Flexibility:
(1) If you have tight hamstrings, locked up hips, and a stiff lower back. If you're looking for a short, but effective, full body flexibility routine, this video is for you. Hey, my name is Lucas, I'm a yoga teacher, I'm a teacher trainer, but before yoga I was a stiff office guy and I couldn't touch my toes. I would get about halfway down, my hamstrings would just scream at me. And I got so frustrated by the flexibility training that I found,
(2) or I should say lack of flexibility training, so I started talking to dancers, and martial artists, and gymnasts, and some yoga teachers, the ones who, like me, were stiff as adults and then actually made some changes. And then from there I dug into the exercise physiology research, and the message I found was very, very consistent. To actually increase your range of motion it's not that complicated. It's not a big mystery, but you need to understand what I call the Science of Stretching and then you need to apply it in a very specific way to certain types of poses.
(3) That's what we'll be covering today. We'll start off with number one. I'll share with you this anatomy and bio mechanics of increased range of motion. I call it the Science of Stretching. Number two,I'll share with you the three practice principles that you can apply to any pose to help them to actually create more length. And lastly, I'll share with you a 15-minute full body routine that you can come back to again and again.
(4) A quick disclaimer. This is stretching with a capital S. This type of practice is designed to actually increase your range of motion. This is not a warm-up, this shouldn't be done before a run, or before a gym workout. This is something you should do supplemental to whatever else you're doing and it should be done after, or at the end of your day, with plenty of time for recovery. Let's jump in and talk about the Science of Stretching.
Science of Stretching:
(1) Very often when we think about soft tissues we think about everything together, muscles, and fascia, and tendons, and ligaments, and cartilage. But let's separate these into two different buckets. Muscles and fascia, myocardial units, and then our tendons and ligaments and cartilage. When we think about, for example, the tendons and ligaments and cartilage of our knees, we don't want to stretch those, we want to leave those alone. We want them to be elastic and strong and stable.
(2) But mostly we want them to be rigid and stable. With our muscles and the fascia that surrounds them, these are the tissues that we would like to stretch. Let's think about our hamstrings. I've got a hamstring model here, let's say we zoom, zoom, zoom in on that muscle belly, the hamstrings on the backs of your legs. Inside your muscle belly there are these sensory organs called muscle spindles and these spindles are looking for two things - rate of change,so if I go down really quickly, and also total length, so if I go too far.
(3) If I go too fast or too far those muscle spindles will send a signal to my spinal cord and my hamstrings will lock up. You can feel that now. If you just try to bounce really quickly you'll feel your hamstring fighting against you. I mention this because when most people stretch all they do is fight their own body, they're not actually changing anything, they're just hitting their own nervous system reflex and they don't get anywhere. This is called your myotatic reflex, or your stretch reflex.
(4) This is where your body attempts to keep you safe by engaging that very muscle that you're trying to stretch. The next thing you need to understand about muscles from a scientific perspective is when you zoom, zoom, zoom in on those hamstrings the smallest contractile unit, they're called sarcomeres. These muscle fibers come together kind of like alligator jaws and they contract, they contract, they close, they close. The closing part, the contracting, we usually do pretty well.The relaxation part we usually don't do very well.
(5) Again, imagine the smallest contractile unit,called sarcomeres, contract for muscle engagement. The relaxation part is the part we need to train initially. What that means is, right now your potential range of motion is much, much bigger than you realize, that within the first couple of weeks most people can realize their existing potential.That's phase one of flexibility training.The next phase is something called parthenogenesis.
(6) Parthenogenesis just basically means we need more of these alligator jaws in a line so that not only can I reach my maximum range of motion today but I can increase that potential range over time. We do this by applying the three principles of practice. Here we go. If you're trying to do deep stretching with a capital S, the first principle is wet noodle. What this principle says is our muscles and the fascia that surround them, they will stretch best when fully relaxed. In the same way you need to contract your bicep to grow your bicep, you need
(7) to relax your biceps to lengthen your biceps. Principle number one, wet noodle. Principle number two, to overcome that myotatic stretch reflex we need to breathe in a specific way. It's in through our nose, out through our mouth. I'll show you in just a couple of minutes here. Principle number three is time under passive tension. We need to spend at least two minutes in a pose or nothing will happen. It's the same as if you went to the gym and you did
(8) just one bicep curl, called it a day. Probably not going to have much muscle hypertrophy. With flexibility you need to spend at least two minutes or nothing will happen. Let's jump into our poses, and again just a quick disclaimer here, these are not warm-ups. They should not be done before a run or a weight-lifting session. I'll walk you through, step-by-step, each pose as we go.
Corrective Exercises:
- Let's get started with our full body 15-minute flexibility routine. For this practice you will need a wall or a door, some hard surface to lean up against. You need a stool, need a block, and then you'll need some kind of cushion as well. I'm using a timer, but I'll keep track for you.
Wall Doll Pose:
(1) First pose we'll do is called wall doll and I'd like you to stand one of your feet distance away from the wall. Step your feet about as wide as your hips, a little bit wider is okay too. Bend your knees as much as you need to to keep your lower back safe. Fold forward, place a stool in front of you, rest your forearms on the stool and drop your head. As we move into this practice, let's come back to our three principles of practice. Principle
(2) number one is wet noodle. What that tells us is that muscles and the fascia that surround them, in this case my hamstrings, they'll stretch best when fully relaxed. So my job here is to relax my muscles on the backs of my legs as much as possible. Principle number one, wet noodle. Principle number two is breathe to relax.
(3) So while I'm in all these poses I'll breathe in a very specific way to turn off that myotactic stretch reflex. I'll breathe in through my nose for four and out through my mouth for eight. Principle number three has to do with this timer down here. We'll be holding all of our poses for at least two minutes.
(4) Today we'll use two minute holds. Principle number three is called time under passive tension and this is going to be one of the biggest determining factors in terms of the actual results you'll make over time. When we apply these three principles to these poses we'll be working on you can very effectively open up your body over time. In terms of intensity, I'd like you to work at about a 7 out of 10 intensity,
(5) which means you should feel uncomfortable but you should be able to converse, to talk in a normal voice without strain or without any kind of interruption in your speaking voice. Good. Bend your knees, let's move the stool out of the way, I'll reset my timer here.Our next
Cliffhanger Pose:
(1) pose is for our shoulders and this is called the cliffhanger pose. Imagine you're hanging off the edge of a cliff. Take your forearm and put your knees about one forearm's distance away from the wall. Place your knees wide apart, so they're as wide as your mat, your big toes touch back behind you.
(2) I'll start my timer, place my hands up the wall, spreading my fingers, and drop my head. Now, if you can have your arms all the way straight and if it's comfortable relax your head completely, fingers spread, head relaxed, sinking into your shoulders. This range of motion here is called shoulder flexion, when your arms are above your head. We do this so rarely that many of us feel really, really locked up, stiff, even impingement in our shoulder joint.
(3) You can throttle the intensity of this pose by relaxing more into the pose, or potentially by using your legs more to soften the intensity. Same thing as before, we're looking at a 7 out of 10 intensity.Think about principle one, wet noodle, relax your shoulders as much as possible. Principle number two is breathe to relax, inhale for four exhale mouth for eight.
(4) And principle number three is time under passive tension. We're using two minute holds here today and two minutes is kind of the baseline hold we use in our Science of Stretching approach. If you feel your hands slipping down the wall, you can walk your fingers back up, spread your fingers, and drop and relax back into the pose. If you can, straight arms are great. If your arms need to bend a little bit, that's okay, but do your best to keep your arms straight, head and neck heavy and relaxed. Good. Slowly make your way up, shake out your arms, I'll reset my timer. We'll do our next.
Blaster Pose:
(1) pose which is for our hips. This is a classic Science of Stretching pose that we call blaster. I'll use my stool and I'll use my pillows here. My pillow goes underneath my left knee, I'm on my hands and my knees like a child crawling. Step my right foot outside and in front of my right hand, my back knee is down on the cushion, I'll point my back toe, start my timer, place my stool in front of me, rest my forearms on top of the stool, and drop my head.
(2) What's happening here in this pose is my front leg, my right leg, is in hip flexion. My knee coming towards my chest, it's also doing a little bit of lateral rotation. This is helping to stretch my hamstring and gluteal group on the back side of my front leg, maybe a little bit into the adductors, my groin muscles on that front leg as well. With my back leg I'm primarily focused on my hip flexors, muscles like my psoas,
(3) my iliacus, and rectus femoris on the tops of your legs. You might feel it more in the front leg, you might feel it more in the back leg. Wherever you feel it is totally fine. Drop your head, wet noodle, breathe to relax, and let's hang here for two minutes. Inhale through your nose, exhale mouth.
(4) Remember when we talked about the Science of Stretching and we talked about those alligator jaws, those sarcomeres? What we're working on right now is phase one of flexibility training.We're trying to take your existing muscle fibers and training them to fully express the flexibility potential that they already have. Let's switch sides here. Release back, switch the cushion, so now the cushion's underneath your right leg.
(5) Lunge your left foot forward outside your left hand, start my timer again, two minutes on the left side,place my block or my stool in front of me and relax down into the pose. So step number one is training your existing muscle fibers, those sarcomeres, to fully express. The next phase sarcomereogenesis, creating new sarcomeres, that takes a little bit more time. And it's also very helpful if you actually use your new
(6) range of motion. What that means is maybe we'll spend 15 minutes a day stretching, that's what I usually recommend, but you need to incorporate full range of motion movements into your day. A few minutes ago we were doing cliffhanger at the wall, full shoulder flexion. You need to incorporate full shoulder flexion into your day. Take a break from your work, reach your arms above your head, take a break from your work, squat down fully and pick something up off the floor.
(7) If you don't use the range of motion that we're training here, whether it's hamstrings, hips, shoulders, whatever it is, if you don't use the range you won't ever create new sarcomeres. And so remember, the first phase will get there, this is teaching your existing sarcomeres to express themselves. But that second phase, sarcomereogenesis, that takes active use, active practice, with your new range of motion that you've gained. Inhale through your nose for four,
(8) exhale eight. Good. Release your left leg back, let's get rid of this stool, we'll get rid of our cushion for just a moment. This next pose we'll do is a thoracic spine opening. It's a simple-looking.
Block Noodle Pose:
- pose but it often feels pretty intense. I'll use a block, I'll use a pillow, I'll position my T-spine,my thoracic spine, right over that block. I might use a second block. I'll show you, you don't need one, it's optional, but it can be helpful. I'll lie down on my back and I'll wiggle,wiggle, wiggle,until that block is right between my scapula, right between my shoulder
- blades. I'll start my timer. We call this a block noodle pose. I'll extend my arms above my head, relax my head back, and breathe here. Now for some of you it might feel better to have something in your hand. You could use a broomstick, a book,or like me, maybe you use a block.
- Breathe here and relax. Legs are relaxed, your heart, your sternum, opening up towards the sky, and your head relaxes back, and breathe. If you feel any strain in your neck, if it's too much to do this cervical spine extension, you could potentially put something underneath your head. But if it's comfortable, this is a great opportunity to take your neck along for the ride and work on your neck mobility as well. Inhale through your nose for four,
- exhale eight.Good. Release your block if you're holding on to one. Slowly roll over to your side, make your way up to a seated position. The last pose we'll do I call a lightning bolt pose. Here's.
Lightning Bolt Pose:
(1) what you do. Sit on top of your knees and put as many blocks as you need to, I'm using two blocks, you might use four blocks, you might use a bunch of pillows, underneath your bum. Sit up tall, place your hands on your knees and relax here. In this pose you might feel a big stretch in your ankles, this is called plantar flexion of your ankles. If it's too much, go on a softer surface, like on top of your bed, like on top of a mattress. I'm using two blocks, you might use more.
(2) Use as many as you need to, or you might use less, maybe one block, maybe you don't need a block at all. With your knees, have them be together-ish. What I mean is they're sort of moving towards each other, but if they drift apart a little bit don't worry about it. Much more importantly, let's apply principle number one which is wet noodle. Relax the tops of your legs as much as possible.
- We're stretching our quadriceps here. Probably most importantly of these four quads, we're working on rectus femoris, which is right here on the top. This is an important hip flexor, it's important for doing all your kind of lunging poses, your walking and your running posture, and it often gets, along with your other quads, very, very tight. Second to none here is your plantar flexion. Here your ankles are often very tight as well, they're coming along for the ride. Allow them to get a nice stretch as well.
- Drop your head and we'll breathe. Good. We're at two minutes. Release your legs and you can punch out the stretch, sometimes there's some tension in your legs. And that's it, we're done. Hope you found this full body flexibility routine helpful. For a pdf of the poses we've covered you can find a link down below. If you'd like more science-based yoga post, .
- I try to answer all my own comments down below, so if you have questions please post them. And lastly, you can always find my teaching calendar at yogabody. com. Thanks so much for joining, I'll see you in the next one.
Full-Body Stretching Routine:
| Time | Body Part | Stretch |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00-1:00 | Neck | Neck tilts and rotations |
| 1:00-2:00 | Shoulders | Shoulder rolls and arm swings |
| 2:00-3:00 | Upper Back | Cat-Cow stretch for the upper back |
| 3:00-4:00 | Chest | Chest opener with clasped hands behind your back |
| 4:00-5:00 | Arms | Triceps stretch and wrist circles |
| 5:00-6:00 | Spine | Seated forward bend and spinal twists |
| 6:00-7:00 | Lower Back | Child's pose and gentle lower back twists |
| 7:00-8:00 | Hips | Hip flexor stretch and seated hip opener |
| 8:00-9:00 | Quadriceps | Standing quadriceps stretch |
| 9:00-10:00 | Hamstrings | Seated or standing hamstring stretch |
| 10:00-11:00 | Calves | Calf stretches with one leg forward and one leg back |
| 11:00-12:00 | Inner Thighs | Seated or standing inner thigh stretch |
| 12:00-13:00 | Outer Thighs | Seated or standing outer thigh stretch |
| 13:00-14:00 | Ankles and Feet | Ankle circles and toe pointing/flexing |
| 14:00-15:00 | Full Body Relaxation | Savasana (Corpse Pose) - Lie on your back, arms at your sides, and relax every muscle |
Full-Body Stretching Routine Q&A:
1. Why is a full-body stretching ordinary important?
A full-frame stretching habitual is important for numerous reasons. It helps improve flexibility, that may beautify universal mobility and reduce the chance of harm. Additionally, stretching promotes higher blood circulate, leading to progressed muscle recovery and relaxation.
2. What are a few key stretches for the neck and shoulders in a fifteen-minute habitual?
Include stretches along with neck tilts, neck rotations, and shoulder rolls. These movements assist release tension in the neck and shoulders, lowering stiffness and selling better posture.
3. How can one correctly stretch the lower back in the course of a 15-minute habitual?
Incorporate physical games just like the seated forward bend and cat-cow stretch from yoga. These stretches can assist alleviate tension within the lower returned, selling flexibility and relieving soreness.
4. Which leg stretches are beneficial for a 15-minute complete-frame stretching routine?
Include stretches like standing ahead bends, lunges, and seated hamstring stretches. These physical games goal the muscle groups within the legs, improving flexibility and decreasing the chance of muscle tightness.
5. How ought to one finish a fifteen-minute complete-frame stretching habitual for gold standard relaxation?
Finish the routine with calming stretches consisting of infant's pose or a gentle complete-frame stretch at the floor. Incorporating deep breathing all through those stretches can enhance rest and promote a sense of nicely-being after the consultation.