Folding past 90 degrees

[sturob985]

Hi,

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.

[Matt Chung]

While I'm sure others will chime in, I thought I'd comment since the forward fold is something that I recently (in the past 4 weeks) devoted some portion of practice to and made (what I consider for myself) substantial gains. Further, I consulted 1:1 in person with a certified stretch therapy here in London, who helped me identify my primary restriction: the lower back.

Of course, your limitation may be different however, the advice given to me was essentially start off, sitting on the ground with knees bent as much as necessary (this may not be the case for you given your flexible hamstrings) and pulled in towards chest. Similar to position to the standing elephant walk. Then, with arms wrapped around the legs (adjustment if not possible is to place a block or mat between chest and thighs) and then try to feel and engage the stretch in the lower back by slowly straightening legs.

Because I happened to work on the forward fold this morning, I produced the little .gif that I think illustrates the steps better:

[Kit_L]

Quick tip: put your heels on the slippery floor instead of the sticky mat—this will really change the experience of security in the pose and you will much less effort in the leg-straightening action. (The security aspect is because doing it the way you show, the heels alternately grip then quickly slip, with some real effort behind them.) I wear socks, heels on wooden floor; and sit on the sticky mat. As well, try straightening one leg at a time in the process; you might be surprised by the result.

Use as little effort as possible in the straightening action, and feel your tummy against your thighs. Let it go completely soft as you try to straighten the legs. Stop straightening if you can't stay relaxed!

Great work.

[sturob985]

Thank you Matt for the great demo. I'm regularly using this stretch now - let you know how it goes in the long-run.

[oliviaa]

Hi there, Olivia here

Kit asked me to post to say that his computer is out of action (drowned by salt water coming in a window of the boat in big seas – the computer that is, not Kit) and he cannot respond, but if he could, he would say great work!

Cheers, Olivia

[Matt Chung]

21 hours ago, sturob985 said:

Thank you Matt for the great demo. I'm regularly using this stretch now - let you know how it goes in the long-run.

Awesome - looking forward to hearing more about the progress. When I first felt the stretch in my lower back, it was definitely an "ah hah" moment and instantly knew that I was on the right path. Can't wait to see how it goes for you.

[Jim Pickles]

As well as everything else, I strongly suggest you do the downward dog, and at first dont attempt to put your heels to the floor. Then alternately lower the heels to the floor in time with the outbreaths. This will help stretch the whole posterior fascial chain, which is one of the major limitations of forward bending at the hips. It can give relatively rapid improvement in the forward fold, and you may be amazed by the results.

And as Kit said, it is important to stay relaxed, and this is difficult if your hamstrings are holding your body weight up in a forward fold. So the other exercises listed here give a stretch while allowing the body weight to be taken off the hamstrings. The downward dog exercise uses body weight to stretch, but the fascia arent muscles, so you dont need to relax it in the same way (though you shoud of course relax the hamstrings and calf muscles as much as possible).

Jim.

[Matt Chung]

> Then alternately lower the heels to the floor in time with the outbreaths. This will help stretch the whole posterior fascial chain, which is one of the major limitations of forward bending at the hips

Thanks for this tip: I think I myself am going to try and incorporate this exercise since I've been (as of late) targeting my calves and back; due to tightness in these (and probably) other areas, I've been no where close to being able to downwards dog (and as Kit has mentioned in another thread, suggested mastering the single leg version first). However, I'd like to give this alternating of the heels variation a try; will report back on my own thread as to not hijack this one however I'm trying not to anticipate the sciatic nerve pain that I'm all too familiar with.