Dynamic Stretching for Awesome Flexibility

Aaaaah! Flexibility!! Who could do without it? Those who are already flexible can’t live without stretching, and those who never gave a single thought to stretching don’t know how much they are missing.

The very act of stretching itself, when done in a very quiet place with no distractions, where the stretcher is in a very relaxed mindset, and the muscles of the body are sufficiently warmed up prior, is a very liberating experience. My absolute favorite is the Shaolin, or kiss-your-toes, stretch which is simply where you keep your legs straight and bend forward at the waist, trying to “kiss your toes.” The first few times I held this stretch for a respectable duration (at least 15 minutes), I was rewarded with the wonderful feeling of my entire lower and middle back releasing a cramping of the muscles that I never realized was desperate to escape. My hamstrings squealed with delight as I eased them, slowly but surely, into a deep stretch. Deep stretches require absolutely zero distractions, and are the best thing you can do to yourself after a long, stressful day and/or a vigorous workout!

What options are there for stretching? You’ll need to understand two different types of stretches: cold, or static stretches and dynamic stretching. A cold stretch is where you focus on stretching a muscle or muscle group, without engaging opposing muscles in any way. You’re basically just pulling your muscles. An example is sitting on the floor with one leg extended and you bending over that leg, in a single hamstring stretch. A dynamic stretch is a little different, and must really be experienced to be appreciated. Try this: drop forward into a lunge as far as you can, so that you are actively stretching the quads and working all of the other leg muscles to keep yourself upright. In this movement, you could drop into a lunge over and over, in which case you would be exercising and getting a stretch for your legs. This is dynamic stretching, and there is a lot of it found in yoga and bodyweight calisthenics.

A great place to practice dynamic stretching is in the pool. While standing in the pool with the water at about chest level, lift one leg straight out to the side, pushing yourself when your foot reaches its highest limit, lengthening your legs as much as you possibly can, while breathing deeply and relaxing into each stretch. You can do the same while raising one leg in front of you or behind you.

You could take a breath, drop down into the water, relax your mind, put one hand on top of the other, and reach them as far away from your body as possible. Do the same thing with your toes, reaching them as far away from your body as possible, so that you are completely lengthening your entire body from fingertip to toes. Now slowly pull your hands behind you and pull your toes behind you, so that you are forming a wide “C”. Think of trying to touch your hands to your toes behind you. Expend as much effort as you can without forcing yourself to have to come up for air too quickly.

You can also bend forward and to the sides as much as you are able. Underwater, you can do so many dynamic stretching moves, just be creative (and use common sense)!

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