Starting a Stretching Routine

[RDJ]

Spine stretch:


Abdominal stretch:

[Chris Nagel]

Thanks RDJ. That fills the gap of what I've been missing. The second stretch is also a good way to decompress the back.

[RDJ]

Indeed. It's one of my favorite stretches.

For the back these are also very nice.





If you have a cat, observe him when he wakes up. Cats are fantastic stretchers

[RDJ]

Does your stretching routine also include limb rotating btw?

[Chris Nagel]

Does your stretching routine also include limb rotating btw?

What do you mean by limb rotations? I've been doing arm circles (swinging). At my boxing gym after we warmed our arms up we hold our arms to the sides, in front and over head while turning our arms.

[RDJ]

Swinging your arms would be the rotating movement for your shoulder joint. Each joint should be rotated before the muscles attached to it are stretched, I was told. So I usually just start at the neck, by rotating the head. First 10 seconds clockwise, then 10 seconds counterclockwise. After that shoulders (arm swinging back and forth), elbows (swinging the underarm), wrists (rotate the hands), spine (upper body rotating), hips (rotate the midsection), knees (looks like skiing) and ankles. It feels nice, you basically loosen up all the muscles before stretching.

[RDJ]

Oh btw, a hip flexor stretch:

[Chris Nagel]

That sounds good, that gives me a several stretches to try. I'll try this with my wrist and forearm, as well as my ankles. Scrap has a good one for the leg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdA1DcZUgE4

I'll have my main stretch routine, and I'd like to also have stretches that I'll do after waking up in the morning, before/after workouts, and throughout the day.

Stretching my legs is a big priority as that's where flexibility is going to pay off. I'll start doing the rotations, and rocking for my knees to help get them loose.

I like the idea that certain stretches and exercises will improve balance and stability, and I'll see I can integrate that into my training.