Single Leg Dog Pose: strong ankle, posterior fascial line, and neural stretch; you need this.

[Kit_L]

Hello all,

This is a taste of the programs we start making the day after tomorrow (Tues, Apr. 15 now; I like date stamps). Olivia takes you through a follow-along single leg dog pose: this is THE KEY to ankle and calf flexibility, but that's not all.

For many (especially those of you have tight calf muscles) this is the key to unlocking forward bending. Don't just watch; try it—it is very strong, and very effective.

Comments most welcome, and please share this as widely as you can.

[[DW]]

Great video; great stretch! The new set-up is totally cool. I'm loving the Persian carpets and wooden ladder bars - why aren't more studio set up this way!?

[Keilani Gutierrez]

I felt this in my soul.

[Craig]

oh noice you re-filmed it! looks good!

[Tris]

Looks great!

Love the resting point for the elevated foot, can't wait to try it!

Enjoyed the slate banter.

[MT Nordic]

wonderful guys! thanks for the teaser. Looking forward to the full release

[Cherie Seeto]

I tried the top leg against the wall as I have no ladder bars. By gently pressing the ball of the foot against the wall, there was enough friction to 'hang' in the position for a short period; only okay for someone who doesn't have enough upper body strength to stay there for 4 minutes.

My next experiment was to thread my top foot into a TRX handle; this worked extremely well. You can vary the height from the floor and the strap was soft on the foot and ankle to allow true hang and suspension play. I can imagine you can work yourself into a full front split if your arm length matches your leg length; mine almost do.

I like the cues for keeping the hips level. I have been saying "keep the hips on rails" and to start with flexed or soft knees to get into position.

Great stretch!

[AndeL]

Tried this in the park at lunch with my foot up a tree.

aha, that's the stretch

[Kit_L]

Squeeb, great idea for how to use the TRX handle; excellent.

[Adurst]

I like the Miles Davis poster!

And the stretch.

[CraigR]

This is excellent Kit - some good cues that make this stretch far more effective than what I was previously doing!

[mlaen]

Awesome! I'm even more impatient now!

[Kyler]

Tried this last night - A great stretch! A very different stretch feeling when you can effectively target fascia.

Am going to try it with some fascial release via the Rod of Correction to see if that makes it even better.

Thanks Kit & Olivia for posting this up.

[Kit_L]

@ Adam: Miles is the man.

[Adurst]

@ Adam: Miles is the man.

You don't have to tell me that...I used to lay on the floor and listen to Bitches Brew and I A Silent Way prior to writing papers in my first undergrad.

Probably explains my average results.

Or that could be from Listening to Pink Floyd while actually writing the papers.

Or maybe there was a third common element......

[Adurst]

I've been playing with this stretch and enjoy it

But! I find it very hard to not allow my arch to collapse.

If I draw up the arch...I then find it hard to relax!

Catch 22 here

None the less an intense stretch and good to spend time with the head below the heart.

[AndeL]

Where are you thinking of fixing the arch? I was thinking up near the hip more... (kit's super ankle YT video, I think, or maybe from workshop)

[Adurst]

Where are you thinking of fixing the arch? I was thinking up near the hip more... (kit's super ankle YT video, I think, or maybe from workshop)

the simple answer to that is yes...a small rotation of the femur in the hip socket restores the arch....but then diverts effort and attention.

although I've also been playing with isolating tibialis anterior to draw it up (start with finger on tendon and just twitch it on an off thoughtfully...then put a stack of coins or something under your arch and practice just using this muscle to lift the arch...lift the toes to make sure your not driving toes into the ground to create the effect)

what I do love about this stretch is getting the back foot reasonably high...and let the hips rotate to get the foot up...then by driving the hip down I can hammer the intensity up...I've been playing with doing this slightly dynamically.

[Kit_L]

Adam wrote:

the simple answer to that is yes...a small rotation of the femur in the hip socket restores the arch....but then diverts effort and attention.

I get that, completely. Solution: do twice, with the attention in the two places. And yes to 'slightly dynamically'; this is what my body is experimenting with presently; there are small movements (as well as static holds) in all my stretching these days.

[Adurst]

@ Kit

I've. Been playing with an Active version of the pigieon/piriformis stretch. Found it to be really powerful.

I start in a lunge HF stretch with rear knee on the ground...hands on either side of the front leg...front foot slightly crossed over the centerline.

Then bearing as much weight in front leg as possible control the knee to the floor...use glutes to pull leg back to vertical.

I start by doing that action ~10 times...then sit at the bottom of that position and bounce with torso vertical...the lay out over the front leg and sweep torso from straight forward out over foot. Keep knee at 90+ degrees open.

All very slightly dynamic.

Maybe I'll film it unless it has been done.

[Craig]

@ Kit

I've. Been playing with an Active version of the pigieon/piriformis stretch. Found it to be really powerful.

I start in a lunge HF stretch with rear knee on the ground...hands on either side of the front leg...front foot slightly crossed over the centerline.

Then bearing as much weight in front leg as possible control the knee to the floor...use glutes to pull leg back to vertical.

I start by doing that action ~10 times...then sit at the bottom of that position and bounce with torso vertical...the lay out over the front leg and sweep torso from straight forward out over foot. Keep knee at 90+ degrees open.

All very slightly dynamic.

Maybe I'll film it unless it has been done.

Nice! I've been playing with something similar. My weakness here is very obvious. Lacking both strength and flexibility!

[Adurst]

As promised

The Active Pigeon!

http://youtu.be/3XuP5qVU5ig

[Kit_L]

Very nice, Adam; this is the way Greg (another ST) teaches this; my reservation is only that if the person trying this has dodgy knees, it can really hurt! If you have solid knees, excellent.

[Adurst]

Very nice, Adam; this is the way Greg (another ST) teaches this; my reservation is only that if the person trying this has dodgy knees, it can really hurt! If you have solid knees, excellent.

Yes I can see that....I'd only introduce this to people after they have experimented with easier static and dynamic forms.

I've been playing/developing a framework for myself interms of teaching stretching and progressions. With the idea that mindfulness needs to be developed first...then moving up the chain....not that you wouldn't continually climb up and down the ladder for various other purposes.

Something like:

Isolated solo static -> isolated partner static -> integrated/facial line static -> slow dynamic (move in and out) -> loaded/strength slow dynamic and isometrics -> ballistic/fast dynamics

Funny though...I find other variants (lying on back) to be hard (not quite the right word) on my knee...maybe it is not hard (doesn't feel like it is 'bad') but diverts the sensation from piriformis into knee.

[Craig]

Adam,

Do you mind if I make you my human experiment? haha.

Could you try for me to see if you can:

1) do the lowering of the knee and pressing back up to the lunge without hands

2) do the sweeping motion towards the end with the hands entirely off the ground.

3) lower into the sweep then back to vertical torso with the hands above the head the whole time (no touching ground at the end).

Im going to have a play with this tonight but my piriformis is quite tight so I'll have to be fairly careful...also my hips tend to mess with my knees. I'll be interested to see if taking this approach shows you some benefit though! You could always advance it by holding kettle bells the whole time too