I've tried many stretches but it feels as if my back will never become flexible enough to get my full needle. I found this book and thought that it would help me discover different stretches and learn how to correctly stretch to reach my goal.
Most times I wouldn't even warm up before stretching. I just went straight into stretching. As I was reading this book I have learned that warming up is very important before stretching. In the book Total Stretch the author Roscoe Nash he states "When cold, they can be stretched, but muscle receptors restrict you from overstretching them to prevent muscle damage. This means that you cannot achieve a full stretch unless the muscle is warmed up properly" (13). After reading the warm up section of the book I decided to warm up because of the importance of warming up. I warmed up by jogging in place and doing jumping jacks until I felt warm. Then I began looking at the obliques and abdominal stretches because when looking at them, I saw that these would really help with my needle.Then I picked out two stretches that I felt challenged me.
The first stretch that I tried was called the "Back Arch" (47). This stretch was a moderate/hard stretch.
I could really feel the stretch in my abdominal. Stretching my abdominal would really help me pull up my leg because you have to really stretch your abs to be able to pull all the way up. This stretch was not a too easy or too hard stretch and this was a perfect stretch to start with.
The next stretch that I tried was called the "Looking at the ceiling" (49). This was a moderate stretch.
In this stretch I really felt three parts of my body being stretched, my back, abdominal and my obliques. This stretch was a little bit harder than the last one but still was a very good stretch to reach my goal of getting my needle.
You shouldn't stretch for a little until you reach your goal of a needle or some other goal, you should stretch because of the many benefits stretching brings to life.
Stretching is a very important aspect of life. There are many benefits of stretching. Nash states "Stretching should become a regular routine for everyone,...some benefits are physically apparent, such as a greater range of movement, while others can't be seen, but are felt from within, such as an increased feeling or relaxation and well-being" (2). This taught me that stretching has so many benefits that will help you keep healthy. My goal is to pull my leg higher and higher up into a full split position.
Question:
Do you have any stretching suggestions?
Citation:
Nash, Roscoe. Total Stretch. London: MQ, 2003. Print.
I have been working very purposefully on stretching my back (these are back stretches). I have been using a block under my back in something called Fixed Fern pose - and raising it up a bit slowly. I would also suggest that you always do a counter-stretch - try rabbit or tortoise to stretch your back the other way.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your suggestions on back stretches! Maybe I will try this back stretches next(:
DeleteEven though I do not know much about stretching they seem really hard! A stretch I recommend myself that always gives me flexibility is where you sit down and lay on your back then move to your one leg to the side and up to the hair then try to reach out to that leg with the opposite arm (Hopefully that made sense). Maybe I can show a picture if you like, but I hope you reach your goal!
ReplyDeleteHi Michelle! Thanks for commenting. Stretching becomes easier if you have been doing it for a while. I did gymnastics for a little and I do dance now so these sports helped me develop stretching habits which helped stretching become easier for me now. I think I know what stretch you are talking about, I will for sure give that a try! Thanks for your suggestion!!
DeleteI've definitely tried one of these stretches and it really helped! I probably wouldn't be able to handle doing the needle but I'd honestly want to try to sometime haha. Nice job on your stretches and I hope you're able to get your needle though!
ReplyDeleteHi Isabelle! I'm glad you decided to give one of these stretches a try! You should try it sometime, maybe your next goal? Haha. Thank you Isabelle!
DeleteI think how you're stretching is very very hard for someone like me because i'm very stiff, but I'll make sure to try one of these like the back arch because i feel like it'll help out my back since it's always hurting and maybe it will relieve the pain. You should try the head to foot pose. I feel like that'll be challenging in a good way (:
ReplyDeleteHi Simirt, stretching takes a lot of practice to get to the more 'advanced' stretches. If you start little,for example starting lower on your back arch by not going all the way up, and keep getting higher and higher up as your improve and become more flexible, it will become easier ans easier as you move on. Having more flexibility by stretching can have many benefits as I said in my post so i really encourage you to give stretching a try! Thanks for your suggestion! I will try that out for sure !
DeleteI agree that stretching is very important to aspects of life. It can really start off someone's day if you stretched in the morning, being part of their daily routines. Also stretching before and after workouts are good for muscles. I would recommend going out for a run of 10 minutes or doing a ab or arm workout etc. before you stretched so it really warms up your muscles, because jogging in place doesn't really help me personally. A question I have for you is, what brought you to wanting to have your needle?
ReplyDeleteHi Ivy, i'm glad you agree that stretching is a very important aspect of life. Stretching before and after workouts can also prevent injury from happening, for example during dance we stretch before we start dancing and stretch after we're done dancing to prevent injuries that can happen. Thanks for your suggestions on workouts, I think the workouts you suggested would be really good for the type of stretches that I am doing so I will for sure give those a try.
DeleteI wanted to get my needle because I already had my splits at the time and during dance while we were stretching our splits, my coaches always told me to lean back into my splits to make it more challenging. Leaning back in my splits was so we could try to grab out back leg in our splits to try to over extend. This was basically trying to get our needle on the ground before getting to the more advanced level of standing up and doing it. I also saw pictures of people doing their needle and it really inspired me to challenge myself and go full out and try to get it.