Hamstring to lower back. Sit on the floor, legs extended out at more than 90 degrees to each other, heels up. Relax for a minute. As you relax, try to push the backs of your knees down flat against the ground, extending the heels out and away in order to help you do it. Then place your hands on the floor in front of you, palms down, and bend forward from the hips, keeping your lower back nice and flat. Breathe in, then out and push down and out with each exhale. When you think you've gone forward and down as far as you can, just stop and breathe for a minute, focusing on keeping the heels and backs of the knees down and the toes straight up toward the ceiling. Hold that position, breathe in, then out, and push just a bit further. Hold that. Then slowly, using your hands,"walk" your upper body back up to an upright position. The ultimate extension of this movement would involve your head and chest flat on the floor between your legs, with arms fully extended and flat on the floor also. But don't sweat it if you can't get near that posture. Just do it every day and you'll see amazing improvements in your flexibility over two to three months.fongss wrote:Ok...lets find happier thoughts
Nick what would u suggest as the three most beneficial stretches a surfer could do daily
Hip flexor to upper back/lats. Lie flat on your back, relax, legs casually extended straight down from the hips and arms spread out wide, palms up, kind of a human Jesus on the cross posture. Draw one leg up. Let's say the right leg, so there's a 90 degree angle at the knee. Take your left hand and place it on the outside of the right thigh, and slowly draw the right leg over the left so the knee comes down toward the floor. The hips can roll a bit with the movement but not the upper back. Keep your right arm and both shoulders flat on the floor. Breathe and extend the stretch until the right knee is pushed on to the floor; once it's there, slowly turn your head to face down the line of the right arm. Hold and breathe for a minute, slowly return to the original posture, and repeat the movement on the other side.
Shoulder/trapezius. Stand facing a wall, about a foot out from it, relaxed posture, feet about the width apart of your shoulders. Raise your right hand, palm facing out from the wall, until the right arm is horizontal, the top of the hand against the wall. Now slowly lean in toward the wall, so that your right arm is pushed back into your body. You should feel a deep stretch across the whole shoulder and around behind it, possibly even into the neck. Slowly increase the stretch by extending the right hand further out and away along the wall; imagine your fingers being pulled away from you. Be slow and careful with this stretch the first eight or ten times you do it, most surfers have incredibly bound up and fibrous shoulder muscles and tendons and care should be taken not to rush it in case it produces a tiny muscle tear or strain. Relax, come back from the wall, and repeat with the left arm.
