Transcription:

The only prop you'll need today is a rolled up mat. Now to begin with, we're going to do the old school toe-touching test. But we're going to do it in a particular way. We're going to pay attention to what the body is telling us as we try to do this movement. So this is how you all would have done it. You would have been told to straighten your knees like this, and then reach down to the floor. Well, do that, but do it slowly, like this. And as soon as you feel some kind of restriction in here, bend the knees slightly. As soon as you bend the knees, you'll see that takes the stretch out of here, and it reduces the stretch in the hamstrings, as well. Then bend forward. Rest your hands on something. I've got my fingertips on the floor. And then see what straightening your legs one at a time actually feels like.

For me today, that's a comfortable level of forward bend stretching. And you can see where the heels of my palms are. They're not anywhere near the floor. Just my fingertips are on the floor. So try that yourself. And just get a sense of what that feels like. And then we're going to redo that at the end and see whether, what we are going to do in today's program doesn't in fact change that sensation considerably.

Okay, the very first exercise we're going to do is a personal favourite. And Liv will tell you that every exercise is a favorite, that's not strictly true. This one really is a favourite, favourite. The wide leg elephant walk, where we're supporting ourselves on our hands, our knees are well bent. And what we're doing is, we're letting gravity pull the whole trunk and pelvis in between the thighs. So get into that position now. And I'll give you all the instructions by voice.

Once you're leaning on your hands, move your weight from side to side, gently, and explore those sensations. But have the knees well bent, so that when you try to let your head go a bit closer to the floor, the pelvis moves. So you can try pressing up and coming back down and feel that sensation. The stretch that you feel should be somewhere up around this area here, if you've got it right. And then, once the body is as far forward as possible, do little, slow, leg-straightening actions. I'm going to do all the ones on the right leg first. And then let the body go forward, again. And we'll do three on the left leg, like this. See if you can let the body go a little bit further forward.

Now, walk yourself across to this leg like this, until the shoulder is in contact with the leg. And try to straighten the leg. That will make it quite a bit more intense. I'm going to shift my weight backwards a bit. Try to press that leg straight, then let it bend. Try to press it straight – notice I'm holding that for a second or two – let it bend. So I get a strong sensation just momentarily, and then it decreases. We'll do that a couple more times. Try to keep your tummy soft, and try to keep your bottom stuck out as much as possible to keep the back as straight as possible. And all of this emphasizes the stretch in the hamstrings and the adductors, which is what we're trying to stretch. Then walk your hands carefully around to the other side like this. Once again, check to see that your shoulders are inside the knee, or as close to inside the knee as you can get.

And once again; straighten, relax, straighten, relax. Try to get the legs straight, or at least as straight as you can. Go back to the middle position. Put your hands in a support position. I'm going to hold my ankles for this next sequence. With the knees bent, I pull my head a little bit closer to the floor. And once again, leg straightening actions. Leg straightening actions. And you can probably see, and you'll feel it in your own body, each of these subsequent leg straightening actions, actually feels a bit easier to do. And as a result, you'll be able to come a bit closer to the floor. Ah it feels excellent. Make sure you're breathing in a relaxed fashion. Make sure you're breathing in and out, and not holding your breath; that's critical, especially when your head is underneath your heart. And a couple more of those. To come out, put your hands in position, work the legs together. Ah, fantastic. I do love that exercise.

Now we bring our mat in position. Sit down on it. The reason for using the mat will become very clear. It may not be obvious watching what I'm doing, but it'll be very, very clear when you actually do it yourself. When you're doing any kind of forward bending, any kind of hamstring stretch or adductor work, the more you can tip your body forward – that's why we do so many standing exercises because the body's already tipped forward there – when you're on the floor, having something underneath your bottom here, simply tips the whole body's weight forward, and makes it so much easier to do any of the exercises that look a similar shape to this one.

So start with your legs outstretched, not straight. Take one leg out to the side, like this. Fold this leg. Now you don't have to fold this leg as much as I have. You can have it out here. The exercise's effect in this part of the body, which is what we're stretching, will still be the same, but this is a very comfortable position for me. And then lean forward a little bit. Lean to the side a little bit, until you just to start feel those hamstrings we've just stretched. Then reach this arm out with a palm up grip and hold the big toe, like this. Now notice I've got my elbow inside the line of the leg, and that's the reason why this leg is bent. And also if we tried to do it on a straight leg, if your hamstrings are tight, it will become a hamstring stretch. We don't want that. This is meant to be a stretch for this part of the body, here. So watch, I press this elbow into the leg like this, which brings this shoulder forward.

And now watch. I'm adding a rotation to the movement. And then watch. I can use this hand to pull myself down closer to this leg here. And even this position, just the setup position is already a stretch in here, which is what we're trying to work. I'm just going to stay there for a moment. And I'm rocking myself backwards and forwards a little. And I'm finding the most comfortable position to be in here. Also, you can put this hand on the leg, notice I did that automatically. I can press myself across a little bit like this, that intensifies the stretch in here hugely. And breathe. Whenever you feel something being stretched, especially in the torso, watch what I'm going to do now. I put my hand here and I'm going to breathe in such a way that the hand moves. Watch this.

That breathing in and out, inflates the lungs and actually changes the shape of the spine, and you're actually stretching all of those tissues from the inside, not just the outside. And so we've been in this position for about a minute. If you want to make it a bit stronger, watch. Bring the arm across the body, like this, and then out to above your shoulder like this. And then simply reach, slowly reach out to this wall in front of this finger. And that increases the stretch for me today.

And once again, I'm breathing into this area here. And as my hamstrings relax a little bit, I might find that I can straighten the leg a tiny bit more. And when I reach out again, because I straightened that leg a bit more, it makes the stretch in the back stronger. Breathe, roll the shoulder forward just like we do with any side bending exercise. Reach again, breathe, roll. Reach again, reach again, reach again. And when you get to about here, all the sensation here disappears. So that's done. Put your hand here, lift yourself up. Move slowly. We're certain that all the remapping happens as we come out of a stretch. It's got nothing to do with safety.

So both legs out in front, take one leg out to the side, fold this one. Watch my body's movement, lean forward. I might just sit back a tiny bit further on that mat. Lean forwards. That puts this arm in position like this. Hold with a palm up grip on the big toe. Pull on this arm gently. I've got no stretch happening yet, but as soon as I straighten the leg a little bit, like this, all of a sudden the stretch appears here, which is where we want it. Watch, I roll the shoulder back. In fact, rolling the shoulder back here brings on a very strong stretch in this area here. I can help that by pressing my hand on this bent leg, and breathing. That's getting into a sore spot today. And remember, wherever you feel the stretch, just watch, I'll put my hand here. You can direct your breathing into it, and it feels wonderful to do this. My tummy is completely soft.

I'm getting a stretch in QL on this side, quadratus lumborum, very strong. I'm also stretching my neck as well. And If I want to make it stronger, reach the arm up, roll the shoulder back, press the elbow into the knee if you find you're falling over backwards like this; that's to bring the body forward, in this direction. Roll the top shoulder back, and that again intensifies this. And then just reach this arm out. That includes the lats in the stretch as well. And once again, breathe into that area you feel the stretch in. Let yourself go further. Feel those muscles lengthening. Roll the shoulder forward a little bit. Reach out, you'll find that moves the stretch. Roll the shoulder forward a bit more. Reach out again. That's exactly in the right spot for me today. So I'm just going to pause here for a moment. And that might be a different spot for you. And then here, there's no stretch. Put the hand in position, lift yourself up.

Wonderful. Okay. Next position. Start on all fours like this, bring this leg up in a position like this. What we're going to do is, you'll notice that I've got the toes underneath my heel here. I'm going to bring my weight backwards. Slide this foot as well. Make sure the little toe is involved in the action by moving it like this. And then watch, I'm letting some of the weight of my body come down on my heel. And as a result, the toes are being stretched. If you want more weight, simply lift the body up like this, and then about half of your body's weight will be going down through that foot. And we're stretching the toes because we need them to be able to support a bit of weight in this position for the next exercise. So, that's the first one.

Come forward, once again, into the hands and knees position. Change your legs over. Very carefully, let some of your weight come on the toes of the stretching foot. And eventually your heel and your bottom will come in contact. And eventually this will become completely comfortable in this position. So we'll just stay there for a moment. Letting the body's own weight stretch all the tissues out in the foot. This is a fantastic exercise for this part of the body. And come out of that now by letting your body's weight come forward.

Take your weight onto your arms. We'll go back to the first foot, leave it in the toe stretching position like this. And then bring this foot to the front. We're now going to try a new approach for stretching the hip flexors. So this is how we do it. I'm supporting all my weight on both hands and in the front here. And I'm using a little leg straightening actions as a means of moving the back leg's knee into position. That's about as far as I can go there. Then, move your hands back so they're underneath the shoulders – you'll just feel strongest there. I'm going to gently let my hips go towards the floor. So this movement here, I'm squaring my hips up as well.

And then the essence of this next exercise is, it's both a strengthening and a stretching exercise is, while supporting weight on your hands, watch, and keeping the hips as close to the floor as possible, you try to press the heel out behind you towards the ladder bars, without lifting your hips up. When we used to teach this in class, people would do this and think they were doing the exercise. They're not. The hips have to stay as down, or as close to the floor, I should say, as possible. And then watch, while doing that, slowly press the heel out to the ladder bar behind you. And you'll feel a massive stretch in quadriceps and the hip flexors. And I'm going to increase it slightly by twisting more into it, lowering myself, pressing the heel back further. And then simply staying there.

Breathe. Let this tummy go completely soft. Let yourself sink to the floor a bit more. Try to press the heel out behind you a bit more. And I recommend in all of these things, to stay in any end position for a minimum of three to five breaths. If you pull back on your hands slightly, that increases the stretch even more. Have a play with all the different things that we've done in the exercise that uses the lunge as its starting point. And to come out of the exercise, simply let the leg rest on the floor. Push the hips back. Change the legs over. Use the little leg straightening action to walk that back knee back. Bring the hands back to underneath the shoulders. Pause there for a moment.

Square the hips up. That's always pull the front hip back, twist the back hip forward. Take weight on your arms. Then put your awareness in that back leg's heel. And take weight on the back leg as I'm doing now. And then watch, without letting the hips come up from the floor, at all if you can, then simply try to straighten the back leg like this. Hmm, that's strong. Breathe deeply. Relax as much as you can. I'm going to add, watch this movement, a hip squaring action that makes it stronger. Lower myself to the floor a fraction further. Press the back leg a bit straighter. And then watch, simply pull back on my hands gently. So it's a really whole body strengthening exercise, this one. And breathe. Continually trying to straighten the back leg by pressing the heel behind you to the ladder bar. Oh, that's excellent. And let the knee come to the ground. Push yourself back. And rest for a moment.

See how everything feels. Learning how to stretch is a constant process of asking the body, "How does this feel? Where do I feel it? How can I change that feeling?" Okay. Now the next exercise looks like this. Still sitting on the floor. Shift your weight from side to side, to feel the bottom bones on the floor. Notice my knees are well bent, almost 90 degrees. But when I bend forward, notice I can't put my chest on my knees. My lower back's a bit tight today, in fact. This is what the mat's for; yet another use. I'm going to reach and hold my feet. So basically bend your knees as much as you need to to be able to hold the outside of your feet like this. And then by resting your chest on something, all of this area of the body will relax, which I can already feel. And then slowly try to straighten each leg. And in fact, the only effect I'm feeling here, it's not a hamstring effect, it's just a lower back stretch. Probably from yesterday's activities.

And so at some point you'll feel – see that movement is there now. I can get rid of the mat. Keep the mat in if you need to. Take my body forward until I can feel it hard on my ... my ribs are hard on my thighs now. I've got a few inches in between my heels. I'm not going to take my head further forward than this because it ruins the sound. And then watch, pull myself forward towards my shins. Relax. Let the part that's being stretched relax. The only effort should be in your fingers holding yourself in this position. And then watch, I'm starting with my right leg, I press the right leg a little bit straighter. Pull my body forwards a bit, press the left leg a little bit straighter. Pull the body forwards a bit. Let everything go limp. Breathe. I'm trying to breathe into this area here.

Next, press the right leg a bit straighter. Left leg a bit straighter. Now watch, I'm putting my hands over the top of my feet. Please do the same. And then watch my lower back. Feel what happens in your own lower back, as you think about lifting your chest. Oh, excellent sensation. Now I'm going to let my back bend again. Pull myself, just watch what I'm doing. I'm pulling my body along the leg. I'm not trying to pull my face down onto the legs or the knees, I'm trying to pull it along. And watch what happens in this part of the body when I do that. It's this movement we're trying for, this movement. I've got another use for the mat, as well. Just watch this. I could put the mat underneath my bottom, like this. And just as we did before, now I can actually get my body's weight a little bit further forward. That feels quite a bit better in my lower back. And once again, try to straighten the legs like this.

You can hold the feet like this, or like this. I'll hold them like this, this time. Left leg is straight, right leg is straight. Pull back on the hands, lift the chest and then go forwards. Roll around a little bit. Trying to let this part of the body relax as much as possible. Ah it's excellent. I can feel these muscles have let go. So, sit up. And then the last thing we're going to do, is go back to that toe touching test and see whether there's any improvement. So feet about this distance apart. This time when I bend forward, I can feel that this area in the body has let go completely. And that is a completely effortless thing to do.

Liv and I thank you sincerely for joining us on the Stretch Therapy Starter Course. And it's our fondest hope that you're already starting to feel different. Please do your stretching every day or every second day, every third day if that's how long you need to recover. And we will see you for the next program, which we're going to call something like, the Intermediate Stretching Series. We haven't quite decided on the final name yet. Keep practicing and we'll see you soon. And if you have any questions, remember, put the questions down below here or, better, in the forum, so other people can benefit from that as well. Thank you so much.

Program 21: Hamstrings, adductors, Q-L, hip flexors, toe-touch

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