COMPLETE newbie to gymnastics. Need help with stretching!

Could you possibly send me some programming/exercise please Patrick? I have already included some of the ideas from S&F in my own stretching (after a day!) and with more reading could definitely refine it - but would like to see what someone with more experience with the material does and integrate it.

Thanks a lot.

It is a unique approach and I think it is unrivaled. 

Primate said:

Patrick, I've been going through S&F myself, and agree that it's a great book, but there is so much in it I find it hard to make a routine  what exercises do you do out of it in particular?

P.63 - Exercise 19 (this one was almost like a magic trick that changed my hamstring/hip flexibility overnight)

P.66 - Exercise 21

P.72 - Exercise 17 Revisited 

P.79 - Exercise 25

P.83 - Exercise 26 (I like this one, but it's the first I cut out if I don't have much time)

P.97 - Exercise 30

I do 2 rounds of 3-5 C&R per exercise (per side if applicable). This, plus the leg raises and practice, seems to be working very well for me. As I proceed further into the book I will change up the routine. In fact, on some of the hip stretches I have already advanced to the point where I need to move on to the harder variation.

EDIT:

In retrospect, I am now adding 1-2 hip flexor stretches because I feel my hamstrings are improving faster than they are. Gotta keep a good balance here.

Thanks Patrick,

Much appreciated.  I did a top to toe session On Monday which made me feel fantastic, but it took me over two hours.  I'll give your program a go  and see how I find it.

Primate said:

Thanks Patrick,

 

Much appreciated.  I did a top to toe session On Monday which made me feel fantastic, but it took me over two hours.  I'll give your program a go  and see how I find it.

No problem.

I don't know if my program is quite top to toe, but it shouldn't take you that long. The daily stuff especially. I recommend keeping the daily list of stretches very short (I don't use C&R on the daily stuff except on hard days), and following the minimum times on the exercise page. I will usually only use passive relaxed stretching on light days and gently stretch as far as I can comfortably.

In fact, I can usually do about 10 minutes of soft tissue work before the daily stretches and still fit them all in to about 30 minutes total.

Thanks Patrick. I did the first lesson last night - found it nice. Had to be careful with some of the stuff though - quite a bit of it was difficult (just in terms of ACTUALLY getting in to the stretching) as I've recently broken my clavicle.

I've been limbering daily (there are no real time limits for the next month - I'm on summer holiday), and my focus is shifted a lot to lower body - like I said, I broke my clavicle.

Hercules said:

Thanks Patrick. I did the first lesson last night - found it nice. Had to be careful with some of the stuff though - quite a bit of it was difficult (just in terms of ACTUALLY getting in to the stretching) as I've recently broken my clavicle.

 

I've been limbering daily (there are no real time limits for the next month - I'm on summer holiday), and my focus is shifted a lot to lower body - like I said, I broke my clavicle.

Sorry, mate. My computer's PSU got water on it and was out for a day or two and I subsequently missed a lot of replies.

I'm glad you found it nice! I recommend adding one or two hip flexor stretches to your routine to practice every once in a while because I've noticed that I haven't been getting enough hip flexor work, and now that I am I feel even better.

Patrick Smith said:

Sorry, mate. My computer's PSU got water on it and was out for a day or two and I subsequently missed a lot of replies. (...)

Patrick, there is a neat feature to set up your search for posts from the last week, the last two weeks, last month, etc...

It shows a list of all the posts and highlights the ones you have not read.

You'll find a link on the left column of the "new content" page.

FredInChina said:

Patrick, there is a neat feature to set up your search for posts from the last week, the last two weeks, last month, etc...

It shows a list of all the posts and highlights the ones you have not read.

You'll find a link on the left column of the "new content" page.

Oh, nice. Thank you, Fred.

My pleasure Patrick

Patrick Smith said:

 

 

 

Hi guys,

 

Since I only just recently re-discovered the power of S&F, I don't have a ton to give you right now; however, this is what I have been doing:

 

I will only refer to the exercises by page number and exercise number to avoid giving any of Kit's material away for free. If you have the book, you should be able to find everything just fine.

 

----------

Daily:

P.25 - Exercise 1

P.28 - Exercise 2

P.30 - Exercise 3

P.32 - Exercise 4

P.34 - Exercise 5

P.37 - Exercise 6

P.40 - Exercise 7

P.92 - Lesson Five warm up

 

(Generally I do 3x10 leg raises per leg, per direction: front, side, and back - with more or less straight legs daily as well)

 

----------

Twice a week:

P.63 - Exercise 19 (this one was almost like a magic trick that changed my hamstring/hip flexibility overnight)

P.66 - Exercise 21

P.72 - Exercise 17 Revisited 

P.79 - Exercise 25

P.83 - Exercise 26 (I like this one, but it's the first I cut out if I don't have much time)

P.97 - Exercise 30

 

I do 2 rounds of 3-5 C&R per exercise (per side if applicable). This, plus the leg raises and practice, seems to be working very well for me. As I proceed further into the book I will change up the routine. In fact, on some of the hip stretches I have already advanced to the point where I need to move on to the harder variation.

 

EDIT:

 

In retrospect, I am now adding 1-2 hip flexor stretches because I feel my hamstrings are improving faster than they are. Gotta keep a good balance here.

 

I just stumbled upon on this post, I have been using kits book the past month or so, I started with doing lessons as prescribed but stuff like shoulder flexibility and wrist stuff was ok but not what I needed, mainly because of H1 and how much upper body flexibility I have gained through the im's as well as foundation stuff. It might just be my impatience that stopped me from following all the lessons through but I need to focus on hamstrings and hip flexors.

I was looking at the excersizes you are doing twice a week with CR's, I am doing exactly the same, my hamstrings are what where giving me the trouble but like you now my hip flexors are the week point ><, with the stretches in kits book and a bit more hard work I might be able to finally get proper form for ABH and Straddle up :/. I have also started foam rolling the quads, calfs, glutes and lower back which is helping allot.

Like you I am also doing what kit has recommended as the daily 5 (+2).

I would recommend the book to anyone serious about increasing flexibility and ROM in general.

The book arrived at my doorstep yesterday :-)