How to use the "Master the ..." programs

[Rik]

Master the Squat and Master the Pancake are both fantastic programs, but based on feedback I've read, it's unclear how to utilize the content for people not familiar with Kit's methods. There has been some talk in the Master the Squat thread about writing some sort of a guide for beginners. While I'm not an advanced practicioner, I do believe I've garnered enough information to provide a solid starting point and give some insight on how to use these programs. It also gives me a way to organize the information in my head and to fact-check it. If you find anything problematic in what I've written below, please say so and I'll do my best to correct it.

How to use the "Master the ..." programs

General Thoughts and Structure

The most important idea in Stretch Therapy is that stretching has to be individualized. This has several reasons.

First off, different people are going to have different restrictions. For instance, my squat is mostly limited by my ankle flexibility, whereas you might have more of a hip restriction. Improving ankle flexibility is going to improve my squat markedly, but yours only marginally and vice versa for hip flexibility.

Second, flexibility is mostly neurological. Muscles tighten up when the nervous system perceives a stretch as dangerous. This is why in many joint injuries the muscles in the affected area tighten up so badly: they're protecting the joint. This means that emotion and experience when stretching are just as, if not more important, than the actual physical stretching that occurs. Getting flexibile is about getting your body to be comfortable in the range of motion you want to achieve.

All of this means that stretching with a program with fixed sets and reps is going to be of limited use, and this is why that type of schema is not provided. Furthermore, it means that nothing what I say is written in stone. Experiment with the programs and stretches, and change anything you'd like. This is vital!

I said above that stretching is mostly neurological. However, there is also a physiological component in the remodelling of fascia. Fascia are basically tight bands of connective tissue that run along the muscles. Luckily, we don't need to worry about this too much. If the tissue is warm and you're stretching, fascial remodelling (reduction of the fascial restrictions) will occur. You can achieve this by keeping your legs warm. I believe Kit recommends wearing a pair of skins (can anyone confirm?). Note that just heating up the room won't work because that won't raise tissue temperature.

There are also a couple techniques to release fascial restrictions, but those are demonstrated in the programs so we won't talk about them here.

Now, there are a couple terms and techniques you'll need to know in order to utilize the "Master the ..." programs.

The first term is limbering. Limbering is basically exploring your range of motion. The goal here is to see what's tight today and to feel your needs for today. For instance, I might be exploring my squat and feel my adductors are a bit tight, even after trying to limber them up some by going through the sequence demonstrated in Master the Squat (L2B). This tells me I need to work on my adductor flexibility more (for instance with the squashed frog). Limbering is something that can (and should) be done every day in order to maintain flexibility.

The second term is contract-relax. This is a technique to get to new ranges of motion. The basic technique is to contract the muscle you're stretching for a short period of time, say a count of 5. After that, you take a breath in, and on the breath out you relax further into the stretch. The strength of the contraction depends on the individual. Some people need very little strength, others need to nearly max out; you'll need to experiment with this.

When you have done a couple contract-relax cycles, it's important to hang out in the new range for a bit so your body gets used to it. In the same vein, it's important to get out of the stretch properly because that's where the neurological "remapping" (memorizing that a certain range is not dangerous) supposedly happens.

We can now talk about how stretching in the system works. Basically, there are two types of sessions: limbering sessions, and stretching sessions (if anyone has a better name for the second, I'll be happy to hear it).

Limbering sessions consist entirely of limbering. You're just trying to see where you're body's at. These sessions will consist of almost entirely L-stretches from the program (again, individualizing means that nothing is set in stone). Limbering sessions are done daily or near daily. The utility of these sessions is simple: "use it or lose it". If you're going to your maximum range of motion only sporadically, how do you ever expect to get comfortable there?

Stretching sessions are used to improve range of motion. You use contract-relax exercises (E-stretches) alongside the limbering stretches. The idea for these exercises is to use contract-relax to get into a new range of motion, you then hang out there for some time in order to have your body get used to it. Stretching sessions are typically less frequent than limbering sessions.

Specific Recommendations

The first session with the program will be an exploratory session. You watch the videos and go through all the stretches (actually perform them). Take notes about what feels tight. It's probably best to just follow along with the video, pausing where you feel you need some more time. If you want, you can break your first session up into distinct bits if you don't have 1.5 hours free in your schedule. Now, based on your experiences in the exploratory session, make a list of stretches you want to use. For instance, seated piriformis is something I need to stay out of because it has a negative effect on me (hurts like hell afterwards), so I wouldn't use that. However, standing piriformis feels pretty good, so I'll use that.

The program now is to simply perform the limbering stretches daily, or near daily. It doesn't matter how long you hold these, just explore the range of motion (almost in a playful manner). See how far you can get today. Once you are satisfied with your range of motion in a certain stretch, move onto the next.

For stretching sessions it's good to start off with once or twice a week. In your contract-relax stretches, perform contract-relax cycles until you feel you're not getting any more range of motion out of them. Then simply hang out in the end position for at least 30s in the case of a small muscle like one of the calf muscles, the piriformis, and at least a minute for bigger muscles like the hamstrings and hip flexors.

This is the starting point. Experiment with it and make any changes you'd like. Really, you're not going to die if you listen to your body, trust me.

Summary

- Absolutely nothing is set in stone, feel free to experiment with this and butcher this as much as you like.

- In your first session, simply do the stretches and explore them. Note what feels tight and select any number of stretches you want to use based on that.

- Perform L-exercises daily or near daily. The goal here is to explore your range of motion, see what's tight on that given day.

- Perform E-exercises once or twice a week. Perform C-R cycles until you feel they don't give you much more range of motion. Then hang out for at least 30 seconds (small muscles) or 60 seconds (larger muscles).

- Always make sure you come out of stretches properly, as demonstrated in the video.

- Don't forget to keep your body warm (use clothing, not room temperature).

- Experiment!!!

So there you have it. Hope that was helpful and correct. If you have any comments, please let me know!

[MT Nordic]

Phi,

very nice summation, in my opinion. thank you.

[Kit_L]

Phi: excellent. Probably, some of our teachers could not have written that; an outsider's perspective is very helpful sometimes.

The only detail that I would add is that it's helpful to have some loose goals; for example, getting side splits back is one of my present ones. I mention this because such a goal becomes a loose orienting principle, so that when one is considering what will be done today, you can select the most relevant limbers or stretches, being guided always by how the body feels on this day. By that last remark I mean that if you had a hard SS practise a few days ago, and are still a bit stiff or sore from it, then for me there would be no SS-related contraction-based exercises, there would only be the limber bits of the MTS and MTPancake programs to choose from.

[tigreton]

Does this mean that there should be no C-R in the limbering sessions?

[Kit_L]

"They're more like...guidelines!"

Yesterday, for example, when doing the Skandasana sequence as a limbering movement on the STfGST workshop, I asked MH to hold my hips down, and I pressed the straight leg down onto the floor really hard for 5" or so, then sank right onto the floor—just because it felt right to me yesterday, at the time I was doing it.

So, no hard and fast rules; just guidelines. Most of the time, I follow them, except when I don't! If asked for a number here, I'd say I follow them 90%, but it's the 10% that makes a difference over time (at least that's the perception, and probably inaccurate).

[thecolin]

Does this mean that there should be no C-R in the limbering sessions?

To my understanding, it's fine to do both together.

I think limbering movements work well as a warm up for more intense stretching. You can do limbering every day, even if it overlaps with C-R. But C-R should just be once or twice a week.

[shaolintobbe]

Can you do all mastery program in a row or should you do one program each day?

[Tris]

Try every idea you have and see what works best.

Personally I don't follow the programs at all. I take the top 2-3 stretches for me from each program and run through them every morning. Others do the full program 1-2x/week. It depends on what your body responds to.

A good starting point may be run through the program 1-2x/week for a few weeks and see what you want to try from there.

[shaolintobbe]

Good point, Thank you Tris.

[thecolin]

Can you do all mastery program in a row or should you do one program each day?

I like to bunch up my higher intensity work into as few sessions as possible, as opposed to spreading everything out. Right now I have two weekly C-R sessions and almost daily mobility/limbering work.

But I think this can be a highly individual thing. Try doing all your big stretches on one day a week for a month. Then add an extra session a week for the next month and see how your body responds.

[mtruelove]

What's the recommendation for daily limbering stretches after an intense stretch session the previous day?

[Riku Calderón]

This was golden for me!

[Rik]

Thanks for the nice words, everyone. Glad to see this helped!

What's the recommendation for daily limbering stretches after an intense stretch session the previous day?

This should be fine. Limbering is just moving about, really.

[thecolin]

What's the recommendation for daily limbering stretches after an intense stretch session the previous day?

I think just need to listen to your body. Explore where the limits are for that day without pushing past them.

[mtruelove]

Thanks. I've had intense DOMS since Sundays stretch session and wasn't sure about easing off.

[Tbushnel]

Kit, thanks so much for the two programs. I have been working with them as often as possible. Given limited time I have chosen a few select exercises to work on at a time. To this end I have altered your PDF files of the exercise notes so that only one exercise is on each page. I have a printed copy and I kind of "shuffle the deck" and take the pages of the exercises I want to the floor. Probably with enough experience I won't really need to do this but for now it is handy.

Maybe someone else would find it handy at least at first so I attached them to this reply.

Happy to delete them if you prefer.

Looking forward to your seminar in Bellingham.

cheers,

ted.

Master-the-Squat_rev1.pdf

Master-the-Pancakev_rev1.pdf

[Craig]

Ted: what an excellent idea! You're right in that you won't need to do it for very long, but it's also a nice way to make sure you do the stretches that you might normally avoid

[tigreton]

Hi all,

I still have a couple of questions about the program(s).

Currently I'm doing limbering exercises every day in the morning and once a week I go through all of the exercises (E+ limbering exercises) using C-R.

For the morning sessions I just go briefly through the movements with no additional emphasis on gaining new range of motion (just trying to make it feel good).

So here come a lot of questions (please forgive me for bad orthography and grammar - iPhone and pretty tired)

- my calfs and Achilles tendons feel very tight every morning. Is there any good limbering exercise for them? E1 without C-R?

- I don't feel anything but discomfort in the knees in the standing piriformis stretch. Any advice?

- cossack squats seem to be very difficult for me. On one side I feel discomfort on the inside of the knee. Tips?

- I seem to be missing a lot of internal rotation. The limbering exercises for internal rotation are extremely difficult for me. Sometimes my (patella?) tendon "pops" inside my knee. Are there any additional exercises I can do?

-

- I really like the tailor stretch because of the intense sensation. But I can't get my knees closer to my groin than +- 10 cm. Should I still be doing it or stop?

- I can't bring my butt to the ground in flat frog. Should I stay away from this exercise for now?

- after the C-R session, especially tailor pose, when I am on my back and put my feet on the ground with knees bent, my legs starts to tremble like in "Trauma releasing exercises"(David Berceli). Has anyone read the book? Experienced the same?

Thanks in advance!

Roland

[thecolin]

- my calfs and Achilles tendons feel very tight every morning. Is there any good limbering exercise for them? E1 without C-R?

I do easy pulses in and out of the same position I would normally stretch in, without pushing the ROM. You could try that and see how it feels for you.

[Kit_L]

Yes, agree with thecolin's recommendations; that's what I do myself for calf muscles, especially after standing on hard concrete floors all day teaching!

Do not use the standing piriformis exercise, if that's your reaction

Cossack squats: simply hold on to something and do not go so low it hurts. In time this will come good, but not if you hurt something!

Your restriction here is probably the same, or related to, your difficulty with the standing piriformis ex.; just do the other p. exercises, and try both again in a month. Do not force internal rotation using your knee: you can easily hurt yourself.

Don't worry about heel position with the tailor pose: as your quads loosen, this will change.

Same with flat frog; in fact you can put a cushion under your glutes, to provide a little support; in time, the quads will loosen. See Master the Squat and the stick sequence there; this will help.

I don't know that book, but shaking muscles are common. Just lie down for a moment or two.

Got to go to work now.

[tigreton]

Thanks everyone for the answers.

I have incorporated the calf stretches into my limbering routine and it feels nice.

For the rest of the exercises I"ll take it slowly and work my way up!

[SwissDanny]

Ted, those "ready reckoner notes sheets" are a great idea. Here's one for the shoulder series. Dan

KitShoulderReadyReckoner.pdf

[nschettini91]

Sorry if this has been mentioned.

I have all three programs, watched the videos, and they are all great. Just a bit confused on how to structure a flexibility/mobility program with these videos.

I assume that there are certain stretches someone at the beginner stages can't do. Should I just combine the first 3-4 E/L exercises from each program and use those for a few weeks?

It seems the way to go is - take a few of the limbering stretches and do those every day, just to keep mobile. Then do 2-3 serious stretching during the week.

Thanks for the help, very excited to begin this journey to finally being able to touch my toes and more haha.

Noah

[thanners]

I assume that there are certain stretches someone at the beginner stages can't do. Should I just combine the first 3-4 E/L exercises from each program and use those for a few weeks?

It seems the way to go is - take a few of the limbering stretches and do those every day, just to keep mobile. Then do 2-3 serious stretching during the week.

Hi Noah, welcome aboard.

I think you've pretty much got the gist of it. As has been stated, it's up the individual to find what works best for them, but a good place to start is find some Ls and Es that you are capable of doing to an extent where it feels like it's a good, effective stretch for your body at that particular time.

Some might be too easy, and so you could skip those. Maybe they're too hard, and you feel like you can't get the benefit from it because it requires too much effort, or because some other part of your body is restricting you. That's fine, because odds are good that you can find a simpler exercise that does work to stretch you at an intensity that is comfortably maintainable while still being effective.

So:

- First, when you have time, try to go through all the exercises, so you can note which ones provide you the most benefit. Also take note which ones are too hard, and why.

- Then, go ahead and use the L elements every day, whenever you feel like. Use them in a warmup, or while you're bored, or whatever. These shouldn't destroy you.

- Once per week (or more often, once you learn how often you can stretch hard), spend time working on a few E elements that you'd selected.

- Every few weeks (maybe once per month?), re-evaulate. Try those other Es and Ls that were too difficult before, and see if anything's changed. Maybe now another exercise has become possible and feels more effective.

[Boco]

Any idea when back bend and pike will be released? No hurry, I have plenty already to work on, just curious. They seemed to be releasing one per month so far.