Lesson 8
How to increase the back flexibility
In previous lessons, we studied various aspects of flexibility and body control.
In the first lessons, we examined the basic principles of effective stretching and talked about the importance of proper posture and synchronization of breathing and movement. These basic principles and knowledge are especially important now that we are moving to a deeper stretch and begin to work with the back flexibility.
Then, we familiarize ourselves with the muscles of the legs, and studied the exercises to strengthen, stretch and control the legs. In work on flexibility of the back, legs will also play an important role. They will have to take part of the load. Therefore, you should repeat the material from previous lessons and train your leg muscles to work, as many exercises require activation or stretching of these muscles.
Key principles for working with back flexibility
1. The breath.
The fact is that the respiratory organs are located in the chest and any deflections and new unusual body positions will directly affect our breathing. The opposite is also true. The smoother and deeper the breath, the more effective the exercises will be.
With intense work on deflections, you may feel dizzy, headache, lack of oxygen and darkening in the eyes. These phenomena are normal and should not cause you to panic. However, do not ignore such signals of your body.
Stop, take a break before you continue to the next step. Then, when you feel better, you can continue.
2. The pain.
Do not work on flexibility of the back, breaking yourself and overcoming the pain. There should be no acute pain. You can feel pressure, tension, but not back pain! Try to avoid such sensations.
3. Warming up.
The most important condition for working on back flexibility is a good warm-up. A good warm-up will prepare your body for intensive work and help avoid injuries. In addition, warmed muscles become more elastic.
4. Posture muscles and a strong center.
The inclusion of internal muscles is a very important aspect in working on back flexibility. Do not forget to focus on controlling the internal muscles of the posture and avoid unnecessary strain on the lower back. If necessary, repeat the material of the first lesson before proceeding to the practical part of this lesson.
5. Elongation.
Elongation is extremely important to increase your range of movement. The fact is that, while bending, without stretching the spine first, the movement will always be limited due to the proximity of joints and bones, which will simply "stick" into each other.
Try to imagine that through the work of your muscles, you lengthen the spine and move the vertebrae apart, even if only a couple of millimeters. Now that there is a small distance between the vertebrae, your body will be much more elastic and mobile.
Practical part
Set of exercises 1
1) Starting position sitting on your knees. Pull straight arms forward. We bend our elbows to the sides and in a wavy motion; we lay down to the floor into the "cobra" position. Turn your shoulders back, try to connect the shoulder blades and stretch your neck up.
2) Go back and lie on your stomach. Press your hands to the floor and rise from the pelvis through the wave to the starting position. Round off your back.
Repeat exercise 1 and 2 four times.
3) Starting position on the knees, arms extended forward. Bend your knees in 90 degrees and tighten the tailbone to avoid deflection in the lower back and focus on stretching the upper back and shoulders. Stay in this position for 30 seconds.
4) In addition to the previous exercise, bend your elbows and join your palms together. Breathe deeply and remain in this position for 30 seconds.
Set of exercises 2 for the neck and shoulders
1) Starting position standing on the knees. Straight arms extended forward on the floor.
We twist the tailbone inward. With both hands, we take the yoga cube and bend the elbows, directing the cube to the back of the head.
Breathe through the nose. We try to press our chest and shoulder blades to the floor. Do not bend the lower back, focusing on stretching the upper spine.
2) Starting position on the knees. The yoga block is in front of you. Pull the lower jaw forward and place the chin on the cube. Straight arms extended forward on the floor. During exhalation, we try to reach the floor with our chest and armpits.
It is important to monitor the absence of deflection in the lower back and focus on stretching the upper section.
The height of the cube is an individual question, which depends on the flexibility and abilities of the student now.
We remain in each position for about 12-30 seconds.
3 Stretch for the neck muscles.
Starting position in the lotus position. Fold your fingers and place them behind your head. The elbows are open to the sides. The head pushes back and resists the arms for 8 seconds. Hands are pushing the head forward.
After that, release your neck and gently pull your chin to your chest. Gently move your head from side to side and stretch your neck.
Repeat 3 times - 8 seconds of resistance, 8 seconds of stretching.
Exercise Set 4
1) Repeat Waves Exercise 1
2) From the position of Cobra and add bending of the legs to the head. Repeat this exercise 3 times.
3) Repeat exercise 2 and take one arm off the floor. In a large arc through the top, we put our hand on the opposite leg. We remain in the rotation position for several seconds and breathe deeply. Repeat this exercise twice on each side.
Exercise Set 5
1) Starting position lying on the stomach.
This exercise helps to relieve pressure from the lower back. We roll in the pelvis, and retract the stomach so that a small space forms between the pelvis and the floor. This is a great exercise to relax your lower back between exercises and at the end of your workout.
2) Lying on the stomach. Put your forehead in the palms of your hands in front. The legs are slightly open. Raise your straight legs up. We do 8-10 reps, and then hold 8-10 seconds in the air.
3) We put our hands behind our backs; we cross our fingers and pull ourselves with the hands up. Do 4-8 reps without lifting the legs off the floor. We rise as high as possible.
4) We grab our hands by our legs and stay in the air for several seconds, and then slowly go down, controlling the movement.
5) Repeat exercise 1 - remove tension from the lower back.
Exercise Set 6
1) The initial position of the cobra - lying on the stomach, hands are pushing the floor, to stretch up as much as possible.
We try to lengthen the back, leaving the shoulders straight, and grab the foot with the same hand. We extend the leg and tear off the other hand from the floor. We try to maintain balance with the help of intensive work of the muscles of the back and buttocks. Hold the position for several seconds.
2)Remove the pressure from the lower back. Lying on the stomach, we turn the tailbone inwards and create a small space between the pelvis and the floor. Repeat several times.
• We return to the starting position. The elbows are strictly in front of the shoulders; the hands rest on the floor and push the chest up. Lengthen the neck and turn the shoulders and shoulder blades back.
Move one hand in a large arc up to the opposite leg. The leg is very tense and it helps us to raise the body up, trying to tear off the other hand from the floor. We remain at the highest point for a few seconds. Then we slowly go down to the floor, controlling the movement.
• Repeat exercise 2 again.
We do each exercise twice on each side.
Exercise Set 7
1) Starting position sitting on your knees. Raise your pelvis up. We put one hand on the heel of the same leg, pushing the pelvis forward and raising the other hand above the body up. Repeat this exercise twice on each side.
2) Get on your knees. We twist the tailbone inwards, squeezing the buttocks, pulling up the stomach, and pushing the pelvic bones forward. We put our hands on the buttocks and gently push the pelvis forward. We open the thoracic region and try to connect the shoulders and shoulder blades behind.
We extend our neck and lengthen the spine, and only at the end, we release our head back to continue the deflection. Repeat 2-3 times.
3) Complicated option. After several repetitions of exercise 2, we put our hands on the floor if possible. We turn our palms so that the fingers are turned outward, and push off the floor with our hands and push the pelvis forward even more to increase the deflection.
We return to the starting position, round the back.
4) Sit on your side. One leg is bent and the other is straight. Hand on the floor in line with the hip. We rest our hands on the floor, raising the pelvis and opening the other hand with a large movement through the side up. Repeat two to three times on each side.
