Minimalist stretching cluster
Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2022 3:12 pm
So coming from a gymnastics background in my teens, we would do these stretches with long durations:
Pike
Front Splits
Side Splits
Bridge
No "assistance exercises", smaller stretches to stretch hamstring, glutes, hip flexors blah blah blah...
Fast forward to various times in my life, i do static stretching on and off, but these were my "main lifts", when i did not know about "assistance exercises". When i got the grasp of assistance exercises in lifting, i also started to experiment with assistance stretches, to get into the main stretches easier, or so i thought.
Today, i did just the main stretches. Not too bad, did not lose range of motion compared to warming up with a dozen assistance stretches before the main stretches.
Which got me thinking, do we really "need" assistance exercises for stretching? I am not that tight considering my background. I got my first splits without assistance stretches. Lost the full ROM various times in my life when i slack, but i can easily train to get it back in a few weeks if i put my effort into it. But how about people who do not have a flexibility background? What is your experience?
And then, a quick search online and i found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2bjdobymzA
Pike
Front Splits
Side Splits
Bridge
No "assistance exercises", smaller stretches to stretch hamstring, glutes, hip flexors blah blah blah...
Fast forward to various times in my life, i do static stretching on and off, but these were my "main lifts", when i did not know about "assistance exercises". When i got the grasp of assistance exercises in lifting, i also started to experiment with assistance stretches, to get into the main stretches easier, or so i thought.
Today, i did just the main stretches. Not too bad, did not lose range of motion compared to warming up with a dozen assistance stretches before the main stretches.
Which got me thinking, do we really "need" assistance exercises for stretching? I am not that tight considering my background. I got my first splits without assistance stretches. Lost the full ROM various times in my life when i slack, but i can easily train to get it back in a few weeks if i put my effort into it. But how about people who do not have a flexibility background? What is your experience?
And then, a quick search online and i found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2bjdobymzA