Good Stretching Routine

[Anthony King]

I'm trying to put together my hard passive stretching session that Coach recommends in this post.

If you were putting together a "correctly structured full body stretch that will take a minimum of 30 minutes hard work" what would it include?

I'm not a complete loss about how to go about this, but I'm hardly confident. What stretches would you be sure to include? My fear is that in my ignorance I might leave out some crucial elements.

Thanks,

AK

[Cole Dano]

Some basic stretching elements are

shoulders full rom, wrists full rom, ankles full rom, neck full rom, hips full rom

pike, straddle, bridge and other back bending elements, butterfly, twisting, shoulders series,

in no particular order

you can start dynamically to get the muscles warm, and finish with static holds

[Quick Start Test Smith]

There's a good stretching routine by Braindx I THINK. It was part of a huge program design template. The link escapes me for now, but I'll try to find it for you later.

[Blairbob]

Patrick, it was by me for Brandon Oto's ATG system. Honestly, it's nothing special and it's what I used for beginner gymnasts. Well, beginning competing boy's gymnasts. It's what I used at the end of the practice, so it doesn't include any joint mobility warmup or material from the GB seminar.

Our girls do 3m btw for splits, but not as long for the shoulder or pike stuff.

http://agt.degreesofclarity.com/stretching/

This will also link you to drillsandskills.com stretching guide which has pictures of most gymnastics stretches commonly used. There are a few more links towards other stretching resources by TrickzTutorials by a Tricker and an exhaustive guide by Brad Appleton.

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Patrick, it was by me for Brandon Oto's ATG system. Honestly, it's nothing special and it's what I used for beginner gymnasts. Well, beginning competing boy's gymnasts. It's what I used at the end of the practice, so it doesn't include any joint mobility warmup or material from the GB seminar.

Our girls do 3m btw for splits, but not as long for the shoulder or pike stuff.

http://agt.degreesofclarity.com/stretching/

This will also link you to drillsandskills.com stretching guide which has pictures of most gymnastics stretches commonly used. There are a few more links towards other stretching resources by TrickzTutorials by a Tricker and an exhaustive guide by Brad Appleton.

Hah, that's it. Thanks for the link, Blairbob.

[Anthony King]

http://agt.degreesofclarity.com/stretching/

Thank you very much for this link.

[Aaron Griffin]

Patrick, it was by me for Brandon Oto's ATG system. Honestly, it's nothing special and it's what I used for beginner gymnasts. Well, beginning competing boy's gymnasts. It's what I used at the end of the practice, so it doesn't include any joint mobility warmup or material from the GB seminar.

Our girls do 3m btw for splits, but not as long for the shoulder or pike stuff.

http://agt.degreesofclarity.com/stretching/

This will also link you to drillsandskills.com stretching guide which has pictures of most gymnastics stretches commonly used. There are a few more links towards other stretching resources by TrickzTutorials by a Tricker and an exhaustive guide by Brad Appleton.

That's a pretty good routine, but I have some questions:

I like that it's broken down into shoulder, hip, and split work. Do you have any other recommendations for good shoulder and hip stretches?

I'm personally trying to work on my straddle, but my ROM just sucks. I can barely get past 90 degrees without major abductor cramping. Are there any good supplemental stretches here?

My seated pike sucks. I can do a standing forward bend just fine, but when seated, I feel like something in the hip/lower-back area just doesn't want to bend, and I can't bend forward at all. It doesn't even feel like anything is stretching. Any recommendations here?

[Blairbob]

Lately, I've gone back to working just the butterfly stretch and I can feel it stretching my butt muscles as I'm trying to loosen up my back and get it mobile again to do yoga plow.

For the splits, I hope you're not doing a seated straddle. A standing straddle puts more load on. A good stretch is the froggie stretch which is a split with the knees bent to focus.

For shoulder stuff, look into Slizzardman's videos he has shot and Ido's shoulder series.

Lately, I have really dug working the cat stretch holding the supports of a set of Parallel Bars and my hands turned in so the palms face out with the thumbs down. As well, just the good ole german hang/shoulder extension. You can do it on the floor (I also use the PB bars holding behind me like the door stretch).

[Aaron Griffin]

For the splits, I hope you're not doing a seated straddle. A standing straddle puts more load on. A good stretch is the froggie stretch which is a split with the knees bent to focus.

Hmm I was. I was trying to work on the active flexibility side - holding the straddle under my own power. Assuming I wanted to do that as well, should it be done after or before the standing straddle?

As for the "frog straddle", I can't seem to get the pelvic alignment right with that. I try it often, but because I don't seem to rotate my pelvis appropriately, it ends up amazingly painful. I can't figure out how to fix this all the time, only about 1 out of 5.

[Blairbob]

With froggie splits, I rock backwards and forward. It definitely looks odd but helps loosen stuff up in my hips and lower back.

Well straddle-L is about working that active flexibility whereas a middle split or pancake split is more about just stretching some of your musculature.

[phken4343]

For the splits, I hope you're not doing a seated straddle. A standing straddle puts more load on.

I read a book about stretching a couple of years ago, and I read that doing pike/straddle stretch while standing isn't good for your lower back in the long run. Not that I don't avoid stretching while standing, but it's only for a couple of seconds when I warm-up for a press. Any comments on this?

[Blairbob]

It's because most people round their backs while doing rather than keep their back flat/arched. It's also because MANY people are just so inflexibile it's retarded. Take that, Sarah Palin! :twisted:

If you're doing them seated, I would prefer they are done with a straight back. It also stretches the hammies more this way.

[Cole Dano]

Blairbob you hit the problem alright. Its really just common sense, but as we all know that's not common.

For the really tight hamstring crowd, its in many way best to work the hamstrings standing. By putting your hands on a wall or table, you can easily keep a flat back, and then use the hands to help get the hips to turn. Its one of the best beginning hamstring stretches.

[phken4343]

I guess I'll start incorporating standing stretches in my routine. I'm about 80~90% on the splits and I want to obtain them in a month.