Flexibility

[element00]

I've never been too flexible and as I've gotten older and needed to manage injuries, my range of motion has probably reduced.

Ive had pins and needles in my hand for the past month, so figured I had some impingement on a nerve, with my trap and neck being tight. I went to see a new myotherapist as my guy has moved away and this dude seems pretty big on this whole flexibility thing. He mentioned yoga, which isn't going to happen, so he talked about finishing most workouts with a decent stretching activity. think I need to consider how this looks and wondering about the benefits.

There's plenty of examples of stretches to do, though interested in how you guys build in a stretching regime, either on your rest days or post workout

 

[ruckin]

I usually just stretch my hamstrings and hip flexors after I finish training, since those are muscles that tend to be tight from sitting at a desk for so much of the day, every day.

 

[gr8whitetrukker]

I have the same issue with my neck/trap region. Dont know what to do to rehab it.

 

[element00]

I have the same issue with my neck/trap region. Dont know what to do to rehab it.

You got that tingling/numbness in the hand?

 

[gr8whitetrukker]

You got that tingling/numbness in the hand?

Not much any more. But I know what your talking about.

If I hang my head down to my chest and stretch the trap I can really feel the pull. It feels like a chord thats too short being stretched beyond its capacity. It must be a nerve. When it flares up I cant even turn my head to back my trailers in. Pretty awful.

 

[element00]

I usually just stretch my hamstrings and hip flexors after I finish training, since those are muscles that tend to be tight from sitting at a desk for so much of the day, every day.

yeah a guy here swears this is related to tightness in the IT band. He rolls it every day and says it improves his squat and deadlift movement

 

[element00]

Not much any more. But I know what your talking about.

If I hang my head down to my chest and stretch the trap I can really feel the pull. It feels like a chord thats too short being stretched beyond its capacity. It must be a nerve. When it flares up I cant even turn my head to back my trailers in. Pretty awful.

Check out the levator scapula. It's the muscle that gets shortened and that stretch your referring to is meant to lengthen it. Stretching down and to the side hits it and yeah it's damn painful. I've had it all released, will go back in a week for another serve of treatment, then I want to keep up the stretch for it

 

[gr8whitetrukker]

Check out the levator scapula. It's the muscle that gets shortened and that stretch your referring to is meant to lengthen it. Stretching down and to the side hits it and yeah it's damn painful. I've had it all released, will go back in a week for another serve of treatment, then I want to keep up the stretch for it

Youve had it released?

 

[element00]

Youve had it released?

Myotherapist. Found the tigger point as soon as I described my pain. He worked through the neck up to base of the skull, through the trap and around the pec/delt tie in as when this is tight it pulls forward. Also some dry needling which really encourages that release

 

[gr8whitetrukker]

All good now or just temporary?

 

[element00]

All good now or just temporary?

My usual MO is to leave these things too long thinking I can work around it. Im sore as fuck right now due to being worked over. Next couple of days it will settle and then start to tighten up again. Go back in about 1-2 weeks, have another session then that should see me right as long as I do some maintenance. Hence starting the thread to see how others incorporate stretching as a regular part of their conditioning.
I'm mid 40's so should be doing some preventative work ie regular stretching and a myo session every 1-2 months

 

[gr8whitetrukker]

One thing that I STOPPED doing was barbell upright rows. That fucked me every time. I never realized what it was. I do them on the smith machine and no problems go figure.

Last week I was doing military presses with 200 for 10 reps for 10 sets. I would use a lot of intensity during the stretch phase of the movement. That fucked my neck/trap up too. Seems to be anything that stretches it with weight involved is the trigger point

 

[element00]

I've been researching levator scap stretching and came across a you tube video where the guy is saying not to do upright rows or behind neck presses. Though he also said not to do flys, so it seems there's many different views. It seems if it causes you pain, don't do it

 

[dredd09]

When i was in kajukenbo, the sifu ( teacher) would take us through different weight lifting regimes for flexibility. On arm day after finishing we would lay on the bench and hold five pound plates out to the side in each hand for as long as you can possibly stand to do it after burning out your arms. It streches out every muscle up to the traps, even into the pecs. Made us a hell of a lot less sore next day when it was time to spar, and made you a lot more flexible when it came to being put into an armbar.

 

[dredd09]

For those wondering this is kajukenbo. Developed in hawaii after world war 2 by five guys who wanted to eliminate the bullshit from fighting arts. This is Kajukenbo:

 

[hammerfist2]

Lol I know Kajukenbo too well. My first krav school was in Hawaii and I felt like one of those old karate movies where they wanted to come in and challenge me. It is awesome.
I believe the older we get the more we should focus on stretching. I just hate it and have trouble sitting in static stretches without getting bored. Trigger point therapy was wonderful when I had this beautiful trainer doing it to me but not so great on my own. I still have the rolling pin thing wrapped in original plastic.

 

[dredd09]

You were lucky to get to see it at its hawaiian home man. Krav is no joke either. But some of these kajukenbo guys are totally jacked and 250 lbs with crazy flexibility and arm speed. Something you almost never see in guys who juice and lift without any stretching protocol.

 

[Gman22]

@dredd09 good looking video.

I myself have been practicing haganah for the past 5 or 6 years and I found some similarities between both.
Stretching is a must and it helps so much when it comes to lifting weights...my 2 cents..lol

 

[Maxlass]

I have the same issue and physio put it down to imbalances and weak rotator Cuff. He does dry needling and massage and usually lasts a week before it starts playing up again. I do a lot of rotator Cuff specific exercises now and don't seem to have as many issues but it still gets tight on occasion.

 

[xgunx]

The military forces us to do a full stretch routine before and after. I also dont remember hurting myself when exercising with them vs by myself. Though there workouts arent much hell fat people do em.