I was down stretching this morning at LA Fitness. For a while I have been working on oppening up my back more and I do a variety of stretches to help but the one that has made the biggest difference is called the beam back bends. This is where I have my minibeam placed on the ground and then put down some step platforms so my feet can be at the same level as the beam. I then lean back with the hands in beam position (thumbs side by side pointing towards me, hands spread ready to grab the beam as I go back. I then bend all the back through the arch until I can grab the beam.
I have doing this for a while and do no more than 10 in a day. 10 is exhausting and when I start it took me an hour. The fastest I have done a set is 28 minutes. Either way it pushes my back to the extreme. I am very conscious of opening up my back correctly so I never jerk, or move to quickly. I reach to full extension, squeeze and squeeze and then relax and push it a bit further. I am now at a point when I reach back, my hands are getting closer and closer to the end of the beam. Also today I straightened my legs and squuezed and I felt it even more. When I did this on the following go I actually felt a section of my back I have not been able to isolate before. I then squeezed hard and that is when it happened, suddenly that whole section opened and become flexible. It was amazing.
My back was heavily fatigued from all the stretching but then I could feel the new areas opening before that I have never been able to do. This stretching is about doing it every day (or least as often as possible) so that that level of flexibility becomes conditioned. I am a long way from that step at the moment but I also know that the more I do it,the more the body will get used to it. My goal is to make my peak stretch an everage and have another whole level of peak. I am thinking of going into that bridge and holding it for 2 or 3 minutes and seeing how the body likes being in that position for a period of time.
This is a journey so it is going to take time to get to where I want to safely but then looking what I have covered so far I have come a long way and th view from here is sweet. Very sweet. Look forward to sharing more as my back takes my flexibility to even new levels. Go Heroes!!