Sooo I have stretched Monday to Thursday this week. Whether it’s in a class or at home it’s been done. I stretched 3 times at home which im proud of. One session was only 20 mins for my middles but I reached the same place I usually do after stretching for an hour! Strange!!
Anyhow, I used to do middles with my knees up (to alleviate pressure as i had sliding knee caps aka patella maltracking) then changed to knees forward and now my knees don’t even want to face up. I make sure my legs are straight which helps keep my knees taut so they don’t feel like they will slip (not a great feeling. Believe me. My kneecap has slipped out of place during a split and it looked so weird and freaked me out!)
Must work on increasing my straddle. Ordered a Deuserband from Amazon so hopefully that will help. Didnt get completely flat as i know i can because for some reason, at home i never push myself as hard as i do in class. I obviously love an audience haha!!
My quad/hip flexor stretches. As you can see my quads are quite flexy so i can sit in my right split and pull my back foot all the way to my butt. When I am more comfortable being square on the left, I should be able to do the same.
So in class, with resistance PNF stretching, I can get my right leg to my face (square) but at home I only manage to get it to my face when it’s slightly off square. There’s a massive difference between my left and right and I think it’s coz I have a 4 block comfortable oversplit (sometimes) on my right whereas I have only just got my left split flat (but can sometimes manage a 1 block oversplit. Need to deffo work on my active flexibility here becaue if i took my hand away, my foot would be nowhere near my face.
As you can see, this stretch session wasn’t the greatest. I stretched for at least an hour but didn’t have the energy? determination? to finish and sit in the splits properly since I still felt tight. I’m not even completely square on my right as i usually am.
And finally, my runners lunge with backbend (or not!) Can’t wait till I can get my head to my foot and grab my ankles. One day eh……
Till next time folks!!
Hurray you’re improving so much, it looks like you’re practicing a lot too, way to go! You’ll get that foot to head by building the muscles in your back. I’m glad you know what PNF stretching is, that definitely helps!! The more I built my back strength in this new range of motion, the greater my flexibility became. Breathing, isometric training, pnf stretching and dynamic stretching all work together beautifully to build strength. Love that last stretch against the pole! It looks like all you need to do is push yourself away from the pole, creating a deeper lunge, the… Read more »
Hi Amanda Its funny that i just read your reply because i just finished stretching at home and again am nowhere near how far i get in class so i felt like quitting and just sticking to classes but then i thought maybe its because i do weights first so im tired or cant be bothered after. So what i might do now is since i know i wont get that far is just do my mddle splits at home and leave the others to class. Its so disappointing that im not getting the same results at home but i… Read more »
Question, when you do your stretches at home do you go through the dynamic stretches? I have noticed for myself that if I just try to stretch the static stretches, I can’t get as far. But if I warmup and take my time, breath deep and really focus on isolating my muscles I find that I can actually stretch further. It’s almost like meditation, it’s easier by yourself when you can focus. I totally understand the adrenaline from having an audience always helps 😉 You also said you weren’t sleeping. I know that if I’m tired, hungry, too full, busy… Read more »
100% agree. TBH i dont know how you did the 100 days. If it wasn’t for my classes i know i wouldnt even reach anywhere near since i am a social stretcher but im trying to implement a new routine even if its only 2 or 3 times a week. You are my stretch hero!!!
You’re so sweet! When the challenge was all said and done, I realized it’s more like 100 hours and however many days that takes you. Normally I would stretch 2 hours per day so I only had to stretch a maximum of 4 days per week.
You’ll get there with time! 🙂 Wish I could stretch with you, I love your enthusiasm and charisma!