Master the squat and hip mobility: LIVE TODAY

[Nick]

MH's "wedge" wall exercise ?? Can someone give me a link or explain this exercise. Thanks.

[Emmet Louis]

Kit,

Any advice for working on getting head to the ground in the bottom position. I feel like my hips are getting blocked on my legs and can't go further. So is it a matter of more flexible ankles?

[Kit_L]

Hey Emmet—do we meet soon in Piacenza?

Re. getting the head to the floor: if you are doing the heels and toes together version (standard Yoga approach), you will keep the feet flat on the floor, spread your knees and thighs as far apart as you can, reach and hold the big toes with the index fingers, and press the elbows back against your shins (levering the truck between the things, and bending the back and neck forwards to touch the forehead to the floor).

If trying from the feet apart standard squat position (the one I am trying to master) then place straight arms out to the sides in front of mid-shins, and use the arms to lever the trunk in between the thighs—the trunk passes completely between the thighs. Cr can be done too.

[Emmet Louis]

Hey Emmet—do we meet soon in Piacenza?

We sure do

[Ondrej]

I see you're talking about me! Hopefully these are the pictures in question. I was keeping the feet close and in parallel otherwise each of these forms can be moved much further if you let the feet go apart and toes wide...

[Craig]

Thanks Ondrej!

Also - Give me your ankles!

[Rik]

Holy shit, that ankle flexibility is nuts.

[ChrisScott]

My full ankle dorsiflexion range is about as much as you have in the first picture lol.

[Keilani Gutierrez]

much ankle flexibility. much wow.

[Duff]

I see you're talking about me! Hopefully these are the pictures in question. I was keeping the feet close and in parallel otherwise each of these forms can be moved much further if you let the feet go apart and toes wide...

Did you have this much flexibility naturally or did you get it trough training?

I have the same amount of flexibility in both positions and it's funny that I always had it(IMO it has to do something with all those years I spend playing with legos as a child). Sadly, this is the only position in which I am naturally flexible; all others have been coming along very slowly!

[Ondrej]

Haha, I attribute that to playing with Lego too:-) Also I built an addiction to stretching calf muscles when I was a kid. I used to do a lot of skiing, cycling, track and field, BMX, soccer and other sports back then.

[Duff]

Also I built an addiction to stretching calf muscles when I was a kid.

Do you mean dorsiflexing your feet a lot? If so, we may have found the ultimate recipe to attain calf flexibility

[Tibetanac]

Hello can I use boxing the compass as a stretching exercise and not just limbering?

[thecolin]

Hello can I use boxing the compass as a stretching exercise and not just limbering?

No, it is forbidden.

[Tibetanac]

And is it good plan to limber in the morning and do my stretches after squats in the gym I know that that way I would be warmed up for stretching exercises but is it a problem if my muscles are tired from 2x bw squats so I wont do my best in stretching? I read somewhere that Kit suggested to coach Sommer that his athletes should stretch when they are fully warmed up and not when they are starting to cool down. Is this bad or good?

[thecolin]

I think it's pretty flexible for when you can do it, no pun intended. I think the only rule that is consistent is that you only stretch hard once a week and see how your body responds.

Kit said at the Piacenza seminar that he doesn't actually warm up before stretching. What I found interesting when I was at the workshop is how much internal heat intense stretching can create. That of course doesn't mean you should jump cold into the side splits. But my take away is that you can start stretching without a warm up and just build up the intensity.

Kit has said that stretching after your main strength workout is a good idea. Personally, I like to stretch on a separate day so I can commit more time into just stretching. My schedule doesn't leave me time to get a proper workout with proper stretching at the end. But I don't think there's any problem stretching when your muscles are fatigued.

[SwissDanny]

You will actually get pretty warm just doing some limbering especially if as recommended you wear long loose pants to keep the heat in.

I am trialling stretching after working out (including after heavy lifting), but for now find my muscles have so gotten so "pumped" from that, that is hard to relax them as well.

Really you need to find out what works for you, it is better to view ST as a framework rather than a prescription, precisely because everyone is very different in their responses.

[SwissDanny]

Hello can I use boxing the compass as a stretching exercise and not just limbering?

Refer my other answer, for sure, by adding some contract relax, but you will likely be better off using say tailor pose, hamstring, hip flexor, ankle stretches, maybe even piriformis, glute and QL. That's a lot so, use the boxing and limber to decide what feels tightest and go work those "lines", then come back and "re-box" and see what's changed.

[Tibetanac]

That is what I was interrested in. I found it quite usefull doing the L2 exercise and pulling with my hands straight forward or upwards since that straightens my back and I hold it like that for 5 big breaths it is really improving my form. I will be posting some pictures in a month or something. I can see the results from day to day heh.

[SwissDanny]

That is what I was interrested in. I found it quite usefull doing the L2 exercise and pulling with my hands straight forward or upwards since that straightens my back and I hold it like that for 5 big breaths it is really improving my form. I will be posting some pictures in a month or something. I can see the results from day to day heh.

Better to refer to stretch by name, since the Ln nomenclature is by series not unique... good luck with the work, and yes you can see pretty quick gains, but also dont get frustrated if there are plateaus too, you cant really force it either.

[Craig]

I think the only rule that is consistent is that you only stretch hard once a week and see how your body responds.

This isnt even a rule its just a starting point for people new to the system. I stretched hard for 30 - 40 consecutive days every day, no injuries. It actually fixed a bunch of existing tweaks, and my flexibility improved dramatically. The only issue was the amount of time necessary to invest to get it done basically. Still doing 4 or 5 times a week at the moment, its great. Going to get stuck back into the daily routine pretty soon.

[thecolin]

Absolutely, that's why I said:

...and see how your body responds.

It's a starting point to gradually build up from.

[Tibetanac]

I am doing it 5 times a week first tried three times a week and I found out I get no soreness after my hard work that is probalby because I was really training hard while doing the PNF stretches for a last couple of months. I just found my front splits improved really good after lunge position C - R holds. My biggest problem arent ankles, they are a little part of the problem but my piriformis is so hard as a rock and my lower back really get also hard as rock so I cant pull my butt out at some positions like in deep squat aswell. I kinda get motivated when I see my sister doing a deep squat and pulling her but out while knees are almost vertical to the ground ( talking about dorsiflexion ). I am having a deep thoughts test haha, when people say about dorsiflexion in feet - " THATS GENETICS " how come every baby can squat like a master ? If its geneticis how come all the babies can do it ?

[Tibetanac]

I finally fixed my piriformis sitting issue, Kit you rule!

[Kit_L]

Neven, that's great. It takes time, and when you start, you never know how much (AND that will vary by body part). The stretch-really-hard-once-a-week suggestion is simply a times vs results formula, with maximum efficiency as its goal (by this I mean best results for time spent). It is not the Eleventh Commandment.

A bit of background. When I was living and teaching in Japan, I had a large number of very keen students. So, I tested with them the question of the best frequency of stretching: I made four groups (stretch every day, stretch every second day, stretch every third day [so twice a week], and the stretch once a week group). All we were doing was hard quadriceps and hard hamstring stretches. The twice a week and once a week groups made faster progress, in that setting, than the other two groups, so from an efficiency perspective, stretching hard (really hard) once a week seemed like a good starting point, and hence the recommendation was born.

But we were not limbering every day, and we only tested those two muscle groups. Most of them were not doing any other exercise, either, like most of you are. I mention this because the soreness that hard stretching can bring on is worked through faster if you are doing other activities, and this is the reason too that I recommend limbering every day (it turns over the byproducts of stretching faster).

If you have the time, then limbering every day is a definite plus—and if you are paying attention while limbering, the body will say clearly "go harder here today; back off a bit". Go with the feeling: it is always accurate. Sets and reps, for stretching, are not.

And to SwissDanny: I know muscles feel like they are pumped and do not want to relax (especially after leg training) but here your perceptions are deceiving you. One time, just ignore that and stretch for 30' or so (stay warm) and see what happens—after back squats was when I got my best improvements even though when I started those sessions, I had the same impressions as you report. They may be accurate, but you will be able to stretch really well after a few minutes of getting past those sensations.