Transcription:

In this session, the equipment you'll need is a wall to lean on, a chair, and your supports handy. To begin with, we're going to try a standing forward bend just to feel how that feels in your body. I'll turn side on, and you can follow along with me. Just stand with the feet hip width, perhaps a tiny bit wider apart, bend the knees, place your hands on your thighs and take some weight on those arms. And then slowly, moving at a comfortable pace, you're going to walk the hands down the legs and let the head hang forward. And then try pressing the knees completely straight if you can, or straighter. And then maybe you can creep the hands a little bit further down the legs. So you're just testing how far you can bend forward. And how does that feel? Where do you feel the stretch? Relax the head and neck. Can you breathe and relax in that position.

And to come out, bend the knees, bring the hands back just above the knees, take a full breath in, and press yourself back up with your arms. So just remember how that felt in your body. Now we're going to turn around to face the wall and do a calf and ankle stretch. Leaning on your elbows, take the weight on one foot and take a long step backwards. Look back at the foot that you stepped back with and make sure it's pointing straight forward towards the wall. It's really important to have that foot alignment. The stretching leg is pressed straight, my knee is straight. And to bring on the stretch, you try to let the hips move forward towards the wall, not bending forward at the hips, but moving your hips forward. Breathe and relax there. Feel where the weight is through that foot. If you're aware that your weight's collapsed towards the big toe, make a little adjustment to try and take a little bit more weight to the little toe edge of the foot. That just makes sure your arch is preserved. Breathe and relax here.

Calf muscles are quite a large muscle group and they tend to be fairly tight, so we'll hold this for several more breaths. By all means, keep the support foot a little bit further forward if that allows you to go further. If you want a stronger stretch, you could try pulling the other foot out of any support. That really loads up the tissues as well. Couple more breaths in and out here, trying to let the hips sink through towards the wall. And to come out of the position just use that forward leg to push back and we'll change over to the second side. So take some weight, lean on the elbows, take a long step back, so you're only just managing to get the heel down on the floor. Look back and make sure the foot is pointing straight to the front. That stretching leg is pressed straight and same movement to produce the calf stretch. Let the hips come forward towards the wall. Breathe and relax here.

Try to let your belly go soft. Where can you feel the weight through that foot? If you're aware that there's a lot of weight on the big toe, try and cheat the weight just a little bit more towards the little toe side. Good. In your own time, count yourself through another four slow, deep breaths in and out here. And how does it feel on this side compared to the first side? I've got one more breath. And then use that front leg to press back. And we've done both calves.

Now we're going to sit down on the floor and do a stretch to try and target some muscles deep in the hip joint. We'll use the wall as a support. I'm going to start with the leg to camera as my stretching leg. The other leg is just outstretched on the floor. It doesn't have to stay completely straight. It's stretched out. You might find you need to bend it a little bit to be super comfortable. So bring this leg over and just cross it over. It doesn't have to come all the way through towards your body. Just crossed over. Other arm comes through and hooks around. This hand can support you or you can do a grip like this. It's up to you. And then we've had to slump the spine a little bit to get into this initial position.

So here's the key cue for this exercise. Slowly, smoothly, move your chest along that thigh, that lengthens the spine, straightens the spine, and also produces the stretch in this hip and buttock. Do a little wriggle and see that you've got weight on both hips, if not more weight on the hip of the leg that you're stretching. Breathe and relax here. Next thing you can do to make the stretch a little bit more intense if you want to, is to try and use the arm to pull this knee in towards the body a little bit more. Good, breathe deeply. Every time you breathe in, you're repeating that little moving the chest along the thigh cue. And as you breathe out, let the belly relax and see whether you can relax the muscles in this hip that are being stretched. Good. To come out of position, just let yourself slump back towards the wall. Uncross the legs, give that leg a tiny bit of a shake around, and then we'll try the same thing on the other side.

So cross the leg over. Opposite arm comes through and hooks around that bent leg. Choose a hand support. You've had to slump, you'll be able to see that clearly in camera now. So the key cue for this exercise is moving the chest along the thigh to lengthen the spine, straighten the spine. Also do your little wriggle. Have you got weight on both hips? Are you able to breathe and relax? Breathing deeply into the top of the chest, and every time you breathe out, let the belly relax. Might even feel the belly relax onto the thigh. If you want to make the stretch more intense, you can use that arm to draw the leg more in towards the body. Let's try for three more breaths in and out. And mentally be comparing this side to the first side. Is there any difference left to right in your hip? To come out, just let yourself slump away. Use the wall for support and uncross, shake around. So we've stretched both calves and ankles and we've stretched both hips. Now we're going to stand up and do a hamstring stretch.

This exercise is called the elephant walk. It's fantastic, hamstring stretch. We'll use the chair, see how far we can go with the chair. Then I've got the supports and some of you will find you'll be able to move the supports out of the way and go down onto the floor. So follow along with me. Bend the knees. My feet are about hip width apart. Arms on the chair, hands on the chair, slowly start to bend the arms and your body will start to bend forward. Let the head hang forwards. If you find that that's enough for you, you could do elbows on chair and stay in that position throughout the exercise. However, if you feel you could go a little bit further, keep bending through to the point that you can reach down to hands on your support. Take a deep breath in, breathe out and let the head completely hang forwards. Neck is relaxed.

Breathing, still got some weight on my arms at this point. I'm going to move the blocks out of the way and do hands on the floor. You might find fingertips is your limit. And again, completely relax the head and neck forward. And now the whole of my belly is resting on the legs there. Just take a couple of breaths, get used to being upside down. How does that feel? And now here comes the elephant walk. Nice and slowly and smoothly, one leg at a time make a brief effort to try and straighten the knee, feel the stretch, pause, and then let that knee bend again. Try the same thing on the other side, a little effort to straighten the knee, feel the stretch intensify, and then bend the leg again. Let's do four more on each side. It's just a brief effort to straighten the knee. And do not let your body come away from the leg. Are you breathing and relaxing here?

Couple more times on each side. You may well find the hips want to move left and right as you do the knee straightening action, that is fine. You may well find that you can straighten the knee just a little bit more each time you do it. Good. All right, pause in the centre position. To come out, bend the knees even a little bit more. One at a time bring the hands up onto your thighs, take a full breath in, and as you breathe in and hold the breath, use your arms to come upright. That's really good to do that breath in so you don't feel lightheaded.

I'm just doing a slight wriggle from side to side, seeing how that all feels, 'cause I've now stretched the whole back of the leg and the buttock and hip. And now we're going to go back to where we started, which was the standing forward bend. This time we'll go into it with a straight knee. So I've got my knees pressed straight. By all means use the chair. I'm just going to slide the hands down my thighs. I feel supported in that way. Let the head hang forwards. Keep weight on the arms as much as you need to, and then go as far as you can. Let the head and neck relax. And then think back to the beginning of the session. Have you found that you can go further and/or does it feel any different in your body? Breathe and relax there.

Is your head completely relaxed in the forward position? Two more breaths. I find each time you breathe out you can bend forward just a tiny bit further. And to come out, bend the knees, one hand at a time bring them up above the knees, take a full breath in and hold the breath as you press yourself upright with your arms. And now, just to round out in the lower back, 'cause some people will feel this whole movement a little bit in the lower back as well, we'll give it a little round out. So step forward onto your chair, make sure you're sitting fully on the chair, feet are apart, feet are flat on the floor.

Hold the back of the chair wherever's comfortable for you, and initiate the movement by letting the hips roll back. That gives the lower back some stretch. Then you're letting the middle back slump, shoulders are rounding forwards. Shoulders are relaxing and the head position up to you. I'm comfortable chin all the way forward. If that's too much for you, you could always bring the head up a little bit. Good. Breathe into the back of the body. Big deep breaths. And every time you breathe out, let yourself slump a little bit more. Two more breaths here. Slump. All the muscles on the back of the spine there relaxing. When you're ready to come out, take a breath in, hold it as you gently pull on the arms, come upright and then resume your breathing. Great session there. All the muscles on the back of the leg were stretched. See you next time.

Program 3: Calf, piriformis, hamstrings, flexion

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