stretching exercises

[luka]

never wanted to get big and buff but ive been a bit concerned about how sore and rigid my body is getting. was talking to ach! just now and he gave me some exercises

1) stand in a doorway with your hands parallel to your shoulds holding the sides of the doorway, push your body forward with your legs back and keep your head looking up - stretches out your back and neck

2)lie on your back, legs together, then get your legs over your head pointing the other way, hopefully at some point touching the floor

3) touch your toes

4) stand with legs apart, feet supported by something (bedpost and bottom of cupboard for example), reach toward the bottom of your leg with opposite arm, pulling your leg and thigh, then do the opposite leg and arm


im gonna try this. anyone else a stretching master? dont tell me to do a yoga course or something cos i cant be fucked. want something i can do in the house quickly with no equipment

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

there are a million stretches really, & approaches to stretching. I dunno, I've been picking up bits & pieces for a long time, from sports, various martial arts, running, lifting, etc as well as a bit of yoga, & I've kinda evolved my own style that works for me. If I had half an hour I could just show you a ton of stuff, but unfortunately it's nearly impossible to explain complex physical activities w/o a visual demonstration. what I can say - well, the splits, definitely, both front & side. don't worry about going all the way down, or even how far down you get, the idea is to hold the stretch for a long period (I usually do 60 seconds), gradually going deeper into it. also the seated forward bend, which is essentially a seated version of bend over & touch your toes. I dunno, loads of stuff really, it depends where you're sore & what your goal is.

yoga is kind of a mixed bag - I mean, trust, I'm not a yoga dude (I'm a Muay Thai dude; the two don't really mesh, yunno), but I don't think it's so bad to take a few classes. you can always take the free trial class & then steal the poses to do on your own at home. if your back is sore, for example, Cobra pose (google it) is a great one. I dunno, over the years I've taken maybe a dozen odd yoga classes in a variety of different styles & the best things I took away from yoga were more general concepts; engage/think about engaging your entire body in every stretch, the idea of trying to keep your breathing rhythmic (exhaling when you go deeper into a stretch), etc.

I just want to generally endorse this tho - stretching is awesome. everyone should stretch.

 

[luka]

my goal is to be less sore and more supple. you've worked making coffee so you know how it involves repetitive movements, bending, twisting, holding uncomfortable poses etc. i just want to counteract the effects of that. im not oppposed to yoga my dad has done it for 40 years. i just dont have time or money to take classes. how much time do you dedicate to physical exericse padraig?

 

[vimothy]

As if Muay Thai and yoga don't mesh--yoga meshes with everything.

 

[Woebot]

stretchersize!

you need this classic:

here's a cheep one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Stretching-Bob-...iction_Book&hash=item53e2651c54#ht_500wt_1008

free from religious dogma innit.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

well, quite a bit. as you might infer. it's kinda my thing, yunno, my only thing really outside of school & work these days. I'd been into sports & martial arts & stuff for years but I got really serious about fitness maybe like a year & a half ago. it's like anything I mean, if you're really into it you devote a lot of time to it, possibly to the exclusion of other things (i.e. I don't have much of a social life these days, well other than the people in the lab & people I train with). I'm trying to fight Muay Thai when I get good enough; just amateur, not pro or anything, but I train pretty hard.

so, back, shoulders, that kinda stuff, yeah? check out that Cobra pose. plus standing bow pulling pose, spinal twists (either supine or sitting up), I mean there's more but I'm trying to think of stuff you can just google w/o me having to go into long, convoluted explanations. also, joint rotations, i.e. wrists, windmills w/your arms or just shoulder rotations, trunk rotations, hip rotations and so on.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

As if Muay Thai and yoga don't mesh--yoga meshes with everything.

this is in fact true, I was kinda being facetious. I like doing yoga. what I don't like is the whole yoga vibe yunno, chic white people saying Namaste to each other and scented candles and new age music & all that. that's been pretty much universal everywhere I've seen at least (with the exception of bikram, which is totally crazy in other ways). maybe it's not that way in England I dunno.

 

[craner]

There's a Jerry Hall yoga video you could use, Luka -- or a more snake-like Marie Helvin work out.

 

[vimothy]

I like doing yoga. what I don't like is the whole yoga vibe yunno

Yeah, fuck that shit.

I favour prasara yoga. Scott Sonnon, who trains lots of MMA / UFC / sambo types, uses it a lot.

Also, qigong, obviously.

Best thing to do IMO luka is just find a DVD you like the sound of and then steal it of tha interwebz.

 

[luka]

oh yeah good thinking vimothy i will do exactly that. maybe not craners ones though.

 

[luka]

wikipedia seems to suggest stretching is bad for you in any form.


For many, the idea of stretching means that injuries become less common and athletic performance is enhanced. Multifactorial claims in literature essentially discredit generally accepted ideas of stretching. In terms of genetic ability, some people are more flexible than others; this includes sex differences where females are generally more flexible than males. In this sense, some people are more predisposed to injuries than others. In addition to genetics, some studies found that stretching does not increase range of motion. Instead it increases individual stretch tolerance and may become detrimental to athletic performance

 

[luka]

but i just done a bit. it made me giggle a lot. things i learnt are im not quite at the beginner stage yet, thats going to take a year or two. cant come close to touching my toes and most of the things people reccommend are impossible for me. i cant keep my back straight or balance enough to do any of them properly. im going to try and keep it up and see if there is any improvement. its quite fun.

 

[luka]

i been doing this every day now and i branched out to push ups and crunches. i can do about 45 crunches then i feel a bit sick in the stomach. my push up record is 10. im feeling good. this and giving up caffine has been the best thing ive done for myself in years,

 

[BareBones]

giving up caffine has been the best thing ive done for myself in years,

do you feel noticeably different for doing this luka? thinking of doing it, or at least cutting down - i drink ridiculous amounts of tea, coffee, fizzy drinks

 

[baboon2004]

i been doing this every day now and i branched out to push ups and crunches. i can do about 45 crunches then i feel a bit sick in the stomach. my push up record is 10. im feeling good. this and giving up caffine has been the best thing ive done for myself in years,

You doing push-ups onto your fists rather than outstretched hands? Really protects your wrists, and you'll probably be able to do more.

Second the caffeine question. I think it woudl make my life better, but I'm having huge diffciulty kicking it.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

im feeling good.

congrats, luka - glad to hear it

You doing push-ups onto your fists rather than outstretched hands? Really protects your wrists, and you'll probably be able to do more.

there are a million ways to do pushups - regular, fists, diamonds, w/feet elevated, etc etc all the way up to fingertip, clapping, one arm, etc they're all good, really. some of them do different things. knuckle pushups are nice if you have bad wrists, it's true - however, they are actually more difficult than regular pushups, so you won't be be able to do more (which isn't really the goal, anyhow - or I mean, the point of whatever you're doing is ultimately to get better at it & become more fit; being able to do more repetitions of a given movement is the logical outcome of becoming more fit). I highly endorse all forms of pushups, anyway (as well as pullups (!), dips, handstand pushups, and so on)

also in re caffeine - like Luka, I worked as a barista when younger, and at a couple points had a serious caffeine habit. it depends on how much you regularly consume, I mean, but giving up caffeine is big - boost in energy levels (also, less peaks & valleys, more of a consistent level throughout the day), less headaches, sleep better. these days I keep caffeine as a kind of ace in the hole if I really need to stay up & cram for a test or something; then it's nice b/c a little bit really goes a long way.

 

[Sick Boy]

I tried playing football last weekend, hung-over and in the sun, and it took five minutes until I was vomming all up the side of the pitch. I'd also eating a big mac about half an hour previously. The state of my health is alarming. One time I was running from an irate bartender after I'd had a piss-up and decided to reneg on the bill and I distinctly remember thinking as I was running up the road "fuck this, I'll just let him catch me, whatever he's got can't be worse than all this running."

I need exercise.

 

[baboon2004]

there are a million ways to do pushups - regular, fists, diamonds, w/feet elevated, etc etc all the way up to fingertip, clapping, one arm, etc they're all good, really. some of them do different things. knuckle pushups are nice if you have bad wrists, it's true - however, they are actually more difficult than regular pushups, so you won't be be able to do more )

ah, didn't know this - have been doing them for so long that I just assumed they'd allow more repetitions. Should try the regular ones again to see

 

[CHAOTROPIC]

"YOGA finally arrived on Wii - you can no perform this hip lifestyle trend in your living room: choose from various individual training schedules and routines and be guided by a Guru and Anja Rubik, an internationally renowned top model."

All sorted Luca!

 

[luka]

about to run to work but just quickly, giving up caffine-dont expect to feel like the king of the world. its not that it makes you feel good, it doesn't. it just makes you feel a whole less bad. what padraig said basically. less peaks and troughs. i think though that im a bit of a caffine lightweight and that it probably affects me more violently than other people so im not guarenteeing results. worth a go though at any rate.
chaotropic, joker! if i had a wii i might get that you know! a few of my customers are yoga istructors though and they have been telling me things, i think they just want to touch my body and put me into poses and that though....