How does one exactly go about improving range of motion with the static flexibility medium?
How long should holds in stretched positions be? How far down should one stretch? What about breathing?
Thanks a million,
Adam Marshall
A great article to check out would be Ian King’s “Lazy Man’s Guide to Stretching” found over at T-mag. It will answer all of your questions. If you have any questions after you have read the article, let me know and I’ll be glad to answer them.
well here’s the specific problem. When I spread my legs outward and turn them, I feel strain on the outside of the hip much more than the groin. Is this supposed to happen? does it mean that the groin is inflexible or the hip abductors/adductors whichever moves the legs outward? I get this same feeling when I try to squat rock bottom, I can get past parallel just fine but not much past. When I do butterfly stretches my knees are at least a foot off the ground. Are my hip joints doomed to suck or can I fix this? My left hip pops a lot too, and has been injured before. I guess it’d be an impingement. It was a ligament between abdomen and left leg, it got very inflammed and I had to skip practice for a day and take some muscle relaxer/antinflammatories. It hasn’t got to that point since then, which was about a year and 2 months ago. So what’s the story? Any idea?
thanks so much for helping,
adam
I have Pavel’s Relax Into Stretch book and it states that to increase ROM using static stretch, you must hold it long enough for the stretch reflex to relax. This could be up to several minutes. Also the stretch should be somewhat comfortable. The moment you pull or jerk, your body will tighten. YOUR CNS is responsible for flexibility. Relaxing it is the key.
Adam, it sounds like you are very tight in through the hip region. Mainly your adductors/abductors as well as the various muscles at the hip joint which serve as stabilizers and internal/external rotators. This is very likely the cause of your hip popping since an overly tight muscle can pull you out of proper alignment. The good news is you can improve your flexibility within this region dramatically if you begin a daily stretching routine. My recommendations would be to go through all the the lower body stretches found in Ian King’s ‘Lazy Mans Guide to Stretching’ as well as Coach Davies article ‘Man of Steel’ (both articles have detailed pictures) and identify what specific stretches you have a limited range of motion in. Once you have determined your ‘weak’ points, make these stretches the core focus of your stretching program. This can be done by holding these particular stretches longer relative to others, adding multiple sets for these stretches, as well adding an additional stretching session within a given day dedicated solely to your ‘weak’ points. RELAX into your stretches as well as breath normally. Any other questions, let me know. Good Luck!
The key to flexibility is frequency. You have to stretch often. If you make it a point to stretch in the morning; then again in the evening (twice a day) for about 15-20 minutes each time, you will find you make noticeable gains in a week. You need to stretch firmly but, if you stretch too hard you will end up pretty sore in a couple of days, so try different levels of intensity until you find you own middle ground.
thanks guys your advice is very helpful!
Means a lot to me
thanks again, adam marshall