No problem. I love to teach fitness the RIGHT way, and help people in doing so.

Yes, you are not alone in the lower back dilemma. I remember WAY back when I first became addicted to the endorpin high you get off of a good workout, trying to force and bring it from the lower back…not good.
Kathy Smith is a HUGE name in Fitness and was a mentor in my learning so much. The first time i heard those words “Lift up and out from your hips?” WTH?? OHHHHHH ok yeaaaa Ohh that feels awesome! You know when you are doing it right, because your body lets you know otherwise if you are in tune and listening.

OK No more machismo stretching! LOL It catches up sooner or later

“Lift UP & OUT of your hip joints…then let your “jutted” out chest lead the way”… priceless, this speaks volumes to me, as sometimes I force the stretch from my lower back, instead of from my hip sockets… great tips. I need to be reminded of tips like this and the “gentleness” type of tips, because in Martial Arts, many times we strech “macho-style”… no pain, no gain.

And no, it wasn’t more than I wanted… I truly appreciated it!

lol I am doing well, thank you. I am gathering you are more than fine:)

Ok..to get your head to the floor in the manner I spoke of;
Sit with your legs straddled where it is comfortable for you. That may be an inch…maybe a full straddle?
Place your hands in front of you on the floor….
Now PULL UP AND OUT FROM YOUR HIPS LEADING WITH YOUR CHEST. I capitalize that, because most people slouch into more of a cat stretch, so they never get to a point where they elongate the muscles in the inner thighs & back of the leg/hamstrings.

NEVER BOUNCE YOUR STRETCH…SLOW STATIC STRETCHING will keep you from ripping tendons etc.
Walk your hands SLOWLY in front of you, chest lifted, head up, abs firmly tucked in. Go as far as what is comfortable to you LISTEN TO YOUR BODY
When you get to that point take deep breathes in through the nose and slowly out through the nose.
Everytime you inhale, you are bringing fresh oxygen to your muscles, so as you exhale try to “walk” your hands if even a millimeter more, hold it, then walk back to resting length.
Deep breath in, and SLOWLY go again. Repeat about 3-5 sets of this.
Important factores are;
*Make sure your muscles are warmed up a little. You don’t want to just sit down and try to stretch tight muscles that have has no blood pumped into them to warm em up.
*NO bouncing into the stretch..slow static movement
*Good deep breathing both inhale and exhale
*LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. YOUR INNER THIGHS WILL TELL YOU ok stop stop stop…far enough…DO WHAT THEY SAY..LOL Liiisten to the voices of your body…they know what they feel.
*Lift UP & OUT of your hip joints…then let your “jutted” out chest lead the way.

If you do this preferably everyday to stay limber, which is so important as we mature to keep those muscles elongated so we don’t start to atrophy, results will come.
If faithfully done…takes all of a 5-7 minute warm up and maybe 10 minutes for full circuit…so 20 minutes approximately…every day you will find your self a little closer to your chest resting on the floor. You will notice your legs are able to withstand a wider stance when doing the stretch.

Have fun and DON’T FORGET TO BREATH :p PEOPLE TEND TO HOLD THEIR BREATH? Defeats the purpose for sure.
Let me know how it go. Men, due to their anatomy, tend to start this with knees bent slightly up off the floor…involuntarily. Thats to be expected, but as you stretch and elongate those muscle & tendons every day, the legs will be able to flatten.
Liken it to a really tight rubber band. The more you stretch it, the longer and looser it becomes….same concept here.

OK lol That is probably WAY more than you wanted, but as a die hard stretch fanatic, I am obligated to give it to you in full so as not to rip anything. Been there, done that and it takes FOREVER if ever to heal.
Let me know how goes your progression…just don’t give up and you will see and feel great rewards. Good luck…that is a great fitness goal to strive for!

Yes…posts are good. I know I am enjoying popping in when I can.

How the hell are you?

Stretching… give me a hint on how to get my head to the floor when doing that stretch. Of course, not immediately, but a routine. I’m a workout-holic and have done Martial arts for a few years. I stretch for warm-ups and cooldowns and have always wanted to achive full front and side splits, plus getting my head ont he ground on the “straddle”.

I noticed the posts have been outstanding the last 2 or 3 days, by David W and most posters.

I know David would say that should never be the case. You should always find ways to make it work, but sometimes you have to identify when you made a mistake up front and not try to force anything that doesn’t make sense. All of these are fantastic so long as you have identified you want to make it work.

YES IT IS!!
When we came to the cool down of the workout when i was teaching…well, there were men & women for that matter that would stop there workout in the gym just to “observe” the stretching sequences. Most of my students after 4-6 weeks in class faithfully, could sit, legs straddled, chest leading to the floor and spread their arms all the way out in front of them with their heads laying on the floor. THATS LIMBER & THATS SEXY!

The guys in class weren’t quite as limber but it was fun having them there at any rate What a job!

low form of life on earth dates,

human being get married and conduct responsible, happy, free of drama and loving relationship and do not spread around deadly deseases either.

Sincerely,
Ellen

I then bring them to my local Huntington town owned ice skating rink. Real cheap and most women don’t get asked to ice skate. The snowball fight happens to be where the Zamboni dumps his ice shavings in the back parking lot after cleaning the ice. It is always best if I can go to the adult skate so we might not have kids trying to kill us while may not move that fast. If Phoenix Arizona can have a professional ice hockey team in the desert; no matter where u live there is probably indoor ice rink near u too.

SPECIAL NOTE TO FELLOW L.I.er AND LONG TIME READER STEVEN K. IF U ARE STILL OUT THERE…..THERE IS A STUTTERING CONVENTION IN NYC JUNE 26TH – 28TH ….1 (800) WE STUTTER OR EMAIL westutter.com

I hope u can go all day every day and practice what Dave teaches. That is if you are ok with a woman who may not be perfect and may have a small problem. What happened to all your great posts?