I’m Finally Stretching and I Kinda Like It?

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Last week I discovered that I can touch my toes (and maybe you can too). In the past, I never felt like I was getting much benefit from stretching, and I know it does little to prevent injury or improve performance . But I practice what I preach when it comes to trying things you don’t like to see if they’re worth it . And so I stretch. And maybe even begin to like it.

My first step was to find a stretching program, or at least a routine that I would follow. Much of the information readily available about stretching is incoherent, like “Do this stretch if your hamstrings are tight.” I don’t want to become a ballerina or yoga, I just want to find a mobile job that will help me with weight lifting and/or daily life.

I settled on this procedure , which I found in the r/flexibility subreddit . It’s meant to be done two to three times a week, although the notes say you can do it every day if you want, and is described as a set of stretches that work on most common “trouble areas” but that, uh, flexible enough that you can add the stretches you think you need and exclude the ones you don’t.

My stretch

Here are the stretches that I settled on. Most of the original program, but I’ve made some changes to use all the muscles that I personally need to work on.

Upper body

  • Dislocated shoulder (hate the name, you don’t actually dislocate your shoulders)
  • Chest mobility with a foam roller (no video, I just wrap it around)
  • Back clasp , when you try to touch with one hand to the other behind the shoulder blades.
  • Wall Wrist and Biceps Stretch

lower body

If you want to follow the original routine, there is a video here . And if you’re interested, here are my modifications:

I gave up on calf stretching because I already have virtually infinite ankle mobility. I gave up on the false cross because I can do an “advanced” version without having the slightest idea how I should feel. Touching the toes was an addition as I know hamstring flexibility is one of the things I need to work on. The standing quad stretch exists because I wish there was another way to work the hip flexors other than kneeling lunges.

I swapped out the first two stretches (shoulder arch and spinal arch) for other movements that seem to work these muscles better: PVC dislocations and a foam roller.

The last addition is the W-shaped pose, which has been comfortable for me since childhood. (In some children, this is a sign of poor core strength; for me, it was a sign of good hip mobility.) I got out of the habit of doing this a year after knee surgery, and now I can’t quite be in this position without feeling a stretch in the hip, so now I end my stretching sessions by sitting with my butt on a small pillow. I only need to increase my flexibility by about one inch to be able to relax in this position again.

My Stretching Goals

My shoulder mobility is quite good, but could be better. I hope stretching my shoulders will help me to be more comfortable with overhead raises.

If I can make this back closure again, or even improve it, it will be much easier for me to wear a dress with a zipper on the back alone.

If I improve hamstring mobility, it will be easier for me to perform several non-standard exercises; The Kelly snatch and Mansfield lift require the lifter to bend over with straight knees. Most people can’t do it or can’t do it well, and I love challenges.

And if I get better at stretching my inner thighs like a pancake, I can do sumo deadlifts with a better position.

So let’s hope everything works out. It takes me about 20 minutes to complete the whole routine and I do it before bed when it’s time to relax and calm down. More next time, but first: does anyone have a favorite stretch? What makes it great? And what results did you see?

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