Stretching Journal (7/7/16)

Stretching Journal (Day 5) , July 08 2016

1. Touch Toes - 20 seconds / 20 reps
   Knees to Chest - 60 seconds
2. Cobra Pose - 15 seconds / 10 reps
   Child's Pose - 60 seconds
3. Bridge Pose - 30 seconds / 4 reps
   Knees to Chest - 60 seconds
4. Lying twist - 30 seconds / 6 reps (3 for each side)
   Knees to Chest - 60 seconds 

Stretching Journal (5/7/16 - 6/7/16)

Day 3, July 5th 2016

1. Touch Toes - 20 sec / 20 reps
2. Bow Pose - 20 sec / 8 reps
3. Half Twist - 10 sec / 10 reps x2
4. Side Bend - 3 sec / 10 reps x2

Day 4, July 6th 2016

1. Cat&Cow Stretch - 10 sec / 10 reps x2
2. Plow Pose - 30 sec / 4 reps
3. Fish Pose - 25 sec / 4 reps
4. Locust pose - 20 sec / 6 reps 

In those two sessions I reduced the number of exercises and increased the number of reps for some of them to compensate. My body reacted well and today I felt a slight soreness in my back again, after a long time. This proves once again that changing variables in your routine doesn't let the body to adapt to the movements, which is good. 

Stretching Journal (2/7/16)

July 2nd 2016, Saturday

1. Touch Toes - 20 seconds / 10 reps
   Knees to Chest - 30 seconds
2. Camel Pose - 20 seconds / 6 reps
   Child's pose - 40 seconds 
3. Cat and Cow Pose - 10 seconds / 6 reps each (12 reps in total)
   Child's Pose - 30 seconds
4. Side bend with hand raised up - 3 seconds / 10 reps each side (20 reps in total)
   Child's Pose - 30 seconds
5. Lying twist - 30 seconds / 3 reps per each side (6 reps in total)
   Knees to Chest - 30 seconds 

It took me about 30 minutes to finish this session. It was a good session overall. Felt my back stretching like it should.

Stretching Journal Clean Slate (1/7/16)

Because I've been lazy as hell for the past month and I didn't exercise as much as I should have, I decided to start over again from today, July 1st. Wish me luck.

1. Cat&Cow Stretch - 10 sec / 5 reps x2
2. Cobra Pose - 15 seconds / 5 reps 
3. Plow Pose - 30 seconds / 4 reps 
4. Bridge Pose - 10 sec / 5 reps
5. Half Twist - 10 sec / 5 reps x2
6. Side Bend - 3 sec / 10 reps x2  

As you can see I experiment a lot with poses, number of reps, holding seconds and sequences. I don't like to have a rigid routine, it bores me. I don't think those details matter anyway. As long as you follow the scheme presented here you should be fine, aka an equal amount of forward and back bends in every session, and don't forget about twists and side bends. Remember to breath and stretch yourself to the maximum, in the limit of safety of course. The most important thing is to maintain intensity within your sessions, don't let your body adapt, constantly push forward.

Stretching Journal (29/6/16) and examples of restorative poses

After a 5 days break caused by health issues I'm back at it again. Here's how today's session looks like:

• Exercise 1 (forward bend): Touch Toes - 15 sec / 10 reps
• Exercise 2 (backbend): Cobra - 15 sec / 5 reps 
• Exercise 3 (backbend): Locust Pose 3 variations - 10 sec / 2 reps x3 
• Exercise 3 (side bend): Side bend - 3 sec / 9 reps x2
• Exercise 4 (Twist): Marichi's Pose - 10 sec / 5 reps x2 
• Exercise 5 (backbend): Bird-Dog Pose - 10 sec / 3 reps x2
• Exercise 6 (forward bend): Cat Pose - 10 sec / 5 reps

And of course restorative poses between each exercise.

Locust pose variations 

Dog-Bird pose, alternate left and right

Cat pose 

Child's Pose and Knees to Chest. Hold one of those poses for 30-60 seconds between each exercise so your spine can realign.  

Stretching Journal (23/6/16) & Observations

1. Head-to-Knee Forward Bend - 15 sec / 5 reps each leg (10 reps in total)
2. Cobra Pose - 20 sec / 9 reps (3 sets of 3 reps, short restorative break between) 
3. Cat stretch - 10 sec / 6 reps x2 
4. Plow Pose - 30 sec / 4 reps 
5. Locust Pose - 25-15-10 sec x2 (6 reps in total) 
6. Side Bend - 3 sec / 18 sec (9 reps per each side) 

At this point you're probably familiarized with all those exercises except nr. 1 and 5. I haven't performed Head to Knee and Locust Pose in the previous sessions.

1. Head to Knee Forward Bend

5. Locust Pose

This was a good session overall. I really felt a good workout in my back. But I still feel like it could have been more intense. I was a bit lazy. It is important to push your limits all the time and flex those muscles to the point that you will have a sore back the next day. 

This session focuses more on forward/backward movements rather than twisting movements. There are two backbends (cobra and locust pose) and two forward bends (head to knee and plow pose), also cat stretch, which is a complete excises having both forward and backward movements.

At this point I'm still experimenting with exercises. I don't have a steady routine, and I'm not sure I'm interested in that. I believe in diversity and I don't like doing the same exercises every day. (I get bored easily :p) 

Stretching Journal (21/6/16)

June 21, 2016 - Tuesday 

1. Touch Toes - 15 seconds / 10 repetitions
2. Pelvic Shift (Bridge Pose) - 25 seconds / 4 repetitions
3. Half Twist - 10 seconds / 6 reps x2 (6 reps on each side, 12 in total) 
4. Bow Pose - 25 seconds / 4 repetitions 
5. Side Arch  - 3 seconds / 9 repetitions x2 (9 reps on each side, 18 in total) 

I did the exercises in this exact same order, and of course, between each set of different poses I performed a restorative pose

As you can see, pose no.5 is a variation of "side arch" performed in the first day. It's important to have a large variety of exercises to chose from, otherwise the body will get used to it. Always push your limits, but of course stay safe and listen to your body, otherwise you might risk injuries. 

Stretching Journal (19/6/16) & Observations

This is what I did today:





I am slightly disappointed with today's session. I didn't push myself hard enough. I need to work on my breathing and intensity.

Whether I will be taller or not 6 months from now, I'm sure as hell I don't want to have any regrets about the way I performed the daily sessions. It's easy to slip into laziness and shortcuts when you exercise almost every day, but consistency could make the difference between success and failure. You can't afford to be shallow.

Stretching Journal (17/6/16) & Important Notes

Today's session looks like this:

1. Touch toes - 15 seconds / 10 reps
   
   
2. Camel pose - 20 seconds / 4 reps
   
   
3. Half Twist (Marichi's Pose) 12 seconds / 6x2 reps (for each side 6 reps, total of 12 reps)
   
   
4. Plow Pose - 30 seconds / 4 reps
   
5. Fish Pose - 20 seconds / 4 reps
   
   
   
   
6. Side Arch - 3 seconds / 9 reps (9 reps for each side, 18 in total) 

     

Between each pose I perform a restorative pose like Knees to Chest Pose or Child's Pose. This aspect is very important. The discs need to be restored to their original shape and position before proceeding to the next advanced pose, otherwise strain and over compression may occur.


Important Note: Do not attempt to perform any of the advances poses you see here if you have no previous experience with them. Start with beginner exercises until you are ready to perform more advanced stretches.