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Hi Aiya, sounds like you're already on the right track. Just a few thoughts... With all of my beginner students I tend to focus heavily on the contraction part of the contract-relax sequence to first develop awareness of what is being stretched. The relaxation and flexibility aspects come later. Also I want the clearest possible signal between the brain and what's being stretched, so I try to remove anything that may be a distracting or overwhelming sensation. You may find unilateral stretches better for this purpose than bilateral ones as this will instantly halve the amount of sensations being processed, and gentle contractions better than harder contractions as you want only the muscles actually under stretch to switch on, and not all of the other synergists and stabilisers. Good luck with it and let us know how you progress.

Is it a good idea to deadlift while suffering from back pain? Let's find out! Deadlift: 1x3x135kg + 1x4x122,5kg Performance suffered a bit, of course, but overall I can't complain. I felt sensations in my right lumbar during the movement and some soreness afterward, but nothing major. Pull-ups: 3x6 Chest dips: 3x7 Triceps dips: 2x5

I am pleased that it didn't seem to do you any harm. For me, the answer is the usual "it depends". I have suffered varying degrees of acute lower back pain for decades. But I generally find that it is most stable, when I am deadlifting heavy on an at least semi-regular basis. My back seems to enjoy the occasional challenge. Nothing else keeps it happy in the same way. If it is stiff, because I slept poorly (all the damn time), or spent too long carrying the 5yo, or worked all day in the garden; deadlifting is my best friend. If it is experiencing an acute bout of debilitating spasm, I would never be able to get into position to lift the bar in the first place. For everything in between, I find I have to make judgement calls; just as you did.

I wonder about using small repetitive stretches (not intended to increase range) going into and out of the comfortable maximum position, to develop the awareness of what a stretch feels like. (I also strongly agree with Nathan's comments; particularly sensations from areas like the wrists - and I would include ankles and fingers, but not use the neck)*. As pointed out, I also guess that one problem with having a tight insensitive body, is that it is so easy to go to the final position that everything locks up immediately, and this becomes the normal sensation, so is not experienced. In my (very mixed) class I have some who are very tight when trying to move towards the pancake position (in other words, they dont even manage to get the pelvis level, let alone tilted forward, when sitting with legs wide-ish apart). I get them to put their hands on the ground at the side and behind their legs, and make small repetitive circling movements with the pelvis (some dont even manage that). At least I hope this is a beginning in the movement, because any attempt to get them to lean forwards just leads the hips locking up and them feeling nothing. I'm not really sure that this has made any difference however. Its an older (60-70 yr group), so I expect progress to be slow anyway, but at least I hope I'm stopping them from getting any tighter. *i.e. body awaress exercises. Earlier, there was a post on "unusual movements" as an exercise, which I think Kit pinned. We do this routinely in class. Jim.

The wall and floor pec and bicep stretches are fantastic, you'll find those in the master shoulder flexibility program along with the ring single arm reach. They won't give the same result but they are solo and you get to compare left-right differences which is an additional benefit. If you don't have access to that program yet, get it. Otherwise, you can check out one of Emmet's video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ7tgOHj9vM

Hi TonyW, a very general recommendation is that gentle stretching, limbering, mobilisation, movement etc. can be done daily while deeper stretching into new ranges of motion (using the contract-relax method) can be done once or twice per week. All depends on how your body recovers from those deeper sessions. For rounded shoulders or hunched forward posture I'd definitely add this partner pec minor stretch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mPbEggRY_k And for internal rotation of the shoulders (subscapularis), you could also try this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syBMUZmyJlA Also… hip flexors! Enjoy.