Our Triathlon Coach suggests you start in a standing position, cross your right leg over your left, with your feet close together, and then slowly roll your upper body down toward the floor until you feel a gentle stretch (not pain!) along the back of left leg. Hold for 30 seconds. Switch legs, repeating twice on each side.
Loose muscles send a message to the brain that danger has passed, triggering the relaxation response.
Tense muscles are often one of the first ways we notice that we are stressed. More than just a result of the stress response, a muscle that stays tight also signifies to the nervous system that the threat has not passed, which further increases your stress levels. The good news is that releasing tight muscles turns off the message that you are experiencing a threat and triggers the relaxation response. To improve your physical comfort and promote more relaxation in your life, spend 10 minutes a day doing simple stretches. You can do them in bed in the morning or at night — meaning you can even do them in your PJs. Try lying on your back and reaching your fingertips and toes away from each other, pulling your knees in to your chest, and then dropping your knees from side to side (do each stretch for 30 to 60 seconds and repeat the cycle two times). You’ll feel looser, calmer and better prepared to face your day or drift off to sleep.
Tags: Combat Stress, Stretching
If you’re under 40, hold your stretches for 30 seconds. If you’re over 40, hold them for 60 seconds. As you reach your 40s, your muscles become less pliable, so they need to be stretched longer.
Piriformis syndrome is a neuromuscular disorder that occurs when the sciatic nerve is compressed or otherwise irritated by the piriformis muscle. This causes pain, tingling and numbness in the buttocks and along the course of the sciatic nerve. The syndrome may result from anatomical variations in the muscle-nerve relationship, or from basic strain.
The following Piriformis stretch is a staple at Veteran training and should be performed as much as possible but once in the morning and once in the evening will suffice along with your other stretches from this blog.
1. Pain should never be part of stretching. Discomfort usually.
2. Use a scale of 1-10; 1 being nothing and 10 being agony. You need to stretch to a 6 or 7. This should feel as if it is pulling right in the middle of the muscle and nowhere near your bones. It should feel like a strong pull and not painful or sharp.
3. When taking your body into any stretch, once you have done it, just hold it there. Do not force it any further and definitely don’t bounce ( By “bounce” I mean short regular movements trying to force your muscle to stretch further than it wants to. You can damage the muscle by doing this.).
4. Breathe! Your muscles won’t be able to relax properly if you are holding your breath. Use nice deep yoga-style breathing, take in a lung-full and let the air out nice and slowly right to the end.
5. It is better to get the technique correct than concerning yourself about how far you stretch. Bad technique could result in you receiving no benefits from the stretching or worse still an injury. And that is the kind of irony we don’t like.
6. Try and do stretches first thing in the morning and last thing at night. The more you can do the better, but morning and evening is fine as a minimum.
