Kit_L

As well: Definitely worth trying.

So, please show me the position you're using to determine that you do not have much internal rotation—that will help me. And a few comments on what you wrote immediately above: That will be your hip flexors you feel, most probably, and you may be inadvertently using these to pull yourself forwards (any muscle used in its shortened end of the range of movement is likely to spasm). This can feel like a block. Or the hip flexors may be holding significant attention, in which case they will not flow/squash out of the way in that position and that will feel like a block. In any case, get down on the floor and try stretching both hip flexors, and then try the elephant walk again, lowering yourself with your arms and not pulling yourself forward with your groin muscles and see if that feels any different. Another thing that you can try, which will help the same range of movement is to lie on your back, keep the back pressed to the floor, and pull one knee gently into the chest. Contractions can be done here too, simply by trying to push the knee away from you while you hold it in position, and then restretch. Last, in this phase of your flexibility journey, do not do any exercise too often. Any exercise that you experience as intense, for whatever reason, do only once a week or once every four or five days at the most. All of the adaptation occurs when you're not stretching, and you have to give the body time to recover. As well, use as many of the mobility exercises as you can on your resting days. And yes, daily practice of the relaxation exercises will help enormously, but this also takes time.

Ah: the rod of correction... a genuine game changer for calf muscles. Go slowly.

Hello from Australia. Are you following one of our courses presently? How (what have you done) to determine that you lack this range of movement? That is what the Starter Course will teach you. It includes access to all our lying relaxation recordings, too. It begins at the very beginning. And please read this: https://stretchtherapy.net/relaxation-wiki/ Once you've read it, listen to the setup instructions, and download one of the recordings, turn off your phone, lie down listen and follow. Fear and anxiety are rife these days – and with good reason. But, definitely, it is possible to teach the body and mind a new way to be in the face of the chaos. And once you learn how to be more relaxed in daily life, suddenly you become aware that you are not feeling anxious. This can be a very nice little shock!

The reason for suggesting the advanced piriformis pose, the one I'm demonstrating, is that that stretches the sacral end of that muscle and the stretching effect is completely different from all the other piriformis exercises that stretch the end of the muscle that attaches to the thigh bone itself. And make sure that you keep your back straight, stick the butt out a bit to make sure that is the case, and lean forward over the mid-shin line, if you cannot lean forward over the line of the foot itself. Leaning forward over the mid-shin line will make the exercise easier, and will stretch part with that same muscle (plus the glute). Once the whole muscle loosens up, then you might be able to do the full version – but don't cheat: the bending must happen at the hip joint only.

In my view, everything needs to be stretched—using the example you gave, of stretching the calf muscles, of course you need to stretch the shin muscles and the whole of the front of the foot itself – many reasons including trying to avoid shin splints if you're a runner. My strong suggestion is to avoid trying to find underlying principles here and simply work on everything, slowly, over time. This is why we recommend the starter course to literally everyone, even if they're already flexible – what we have found is human beings are expert in cheating, and what cheating means really is nothing more than avoiding discomfort. What that means is that we always avoid the areas that we instinctively or subconsciously know are tight. So we have to eventually, over time, work everything slowly. The mantra of Stretch Therapy™ is no unnecessary tension – and you will need to try a stretch for everything in order to know where you hold tension. Having said that, the vast majority of the population hold way too much tension, or to use your language, have way too little range of movement in quads and hip flexors. As for your second question about range of movement changes, that's just a snapshot in a moment. What is important is your cold flexibility and its changes over time, and we are talking years here not minutes or weeks or months. I hope that's helpful and if I didn't answer your question, ask it in a different way.

Have you tried doing the advanced piriformis stretch? The goal, solo or assisted, is the place the centre of your chest on your foot with a straight back – which very few people can do. But all of the positions that go from the upright to that end position will help this problem, potentially. Please give this a try before you try the pancake and see whether that changes anything. Google has being enshittifying content creators like me for a very long time now – I could not even watch that video myself because two ads were blocking me. Give it a go anyway, get through those ads, and then watch the video.

I understand your goals re. flexibility, @daisysheldon, but the relaxation dimension helps both the acquisition of flexibility that you have stated that you need, and the much wider goal of feeling comfortable in your body, especially as your performing. Not to mention the wider again effects on the whole of life. As for your question about the mastery program, it is more a recipe list designed to let you target specific flexibility problems, assuming you have done all of the Master the Squat work and know your body from following those instructions. Most of the YouTube videos are both instructional and follow along. There is no conflict between these two sources. For you, specifically, now, the quadriceps and hip flexor exercises need to be your priority and you can use either the mastery course as a source or the YouTube videos to guide you. There is no contradiction between these two. If I have not understood what you were trying to get across, please just ask any question you want.

@daisysheldon: do yourself a favour, and read this: https://stretchtherapy.net/relaxation-wiki/ Nothing will affect your dance, and the experience of being in your body, more profoundly than learning how to relax deeply and to carry that experience into daily life (and dance!). All the recordings are free. Many users have reported to us that doing these practises daily were the most significant changes they have ever made in their lives. The same practice will have a profound effect on your quest to become more flexible too.

“Be here now” is the title of a famous book by Baba Ram Das (formerly Richard Alpert). Distraction is the mantra of the modern era, and many forces play into this to make it most people‘s way of being in the world. One of the great virtues of doing the kind of work you’re both doing is that your attention is directed to sensations in the body – which, by definition, are ephemera and exist only in the continually unfolding present. I could go on, but these are only words pointing to direct experience. Dwelling in the direct experience more often, as you two are, is the way forward.

I can only do a brief reply today, Daisy, as I lost my computer when the boat went down last Sunday. New computer comes this week. Two things I know immediately looking at your images: there is no doubt that your quads and hip flexors are extremely tight – there is literally zero extension happening at your hip joint. When you add that to the excellent flexibility you have in your lumbar spine and your thoracic spine, you have just identified how your body cheats in this movement! This is not a problem. Go to our YouTube channel, and search on “quad and hip flexor” – you will see that there are a number of exercises there that stretch both end of the muscle called rectus femoris at the same time and the organisation of the exercises stops the lumbar spine extending instead of that area stretching. Please let me know if you can find these. In one session I would try two or three of them and try to let that front top area of your thigh relax as much as possible. We have had many very flexible people on workshops have exactly the same problem. The key is to lock the pelvis in a position, and then you can actually stretch this area. The second thing is that six weeks is no time at all in the stretching world. However, once you find the correct exercise for your particular body body, then it will unlock fairly quickly.

Keep going. All perfect. Your pistol progressions look excellent to me, and that cramping in rectus femoris will go away, in time. I developed the pistol squat variations which are all on YouTube for me personally to get over exactly the same problem: cramping in rectus femoris. Definitely a weakness in my body. But any of the variations will develop strength in the legs and hips – so if you find that the cramping is stopping you, then do one of the other variations. All of these can be weighted as well and you’ll only need a few kilograms.

@Gareth O Connor: no worries, everything backed up. Lost all my tools though – two big bags and a metal toolbox. Oh well the virtues of minimisation and downsizing! @JamesFlex87: I can’t get the iPad to quote your reply back to you, but the last paragraph’s question is yes to both of those things.

I have to be brief today, James, because my computer is at the bottom of the sea after my boat sank. So I have to use the iPad which is a hopeless interface for me. Do the back of the knee work # first, then the bent leg hamstring stretch that I recommended second and stop doing the front splits work for a week or two and see what happens. When you over-challenge any muscle group there is always the possibility that protective tension will manifest because it feels like it’s under siege. If you do the bent leg stretch properly you’ll be stretching the muscles and nerves in a completely different way than when you do the front splits exercise. In my experience, front splits is an advanced exercise and you’re not ready for that just yet.

This is exactly what the ST system is about. My emphasis—you can't feed it what it wants and needs without playing/trying/tinkering. What you write is precisely what we try to teach all students ("play with this; what does that feel like; how can that feeling be moved or changed; and so on"). This is a deep insight, and it will be impossible to hold you back now! Keep going. Tinkering is the key word.

Try the floor lunge version that includes folding the back leg up—it's the stretching of both ends of rectus femoris at the same time that makes the wall quad–HF version so strong. Here's a follow-along version: It's not the same, but it's more intense than the version that does not fold the leg. Try both and please report back.

For most exercising, one day exercising and two days off is a very good place to start the process of calibration – and what that involves is to determine what you feel like after that day's exercise. These things are not rigid; they're not set in stone; and they change constantly. Learning how to feel what's happening in your body is a great gift to give yourself.

It's everything, including the lying relaxations! I did original research, as a logician, in something called supervenience theory. Supervenience, the term, describes one simple relationship: no change at one level in any complex system without commensurate change at another (and other levels) in the system. By doing all the different things that you have been doing, and without being able to understand the causal relationships among the many things that you have been doing at the same time, all we know is that once the system itself changes sufficiently in a particular direction, then other things that are attendant upon the state of that system also change. Without doubt. Well done.

You're asking the wrong question. What stretches does your body need?

Excellent. Have two days off, instead of one. I wonder if rolling the back of the knee in the seated position before and after the stretch could help? Keel going!

Just uploaded a quick image of my own knee hypertension, which when I measured it (although I couldn't take a photograph of it at the same time), was about 30–35 mm, so well over an inch. If you're talking about hyper-extension at the knee joint, no. And it's not about hamstrings or other muscles, necessarily – the knee itself, in its capacity to hyperextend can have ligamentous and other limitations (why I mentioned popliteus above). This is why I have suggested to James that he try that technique to improve hypertension, just a bit. And don't forget that it's easy to have too much hypertension – many young dancers who have been poorly trained have too much hyperextension, and that definitely can weaken the knee joint.

I am sure that you are tired of hearing me say this, but stick your butt out even more. Your lumber lordosis is flattening and then slightly flexes towards the end of the exercise position. Only go as deep as you can keep that lumber lordosis. However, truly excellent compared to your first attempt.

This is tricky James without actually being able to help you hands-on. I did design a brachialis stretch for a friend while on a workshop, and I will link to that below, but my suggestion would be to ask someone to help you stretch the back of the knee by putting your heel on a book of about an inch or so height. Sit on the floor for a moment and hyperextend your knee on the 'good leg' side. I imagine that your heel comes off the ground about 2 inches. This is the normal amount of hyperextension – and when I say normal I also mean it normative sense – that this amount is desirable. The problem leg will be much less, I suspect. Have a look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xajg71NUg6s What my student did there was do a contraction in the fully straight position – at least it's as straight as he could get that arm – and then while straightening his arm himself, I leant on the back of his elbow to help that final position. The change was immediate. I suggest that you try something similar, but use the hamstring and the calf muscle to try to bend the leg from whatever straight position you can get into. Relax completely. Then use your quadriceps muscle to try to hyperextend the back of the knee a little bit, and see how that feels. Then as a second movement, and on a second breath in and out, ask your friend to lean on your thigh, not on the kneecap but just above the knee and use the quadriceps to try and get a bit more straightening to happen. Now you'll have to be careful here, and make sure you go slowly and gently and make sure that your partner doesn't lean too much weight too quickly, but you should feel something strong and interesting behind the knee and this could loosen up whatever facial restriction you have to the gliding of the nerve. Something else to try would be single leg standing calf raise machine stretches – use as much weight as you can handle to do very small contractions in the fully stretch position, and make sure that your knee is pressed as straight as you can get it, and then use the weight to let the heel be pressed down as far as possible. Again allow that relaxation and stretch to occur slowly so that you're on the complete control of it and try to keep the knee completely straight. This two will work on that same tissue area behind the knee including a small muscle called popliteus. If you consult your anatomy text, you will see that the sciatic nerve bifurcates above the knee and facial adhesions can occur anywhere there. Speaking more generally now, providing the nervous sensation that you get is not too painful and too uncomfortable, there is no doubt that the only way to get that nerve to glide more is to do what you've been doing and just keep going. These things take quite awhile to change if you think about it – you've spent your whole life getting to this point. We can't expect massive change quickly, nor is that desirable in my view. Perhaps you could take a picture of both legs in the hyperextended position – that is sit on the floor with your legs out in front of you and straightening both legs as much as you can and let's see the difference between the two sides. Some, yes, but sometimes it can be really hard to distinguish between a new awareness in an area and what you are calling discomfort. Try what I suggest and get back to us.

The Cossack squats are a remarkably effective and very powerful exercise, even if only done with body weight. If it's any consolation for you, this week about four days ago I did a couple of sets of 10 Cossack squats (so five a side) and then the working set of 20, onshore, off the boat. Those 20 Cossack squats left me sore for three days – most people don't realise that the adductors are extensors of the hip when you're in that deep squat position on the working leg. They are an absolutely fantastic exercise, and spending time in the bottom position (as you did) will stretch a large number of very practical things. Keep going, the body will adapt. And, you might care to try this, the exercise is substantially easier if you are standing on a slope that's facing down away from you – even a few degrees makes a difference and gives you additional ankle flexibility (the slope moves your balance point further forward than flat ground) making holding the bottom position much easier. A note for readers of this blog – the DOMS that you will feel after your first big set of Cossack squats will be mostly in the glutes, then hamstrings and adductors, and there'll be some quad effect as well – but it's mostly the posterior chain muscles. Getting these active and strong is gold. As for that recalcitrant little toe, just keep gently pulling it to the side whenever you think about it and at some point you will regain control over that movement. In my case it took years!

Try this: https://www.youtube.com/@KitLaughlin/search?query=hamstring All the bent-to-straight leg hamstring exercises will feel quite different to what you've been doing, I suspect. The conventional straight knee hamstring stretches are the least effective way to loosen this muscle and the associated nerves. And read this: https://stretchtherapy.net/email-newsletter-50/ and try the single-leg dog pose; it is intense, and effective. It is the maximum stretch for the calf muscle and the sciatic nerve. Do read the article and watch the video in the article linked to the article before trying. The short answer is that the sciatic nerve begins in the spinal cord, runs down the back of the leg, is tethered to the tibial plateau with a ligament loop (after splitting in two just above the knee), crosses behind the ankle, and ends in the toes. There a number of potential restrictions to the sliding of this nerve in its sheet and the sheath within its various constraints. All need to be loosened. The calf muscle is the most common area of restriction. This is why we recommend stretching this muscle with the knee held straight before doing any straight-leg hamstring stretches. There is a chapter in Stretching & Flexibility where this is explored more deeply. Do let us know how you go. And welcome!