Head to Toe stretching

[SwissDanny]

Have you tried sitting on a lacrosse ball or similar.  If you elevate the ball on a hard surface (eg jump box) you would be able to get most of your bodyweight going through the ball...

 

Basically variations on this theme from the king of "smash" 

[Nathan]

Hey Tris,

It still doesn't work quite as well as near the knee, but I've found rather than just trying to pull up, rocking the bar upward side-to-side (pulling with the arm as well as the weight on the torso) allows me to get a lot more force into the area, although not sustained. Something to play with...

[Nathan]

@SwissDanny - That's another good option. I tried something similar early on and personally didn't like it very much but I should give it another go!

[ChrisScott]

I sit in a hard ball on an elevated hard surface. The most brutal way is have an elevated box around the height of your cossack squat and do the massage in that position. Whatever surface you're sitting on needs to be hard though.

[Tris]

Thanks all.

 

I have a field hockey ball and a simple wooden chair. Rolling back-forth / side-side does the trick.

[jon.valentine]

TOUCHDOWN! 

 

Hit h2t both sides pretty early during the second set of pulses and even managed a 5-10 sec hold at the end for good measure. It was an accidental discovery, I was falling out of the groove so I used my same side hand to pull me down (I just had it on the ground near the leg previously) and then realised that I suddenly had all this ROM to play with now that I didn't have as much of a balance challenge.

 

So even doing a stripped-down version of the protocol will get you there in about 45 days, powerful stuff.

 

I will get some footage tomorrow morning and post it here.

[Craig]

sweet!

 

I have been keeping myself busy with nei gong stuff but have still been investigating this. No where near h2t yet, however have made some powerful discoveries about my system and how it holds tension, which is exciting.  Currently playing with slowing the reps down quite a bit and maintaining present awareness ('bearing my full mass onto it" as DW and KL talk about)... system responds completely differently in this state, it becomes quite pleasant, and a bunch of tension holding patterns release.  Still a big issue in the outer hamstring/ITB for me, which is strongly related to the short adductors/internal rotators. I think if I can sort this toxic relationship out, I will probably find enlightenment

[AndeL]

Awesome work Jon, especially considering that you were beasting up for nationals. Funny how little changes to technique improve things.

[Tones]

Just had a great 45 minutes running a 32mm PVC pipe between my calves and lower hamstrings.

 

However, the tightest part of my H2T line is the hamstring right up near the ischial tuberosity. I find it difficult to get pressure up this high by just pulling up on the pipe.  Is there an alternate way to release the fascia with the same intensity as you get right down underneath the knee joint?

Let a med-ball make love to it (lay it on the floor, sit on it). Play with the angle of the femur... pigeon, lunge with wide knee angle, lunge with shot knee angle, the turnout so the knee and foot points away, tilt in, tilt out, lean left lean right etc. Also play with flossing.

Another way: Sit on a chair with a lacrosse ball or acuball pressuring there, do the same.

[ChrisScott]

Nice one Jon! I keep seeing this though, people are setting up in a way that makes things hard for them. I actually think for a lot of once people, one they are a fist away easy, they can do it if they passively pull the foot back and then test their range.

[jon.valentine]

Thanks guys! I have a habit of doing things the hard way, if I can't do it naked, on ice, in a snowstorm then I haven't really 'got it'. I get in my own way a lot...

 

So it wasn't a fluke, here's this morning's set (just one, my new training program has given me all the DOMS, everywhere). Since I work in a library, the prop for my foot is actually a few bookends.

 

 

So I guess the next question is: Where to now? I'm going to continue with a couple of sets 'most' mornings, but not sure how to progress from here. I have noticed a sweet carry-over to my front splits, they're not great but have improved without really focussing on them. One of my main restrictions was hamstring 'stuff' happening in the front leg, but that sensation has definitely changed now.

 

Time to experiment!

[Nathan]

Very nice, Jon. Love that it's in a library. You also do the same leg shake that I do after each set

 

As for progression, you could continue on to nose and then chin. But I asked Emmet this question and he suggested raising the leg to around navel height and get head to toe there. Of course if you're happy with where you've gotten to in your head to toe journey, you could just maintain what you have and shift your focus.

[oliviaa]

Craig wrote:

 

Still a big issue in the outer hamstring/ITB for me.

 

I have an exercise for you!

 

After about two years of not really doing any stretching much, I'm back into it this last week. My focus is on front splits, which I have never been able to do with square hips – not even close. Used to be that my hip flexors were the limitation, but not anymore: now, it is the front leg, mainly the outer hamstring line, but also calves on one side. Also, I feel that all the remaining restrictions in my body are fascial, not muscular.

 

So, I'm doing four exercises only, three sets of each, with 30 'pulses' in each movement. The pulses are stronger than micro-movements – which I've been adding to all our regular stretches for the last several years, with good effects on fascia – and move through a larger range of movement, perhaps one inch. Pulsing is done in the full stretch position. I'm finding that this approach means that form can be maintained completely. Three of the four exercises have a strong focus on keeping the pelvis square, in fact, squaring further with each pulse: moving quickly, like with ballistics, I just don't feel that precise positioning can be maintained. Two of these three are done with no arm support, so quite heavily loaded.

 

Anyway, five days in and my cold (in the early (for me!) morning, no less) front splits have improved massively. Can do completely square hips on a low bolster easily – getting there in the past would have taken an entire 90-minute Advanced class (ANU). And, I have not had any DOMS, which is unusual for me.

 

If anyone is interested, I can ask Kit to film the exercises I'm using, and post here.

 

Cheers to all

O

[Emmet Louis]

@Oliviaa: Please do film if you can.

 

@Jon: Great work. I generally tell people to let it settle for a week or two then move the leg up to bellybutton height. I'm not a huge fan of pushing for toe to chin but its horse for courses.

[AndeL]

Olivia, I am keen to see. Front splits is a focus for me now (progress, with rings assist). Currently unsquare, but much lower after the h2t work. I have decided to do band assisted c-r work on hip flexors instead as I find it less taxing energetically, but will play with pulsing it out onto bolster soonish.

[Craig]

Thanks liv! I'll have to give this a try and see if it helps. Let's play with it next time I see you.

[ChrisScott]

I'm pretty disappointed with my results, I'm not sure it's done anything for my flexibility. My hamstrings are still a bit sore to be honest, not holding my breath though.

[jon.valentine]

I'd be interested to see the movements as well Oli. 

[Tris]

Just finished day 11. This has been, by far, the most profound week of stretching for me, ever.

 

I am shocked at the sheer beating that the posterior line can take and still find new range by the end of the next day. Yesterday I stretched the left ischial tuberosity area (my most stubborn tightest line in pike) to the point I could swear I had done damage. It was stiff constantly for the rest of the day. However, I woke up this morning with legs feeling fresher than they have for this whole exercise, reached for my toes... and for the first time in many years got to my ankles cold, and the tightest point was not in that thigh-butt area.

 

The biggest highlight is that it feels the program is dissolving the ischial tuberosity tightness I have tried to release for years. A very close second is day-to-day, as I get lower, feeling the tight spot of the movement shift around all the places involved: the lower back, butt, ischial-area, upper hamstrings, lower hamstrings, behind the knee, calf. It's so cool to feel the pulses systematically work their way through the tightest areas as they come up.

 

The comparison is encouraging to see, too. Note how the stretching leg becomes more vertical as I am able to lean the torso forward and close the hips over the course of the week.

 

 

 

For those interested, I have also animated my progress doing similar pulses in front split lunge.

[Frederik]

Hi Tris,

 

The gifs may be deceiving? but it seems to me that as you bounce in the head-to-toe, there is a slight knee bending action happening simultaneously. If this is so, really focus on locking out that knee, even before you start bouncing. It can be quite difficult to catch knee bending, but even a slight knee bend change the dynamics of the pose considerably. That is not to say that bending the knee is bad, it just gets something slightly different - playing with both could be good thing . Never the less, yours are impressive results, keep it up.

[Tris]

Thanks for the tip Fred. I feel exactly what you mean.

 

When I first noticed the knee bend I immediately thought "ooh naughty!". But upon doing more sets I have noticed that both locked and slight bend can hit different parts of the line. Although, I just focus on whichever form feels like it is stretching the tight spot more, and usually locked is the winner.

[MattPark]

Tonight I was just shy of head to one finger!!! Soon....

Though I am having trouble on my left side, I get a blockage of tissue in the front of my hip when I fold forward not sure if its hip flexor, TFL or something of the kind but my body holds back because of it and it takes me 2-3x more pulses to get the the same level as my right side. I can get from cold to head to 4 fingers in 30 odd pulses but on my left side that is closer to 72 or in the next set.

Have tried stretching glutes and Hip flexors before hand but no change.

[Emmet Louis]

I had a similiar blockage when I started. I got around it by literally grab the illiac crest and manually tractioning it up and over while going into flexion. What ever it was is gone now.

[Tris]

A few unrelated questions:

 

I think I may have strained my hamstring. It's a sharp soreness in an inch-squared spot on the middle hamstring halfway between knee and butt, and it doesn't feel as elastic as the rest of the line.  It's not responding to fascial rolling. The pain goes away during pulsing, but returns about 10 seconds after stopping. Is it best to rest the hamstring for a couple of days, or keep persisting with it? Happy to tolerate discomfort but don't want to set myself back with injury.

 

When elevating the leg, is it best to elevate about waist/belly button height?

 

Is there a video/instructional for how to adapt the 3 x 72 pulse program for sidesplits? Or is the horse stance more appropriate for the particular muscles involved?

 

Is anyone doing this long enough to start wondering what life will be like without the constant soreness and fatigue? haha

[Emmet Louis]

@Tris I done the pulses for side splits, It made a big jump in flexibility but I felt like my knees were taking too much of a hit so backed off til I achieve a 90s Iso in that position.