A complete stretching sequence?

[cryptolect]

I have a basic routine which I do with kettlebells which works lots of muscles across my whole body. Then afterwards I do a range of stretches which don't really reach as many muscles. What I would love is if there was a sort of stretching routine I could do which would be more of a whole-body thing, like my workout.

I'm thinking of the 'sun salutation' routine from yoga - it's a sequence you memorise, it's fluid like a dance with one movement leading into the next and it involves the whole body. Because it can be memorised like a routine it would be easier to do in my post exercise mindless fog. Unfortunately I find that the sun salutation doesn't really stretch a sufficient range of muscles strongly enough - but maybe I'm not doing it right?

I don't know if I'm looking for something which just isn't out there but I would welcome any suggestions.

Comments

[laurashapiro]

OMG, thank you for this. I didn't even realize I was looking for the same thing until you posted about it.

[cryptolect]

Oh I'm glad it's not just me :)

[rydra_wong]

In my experience, sun salutations warm up a lot of muscles very nicely, but they don't stretch everything -- for example, they don't do much for hip rotation or shoulder opening. And they're not really brilliant for the sort of long, slow stretches you might want to do when you're cooling down after exercise.

However, if you're into yoga, it'd be possible to find poses that do stretch the bits that need stretching after your kettlebell routine, and then compose your own vinyasa (flow) sequence.

sun_salutation would be a good place to get ideas from a yoga perspective (or, if you'd like, I could post a heads-up over there asking people to come over here and chip in).

[cryptolect]

If you were willing to post that it would be brilliant, as in the above post I have exhausted my entire knowledge of yoga. But, you have also told me enough to get started looking into it a bit more myself, so thank you that's great!

[rydra_wong]

Posted! Two questions:

What areas do you want to stretch that aren't getting stretched in a sun salutation? I know you're looking for a sequence that covers the whole body, but it's helpful to know if there are any bits in particular (hips, shoulders?) that tend to be stiff after your kettlebell workout.

How flexible are you? Obviously there are different possibilities if you're already fairly supple and want a deep stretch, or want something more gentle.

(Btw, the web resources and getting started tags in sun_salutation might be useful if you or anyone else want to dip into yoga as a source of stretches.)

[cryptolect]

Thank you so much!

In answer to your questions: (i) mainly bum, sides of body and wrap around trunk muscles, inner thigh, outside of shoulders, and arms and (ii) pretty flexible(can touch my toes straight leg, can sit with soles of feet together and both knees on floor) but not entirely (can't do the splits or lotus).

Those resources do look very useful, thank you.

[cryptolect]

Sorry I'm tired, I realise the list I posted was of parts which do get worked out but aren't stretched by sun salutation as I understand it. The parts which feel stiff next day tend to vary from one workout to the next but pretty much everything gets worked out and I'm a big lover of balance so I quite like to stretch as much as possible too. I hope that isn't too vague. Also I apologise for my non-technical description of body parts!

[rydra_wong]

Thanks for clarifying. I'm plotting happily here because I can throw some of my favourite stretches at you *g*.

[rydra_wong]

Okay. I will probably be posting lots of snippet-y comments as I come up with ideas.

For shoulders, check out the YogaJournal podcast episode on shoulders. There's a great little mini-sequence of shoulder opening movements at the start which is hard to describe but really useful for keeping the shoulders loose and open; I use it before and after climbing.

[rydra_wong]

There's a fun little micro-sequence I'm doing quite a bit in my own practice that might be useful:

Start in Downwards Facing Dog (stretching out the hamstrings and opening the shoulders a bit).

Then swing one leg up into Three-Legged Dog (ignore the stuff about feet -- I couldn't find a better illustration). This opens the hips and gives you a bit of a twisting stretch through the whole torso.

Then you swing that leg down, bringing your knee to touch the wrist and laying the shin on the ground, and settle into Pigeon Pose (this is a more useful picture, as her shin is not so extremely far forwards). Pigeon is a fantastic stretch for the hip rotators in the thigh and bum, and it's easier to go deeper in it when you're already warmed up.

If you want to get even more stretch in it, you can bend forwards and lay yourself over your front knee.

Then back into Down Dog and repeat on the other side.

Once I've done both sides, I'll often go from Pigeon into Ardha Matsyendrasana if I want more twisting.

ETA: Let me know if this is the sort of thing you're looking for.

[cryptolect]

Thank you! Sorry I've been a bit absent but I really appreciate you sharing these. I am always especially keen on glut/hip stretches as these are areas I sometimes find hard to get to - there's a place deep inside there that *itches* sometimes with wanting to be stretched, it drives me nuts.

There is so much to explore here it might take me a little while to look and try and put it all together - but I'm really grateful for everything you can throw at me, and I'll check back here to keep up. Cheers!

[rydra_wong]

I'm not sure from your comments how much yoga you've done, but have you tried any yin yoga?

That often includes a lot of glute/hip stretches, held for long periods of time (typically about 5 minutes), and it can get into incredibly deep layers of muscle and tissue.

[cryptolect]

Well if I was being strictly accurate I would say that I have done some, but that was only a couple of follow-along classes a long time ago, so in effect, I really have no yoga knowledge or understanding whatsoever.

I do very much like the sound of that - I will go and have a look now!

[rydra_wong]

I'd suggest starting with more general yoga (the Yoga Journal podcasts are excellent) to develop familiarity with the poses and get back into the swing of it again, but then I suspect yin yoga would really hit the spot for you.

I've never found anything else that gets inside the hip joints like that. And it's good after a workout when the muscles are already warmed-up.

[cryptolect]

I have just had a quick look at Yin yoga and it has set a fire immediately. I really like this kind of practice, where you sit with it and deepen it and reflect on it.

And as an added bonus it seems as though it has a fairly basic set of concepts and exercises for me to grasp as a beginner.

I am going to start my explorations right here! *Awards you a Matchmaker's Badge*

Thank you again.

[rydra_wong]

\o/

I really like this kind of practice, where you sit with it and deepen it and reflect on it.

Okay, you're going to love yin yoga so much.

I highly recommend the DVD Yin Yoga: The Foundations of a Quiet Practice (you can get it from yogamatters.com or amazon.co.uk). It's full of good information and has some wonderful practice sequences, including a 70-minute hips-focused series.

[rydra_wong]

Another belated thought: try the two Yoga Journal hip-opener podcasts.

They're not yin yoga, but they do a nice range of hip-openers, working towards getting into half or full lotus (while keeping your knees safe).

[cryptolect]

Thanks, I'll put the DVD on my list and have another look at YJ in the mean time :)

[opusculus]

Something you might look into if you do decide to go the yoga route is going to Yoga Journal, and specifically looking for poses that will stretch you the way you want. Once you find them, Yoga Journal has a sequence-building program that will let you arrange your poses into a realistic sequence, and you can print that out for reference when you're exercising. I did that when trying to get the hang of sun salutation, and I have couple short floor and standing routines that I created with that - I don't think you could do a full workout routine out of their sequencer, but it's great for the shorter types of routines.

[rydra_wong]

Yoga Journal also has some fantastic free video podcasts -- you can get them from the website or through iTunes. I particularly like the ones taught by Jason Crandell.

A lot of them are vinyasa sequences, so even if you don't find something that hits the spot exactly, you'll start to get an idea of how poses can be linked together into a flow that's easier to remember.

[cryptolect]

Ooh that looks like fun! Building my own sequences I mean. To be honest before today I didn't even know that was a Thing People Do, so I'm already a lot further to getting my wish thanks to all of you. Thanks!