Limbering, stretching, and mobility

This is a revised version of a brief post by Kit first appeared on the ST Community Forums in 2013, with the same title.

I have had a large number of enquiries coincidently last week and this week to do with these three topics. Accordingly I have decided to post a few thoughts here and I'm hoping that other people who know more will jump in and add to this. The interesting thing to me is that I have written about the distinction between limbering and stretching in all of my books yet there seems to be more confusion on this topic than any other so I want to elaborate here. It could just mean of course I don't write very well!

Read the full article.

Stretch Therapy cues – makes understanding our videos easier!

In this video, Olivia explains a few key Stretch Therapy terms:

– The "tuck" and "untuck" (pelvis positioning cues; technically these are described as "posterior pelvic tilt, or "PPT"), and "anterior pelvic tilt" or "APT"). Isn't tuck and untuck simpler? 😀

– The terms "square" and "un-square" (the angle between the line of the legs and the hip joints; in most poses, getting closer to 90° in this angle increases the stretch effects hugely); and

– The essential "Contract–Relax" technique.

Olivia brings her own perspective. A little known fact, which we see demonstrated on workshops literally every time we run them, is that you can hear the same fundamental information from a different person in a different voice and you will hear it differently – some people for the first time.

How to supercharge hamstring stretching, the Stretch Therapy way

All three of the neural reflexes we use in Stretch Therapy are explored in this video detailing the lunge hamstring exercise: how to minimise the effects of the Apprehension Reflex; how to maximise the elongation of the hamstrings by combining the Reciprocal Inhibition Reflex with the Contract–Relax technique; and how to breathe to get the most out of the Post-Contraction Inhibition reflex that the C–R approach uses.

In next Thursday's newsletter we will provide further explanation of these neural reflexes in the form of an article.