hurting her body, not that it was very painful but she started worrying about this.

Thank you for your input and thoughts about these questions.

Vibeke

When I do the first pec stretch in ABSS-Prog-8 (arm stretched up wall at 45) I get quite intense pins and needles in the fingers by the end of the stretch, as well as a bit of neck tightness.

Both subside when I come out of the stretch.

I found this by searching the forums:

...and I've added a easy version of this as part of my daily practice.

It feels like the pins and needles aren't doing any harm.

Any tips on how to progress this, or any reason for me to be concerned?

Thanks

Dan