Stretching with an injury

[Brad Hankee]

Hi All:
My first post. I just started doing the foundation and stretch courses. My goal is to become flexible. No one in my family can sit crosslegged and I am so tight I am injury prone. I have had a pain in the right side right where the pelvis meets the lower back (from deadlifting about a year ago). The chiro just has me doing hamstring stretches. I know the stretch classes are for once a week but heard coach say that some daily warmup/streching is necessary. I also heard him say that if done more than once progress will suffer. 

 

My question is are there any stretches I can do daily at night while watching tv that would not hinder, but help progress? Thank you in advance.

 

Brad

[Douglas Wadle]

Hi Brad, and welcome!  Good job on taking the reins on your mobility.  It will pay off. 

Definitely do the stretch programs just once weekly.  Then at night in front of the TV do some passive stretching/limbering.  So sit cross-legged, sit in seiza, sit in a 90/90 position, squat, do some easy shoulder and pec stretches, lay with your T-spine over a foam roller.  The key is these are easy limbering types of movements that are just loosening you up, but shouldn't leave you sore the next day, like the stretch series might initially.  

The key is persistence.  Keep it up and you will see benefits...just probably not next week or even next month.   It is a good practice to take pics of yourself in some stretches now, and then in 3 months compare.  You may be feeling like you're not making a lot of progress, but when you can look back at where you were and where you are in 3 months, you will have objective proof how far your form has come.

[Brad Hankee]

Thank you for the info Douglas... Would the couch stretch be ok as well nightly for stretching the quads and hips or is this to aggressive daily? (The stretch where you kneel, back to wall then put your knee up with shin against wall to open hips). 

[Douglas Wadle]

I like the couch stretch.  Don't see why you couldn't do that daily.  Just remember it shouldn't be giving you the pain face or making you sweat or tremor or you're doing too much for a limbering session.  Cheers.

[Jeremy Aldridge]

Hey Brad

One thing I have been doing the past couple weeks is rolling out my glutes with a lacrosse ball twice a day for about 2-5 minutes each time and I have also been working on my Psoas a few times a week. Doing both of these regularly has really started to help with the hip structure.

[Alessandro Mainente]

Hi Brad, if you focus on foundations 1 and front split and middle split courses once a week you will do 2 intense stretch session with the stretch courses plus 2 session on MN mobility with foundations. 4 times a week for your level it is enough.