Matt Chung

Day 854 of stretching journey / Day 03 of restarting stretching journey Daily six limbering session "Dad, why is [stretching] so hard for you? IT'S EASYYYYY FOR MEEEE" and proceeds to demonstrate how she stand up off the ground without using her hands (something I've pointed out and praised her for over the years) 15 minutes across all (6) six limbering exercises

Day 853 of stretching journey / Day 02 of restarting stretching journey Keeping it simple: a short (about 15 minutes) limbering session with the daily six (didn't follow the playlist but will revisit probably in one of the upcoming sessions since again, the cues serve as helpful reminders). Although I am still feeling quite stiff these days, I'm noticing my body is responding well to the stretching even only after two consecutive days. That is, the body is starting to remember the familiar feelings and sensations that run throughout the body. Lying rotation - was aware shoulder was popping up and wish I had my partner here to help press it down; also feeling much of the stretch in hip flexors (on both sides) kneeling side stretch - this is becoming one of my favorites; while my hand is still unable to flatly press against the calve, know it will come in time

Day 852 of stretching journey / Day 01 of restarting stretching journey Although I very much prefer to stretch after exercising or warming up, this morning, before work (at about 06:30) I decided to restart / reset my stretching journey and made a pact with myself to limber for a couple minutes, starting with the "Daily 5". This reset comes after ... what ... 8 or 9 or 10 months of not stretching, right after my torn hamstring tendon. The decision to lean back into stretching was prompted after stretching with my partner, after a long dance training session; partner stretching, something I wanted to incorporate into my routine, ever since learned about stretch therapy close to 2.5 years ago. Her and I have discussed that I'd like to start experimenting and tinkering with partner hip flexor stretches. Reflections on today I miss stretching and limbering and while I felt like very stiff, I felt great afterwards and reminded me why I enjoyed stretching During kneeling side stretch, very limited range of motion, barely able to place my hand on the calve During lying rotation, my hip flexors / rectus femoris, spasm and twitched the entire time I completely forgot (and reminded) how useful verbal cues are (e.g. drive the knee forward)

Perfect. Thanks so much @Nathan

Over the past couple months, my stretching routine has been more or less completely abandoned. And during this rather long absence, almost every day, I had the thought to limber and yet, couldn't/didn't bring myself to the activity ... not even for a few seconds. Now, rather than beat myself up about this, or spend too much time in spiraling thoughts and over-analyzing, decided stop the overthinking and simply return and lean back and give myself some grace and ... just ... do the numbers. So, this morning, after reading Ned's workout log and reading Kit's comment about (paraphrasing here) that experts are just people who do the basics better, eased my way back by doing the "daily five" (apparently, there's six) and dropped down on the rug in my bedroom and followed along to the playlist listed in this post/comment.

@Kit_L would you recommend continuing using single leg squat / pistol squat progressions (YouTube video below) if it has been determined that the primary "restriction" if you will, is ankle flexibility/mobility? I'm still slowly eliminating pain in my right, torn hamstring tendon (they had initially anticipated 3 months for full recover yet it's been 9 months and still not quite there) and been (re)experimenting with single leg squats as one of the ways to restore strength in my legs. And recently, a friend of mine (who happens to be a PT) did an impromptu session with me and then did a very quick assessment of my pistol squat, and diagnostically placed a very short (in height) block under my heel and voila, was able to do a pistol squat; she then stated that I have sufficient strength in quads, hamstrings etc. Now, I recognize that many of us lack the ankle flexibility/mobility and wondering if you would recommend isolated exercises to increase (I believe) dorsiflexion or if you recommend following the progressions laid out in your video.

I miss posting on this forum and tracking my progress, despite regularly visiting the platform and perusing and picking up little bits here and there, like this: > It means you felt tightness in the groin, on that occasion; nothing more. See what the next session brings. There are N different possibilities as to the 'why', but unless it is severe tightness, there are usually no point in delving into this. See what happens next. The comment from Kit really resonates with me. As a curious person myself, I often am asking WHY WHY WHY; this simple single worded question tends to be both effective and reinforced in my professional work (in the tech world). However, sometimes, constantly asking WHY can be counter-productive in certain situations like dance and stretching. It may be so simple and obvious to others but over the past 6 months, I've been training with a dance coach very seriously and initially, I find myself asking WHY not only because I'm curious but sometimes it's an unconscious moment of procrastination. His response, normally, is "Shut up. And just do the numbers". Anyways, I like to return to periodically posting on this forum but I had previously halted cause the frequency of my stretching has dropped. Related to this, I found that both stretching (and this little corner of the internet) helped me (dare I say) survive a very very very rough period in my life where I had felt the world was falling apart and one of the few things in the world I could turn towards for some (perceived) sense of control (these days, I find I have less and less control about things in life): turning inwards and wiggling and sitting with the body. Perhaps less "perfect" moving forwards, and hope to continue contributing, sharing, documenting etc.

> point where the tendons and ligaments that are involved in the chain of force production are not strong enough to support that new strength Thanks for sharing @Kit_L. This makes total sense and do wish I was aware — that tendons and ligaments have only about 1/10th of the blood/nutrient supply of muscles — of this concept half a year ago and suspect my ignorance on this topic was what lead me to tear my hamstring (bicep femoris) tendon. Around that time, I had re-introduced strength training and while there was a significant uptick in my ability to sustain lifting heavier loads, it's very likely that my tendons and ligaments were simply ... not yet ready.

> Matt, I would be concentrating on strengthening that tendinous intersection, and the single-leg RDLs I recommend for this are the perfect warm-up for stretching. Thanks for the tip Kit. I'm officially back on the bandwagon (after many months off) and started (re)introducing stretching back into my routine, which has been (as of late) focused around strengthening: I've purchased 3 kettle bells (8 kg, 16kg, 24kg) and focusing on compound movements (e.g. swings, dead lifts, squats) and at the end of the my sessions, have started stretching again. Although historically, I've "repaired" / "rehabbed" some of my aches with stretching alone, I'm finding that with some weights, I can target certain "pains" more easily and hold certain positions (in lieu of having a stretching partner).

This morning, sat down to reflect what caused me to fall off the stretching band wagon and looking back, I more or less stopped “stretching” (still limber every day, a habit I am grateful for establishing) around November, when I tore my hamstring tendon (rectus femoris). After tearing the tendon, getting into many positions on the ground (e.g. getting into a laying position, squatting) was so painful that, despite rehabbing and repairing the tendon, I stopped completely. And while I am still … at about 80% recovery of the hamstring tendon (after visiting the osteopath a couple weeks ago, the ultra sound reveals that there’s still some, what he called tendinopathy, going on), I will continue to persevere (there’s some topic on this forum, might even be this one, where Kit talks about the importance of perseverance, of perhaps unavoidable process of falling and getting back up) and today, plan on hitting the gym and ease my way back into stretching my lower body: quads, hamstrings, ankles. Separately, been more or less (what Oliver Burkeman calls) dailyish doing breath counts.

> I hope this doesn't sound too cryptic, but the root of all suffering is the deep wish that reality be something different to what it is. Not to hi-jack this thread but learning to accept things as they are in something I'm actively working on, specifically regarding to interpersonal relationships. I'm getting curious about the dialectics of having empathy for someone (which some times borders making up what some consider "excuses" for them), extending compassion, and while at the same time, seeing people's behaviors for what they are. That is, I've been told (by a number of trusted friends and family) that a blind spot of mine is "extending too much grace" to the point of delusion and through some life circumstances this past year, I'm practicing seeing people/behavior for what they are and in many ways, has reduced my suffering (while increasing disappointment). Anyways, finding a lot of the relaxation practices bleeding into my day to day life.

> the location looks like the same spot that literally everyone holds tension in: the lower fibres of levator scapulae. Once the soreness settles down, you can test this by carefully taking the head forwards with a neutral thoracic spine, then taking the head to the side (while maintaining the forwardness). You'll soon know if it's LS @Kit_L bang on. It's been 7 days (first 5-6 days, was in so much pain) and pain has settled and I just tested the above (i.e. head forwards, turn head to side) and boom: it appears to be the LS. Will start on strengthening the shrugging muscles and appreciate you reminding me of not to overthink. These muscles are ones I've neglected and will be curious how strengthening will begin feeling in my body because this area has repeatedly caused me grief last couple years. Excited to experiment. Thanks again.

> And I have found that only doing the kind of bouncing that you do when skipping is the right kind of stress to heal this, at least for a while. No amount of strengthening the calves seems to have any effect on this weakness Hey @Kit_L very interesting! As part of my rigorous dance training, one of my coaches has us "jumping up and down" in place for minutes at a time. When I first started doing this a couple months ago, I could barely last a few seconds, before my calves felt like they were going to explode / cramp. However, half a year later, I can sustain this sort of movement in the order of minutes. With this in mind, I just noticed over the last couple weeks that my plantar fasciitis has (fingers crossed) disappeared completely and wonder if this exercise / stress of bouncing up and down, has contributed to the recovery.

Day 613 of Stretching and Flexibility Journey Exactly 7 days ago, I once again injured my (I think) Rhomboid minor/major - Looking back through this journal from 1.5 years ago, this affected area tends to flare up a couple times, resulting in me being unable to roll in and out of bed without excruciating pain. More specifically, this time around — this instance, lasted about 7 days, each day the pain abating a little more — I was completely unable to lift my head off the pillow. Unsure what triggered the Rhomboid minor/major pain - Although I'm not 100% sure, I think the contributing factor to this (according to some research) "inhibitory guarding" was me stretching my neck too much. The day before the injury began, I had start with limbering my neck, opening my jaw wide and tilting my head back; however, I think I may have pushed the limits. Not sure. Will start looking into strengthening and increasing flexibility in this area Repeated injury as commented back in August 2024 (see here):

> I have never been very flexible, but as I enter my mid-30s I want to be a good steward of the mobility I have now while hopefully getting closer to ability like touching my toes, squatting with my heels on the ground, and moving my shoulders more freely. And I recognize that this will take real focus and patience. So I appreciate the space I have here to talk about how this goes! Welcome! Similar to you, I started stretch therapy May 2024, when I turned 35, and had similar intentions. Looking forward to your log.