Wall Clock: Place the palm of your hand on a wall above your head and stand erect with your heels touching the baseboad. Draw your shoulders down and keep your elbows straight as if your hands are at 12:00. Stretch your arms open to 1:00 and 11:00 and hold for 10 seconds at each position through 6:00. Reverse. To end; take one step back, bring your arms to your side. Keep your arms stretched out and your back erect. Advance the movement after a couple of weeks by rotating your hand so that the back of your hand is on the wall and your thumb is facing forward. This can be a surprisingly intense exercise so expect improvements to be slow and you may need to wait a couple of weeks to add it into the program.
For the sake of clarification, you're facing the wall, or facing away from the wall? For some reason, I'm drawing a blank as far as visualizing this movement.
Bigwill, I hope when you put your heels agains the baseboard you are facing away from the wall. If you can pull off some other position, I wanna watch.
Trig, The enzymatic activity that responds to exercise information and tells the muscle to let go in a stretch takes up to 20 seconds to reach maximal. So you're right, 15 seconds barely lets the muscle fibers begin to respond. I typically start my people with 30 seconds and build up to 60-90 seconds ( in ten second intervals over a few days or weeks) depending on the number of muscles involved in the stretch. But most important is that as you are in the stretch you allow the muscle to continue to stretch. A compound stretch like a torso twist I would just continue to let my body stretch for a full minute from the very beginning. For more isolated muscle stretches like a hamstring stretch or a shoulder stretch I suggest the first stretch position for 30+ seconds and then try to take yourself into the stretch another milimeter for another 30 seconds and then one more intentional effort for 30 seconds. At the most extreme position you should still not be grimmicing and you should be able to come out of it slow and clean. If you are pulling into the stretch so hard you can barely stand it you are probably at risk for injury and surely at risk for some soreness. Consistency, as in most things in life and exercise, is more important that deep intensity. That's why we suggest you do it everyday. It seems a little conflicting but your intention is more important than large and fast improvements but you must be on the clear edge of your ability always to continue to enjoy the results.
If you find that you have a huge discrepency between your right and left sides then I suggest you stretch the weaker side first, then to the second side and then back to the weaker side for an additional look at the function. I have some permanent disabilities and use this approach every second or third streth day. I also use it in my strength training.
Let me add that breathing is critical. In strength and cardio work you are forced to breathe. But in stretching it's easy to get into shallow breathing or holding your breath. The oxygen delivered to your muscles is still necessary to create the energy to do this work. I'm not talking about short intense HEE-Hee-Hee, like in birthing, but long slow inhales and exhales. Remember I consider stretching to be a part of your strength training. The muscle contracts for power and elongates as it antagonize the contracting muscle to keep the joints open and safe.
Finally let me suggest that the hardest thing about stretching is to get into the position and then let go in the muscle while the rest of your body does the work of keeping you in position. The concept of letting go is harder to implement than you might imagine.
Thanks Vickie for the stretching tips. I have a lot to do in 2006 regarding my hamstrings. I hate, hate, hate stretching them. I like to make all kinds of excuses for not doing it as well.
Thanks Yoda for your kind words and acknowledgement of the work I have developed over nearly 25 years of fitness tutoring.The approach I take to training for all applications of fitness is much more commited to specificity and isolation than in most exercise formats. The energy and attention you bring to the work is the real magic, however, and results are more dependent on application and compliance than the information.
Trig, Hamstrings are are probably the most complicated stretch to accomplish because of the condition of the spine which comprises the top of the hip relative to the muscle attachments below the hip. Since the hamstring attaches to the bottom of the hip joint your success is really about balancing the tension above the hip.
If you cannot sit on a bench and stretch your leg out directly in front of your hips and then sit up straight, creating a right angle, then your hamstring work will feel less than exciting. So I recommend this as your first order of business when it comes to hamstring flexibility. Bending over to touch your nose to your knee is a moot point if the right angle is inaccessible.
So sit on a bench, as described above, and place your hands around the bench for support. Keep your leg stretched completely. As you begin to lift your chest and back straight you will feel your knee beginning to want to bend. Don't allow this and only lift as far as you can with your leg straight and, again, with real tension but no great pain or grimmicing. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds and then try to lift a little higher, and repeat once more. Now and only now that you've accomplished all you can then round and reach out of your low back to take your hands toward your ankles. Keep your eyes looking at the ankle as well. Remember to breath. Usually people tell me their arms aren't long enough, it really feels this way, but it's not true. Repeat on the other leg and then if you have time do both legs again while they are in a state of compliance. It may take some time before you can create the straight (neutral back) complete with the natural curvatures of your spine including your lordosis, the curve of the low back.
A secondary, yet major, impediment to hamstring alignment is a little muscle called the periformis. The periformis muscle attaches between the sacrum and the top of your leg bone. The least complicated way to get to this muscle is as follows:
After you've finished your hamstring stretch sit up and bend that knee to place the outside of your ankle on the bench in front of you. Your instep will be toward the ceiling. Straighten your back once more and try to lean toward your ankle. This will create a sensation under your buttocks. Hold this position for 30 seconds and then continue to try to enjoy the stretch twice more for 30 second intervals. Another way to get into this muscle, and I have people that do it at their desks, is to put your ankle on the opposite knee in a seated position. Lift your back and lean toward your ankle again.
Don't be afraid to move your torso slowly and in various angles to get your best stretch. Every body is different based on genetics and life experience so let yourself explore your own perfection; ok not so perfect yet.
Remember consistency and patience. Let me know if this is clear enough for you and also how you are progressing.
Thanks Vickie...and you guessed it. I'm the person who cannot sit on a bench with their leg straight. I actually have to lean backwards in that position. Sad but true! Anyway, I'm committed to make this better in '06 and have started already.
Trig, And so you have mastered the 'hardest' part of getting a better balance of hamstring support for your game, getting started. And I'll add that 85 percent of the people I work with cannot master this, seemingly, simple posture. I would suggest, if I may, that you start this new focus once a day but after a few days of implementation you start doing it twice and even a third time; that is if you want to see faster results. The simple fact is that your hamstrings are supporting you based on the only information they are receiving. So if you want them to positively adapt to a new agreement with your hips and torso then you have to give them more frequent requests to comply with your new desire. The protocol I suggested is very frustrating because the changes happen slower than we expect from our exercise efforts. But I promise it will work. Now, since I am being bossy, I would also suggest you do some work with your upper body including the shoulder stretches and torso twist and definitely some of the lat work that we've posted on other threads. Your lats are the primary stabilizer for your back and attach at the hip, the lower thorasic vertebrae and lower ribs and then to the front of your arm. There is a major relationship between the lats and the hamstrings in keeping your hips under control during your golf efforts and just walking around. Yes, here I go again, You can and should focus your attention to isolation but your program must include an interest in addapting the rest of the body to this new structural function. As I've said a hundred times, it really is all connected.
Trig, And so you have mastered the 'hardest' part of getting a better balance of hamstring support for your game, getting started. And I'll add that 85 percent of the people I work with cannot master this, seemingly, simple posture. I would suggest, if I may, that you start this new focus once a day but after a few days of implementation you start doing it twice and even a third time; that is if you want to see faster results. The simple fact is that your hamstrings are supporting you based on the only information they are receiving. So if you want them to positively adapt to a new agreement with your hips and torso then you have to give them more frequent requests to comply with your new desire. The protocol I suggested is very frustrating because the changes happen slower than we expect from our exercise efforts. But I promise it will work. Now, since I am being bossy, I would also suggest you do some work with your upper body including the shoulder stretches and torso twist and definitely some of the lat work that we've posted on other threads. Your lats are the primary stabilizer for your back and attach at the hip, the lower thorasic vertebrae and lower ribs and then to the front of your arm. There is a major relationship between the lats and the hamstrings in keeping your hips under control during your golf efforts and just walking around. Yes, here I go again, You can and should focus your attention to isolation but your program must include an interest in addapting the rest of the body to this new structural function. As I've said a hundred times, it really is all connected.
Will be back online on Monday. Merry, merry, Vik
Vicky,
What it be possible to have your entire stretching regime consolidated in one place with pics? Wait a minute....that would be a book or better yet a DVD with you demonstrating!
Thanks Yoda for your kind words and acknowledgement of the work I have developed over nearly 25 years of fitness tutoring.The approach I take to training for all applications of fitness is much more commited to specificity and isolation than in most exercise formats. The energy and attention you bring to the work is the real magic, however, and results are more dependent on application and compliance than the information.
Trig, Hamstrings are are probably the most complicated stretch to accomplish because of the condition of the spine which comprises the top of the hip relative to the muscle attachments below the hip. Since the hamstring attaches to the bottom of the hip joint your success is really about balancing the tension above the hip.
If you cannot sit on a bench and stretch your leg out directly in front of your hips and then sit up straight, creating a right angle, then your hamstring work will feel less than exciting. So I recommend this as your first order of business when it comes to hamstring flexibility. Bending over to touch your nose to your knee is a moot point if the right angle is inaccessible.
So sit on a bench, as described above, and place your hands around the bench for support. Keep your leg stretched completely. As you begin to lift your chest and back straight you will feel your knee beginning to want to bend. Don't allow this and only lift as far as you can with your leg straight and, again, with real tension but no great pain or grimmicing. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds and then try to lift a little higher, and repeat once more. Now and only now that you've accomplished all you can then round and reach out of your low back to take your hands toward your ankles. Keep your eyes looking at the ankle as well. Remember to breath. Usually people tell me their arms aren't long enough, it really feels this way, but it's not true. Repeat on the other leg and then if you have time do both legs again while they are in a state of compliance. It may take some time before you can create the straight (neutral back) complete with the natural curvatures of your spine including your lordosis, the curve of the low back.
A secondary, yet major, impediment to hamstring alignment is a little muscle called the periformis. The periformis muscle attaches between the sacrum and the top of your leg bone. The least complicated way to get to this muscle is as follows:
After you've finished your hamstring stretch sit up and bend that knee to place the outside of your ankle on the bench in front of you. Your instep will be toward the ceiling. Straighten your back once more and try to lean toward your ankle. This will create a sensation under your buttocks. Hold this position for 30 seconds and then continue to try to enjoy the stretch twice more for 30 second intervals. Another way to get into this muscle, and I have people that do it at their desks, is to put your ankle on the opposite knee in a seated position. Lift your back and lean toward your ankle again.
Don't be afraid to move your torso slowly and in various angles to get your best stretch. Every body is different based on genetics and life experience so let yourself explore your own perfection; ok not so perfect yet.
Remember consistency and patience. Let me know if this is clear enough for you and also how you are progressing.
Vik
Hi Vicki, I am fairly new to this forum and have a big problem with my lower back (psoas) and find stretching my rock hard hamstrings brings some releif. I was once told that the best way was to lie on your back and use a towel, pull on the ball of foot and stretch that way. What are your thoughts on this. Also the periformis, wow I need a lot of work on them! Aloha
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