Stretching - Books - Magic Bean Dip

Page 1 of 23 - Go to page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 12

Stretching Anatomy

Arnold G. Nelson, Jouko Kokkonen

Amazon Price: $13.57
List Price: ~~$19.95~~
Usually ships in 24 hours
By: Human Kinetics Publishers - Model: 0736059725
Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $12.18

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Exercise & Fitness -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Exercise & Fitness -> Stretching
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

See inside every stretch--and maximize flexibility! Stretching Anatomy will arm you with the knowledge to increase range of motion, supplement training, enhance recovery, and maximize efficiency of movement. Youll also gain a detailed understanding of how each stretch affects your body. Stretching Anatomy is like having an X-ray of each stretch, only better. Not only do you see full-color illustrations of the muscles in action, but you also find out how changes in position can alter the muscle emphasis and difficulty and how variations can improve safety and effectiveness. Each exercise includes detailed instruction on how to stretch, when to stretch, primary and secondary muscle emphasis, and which muscles are activated for support. Stretching programs provide three levels of difficulty, including light stretching that can be used as a warm-up or to aid in recovery from soreness or injury. And summary movement tables show how to customize stretching programs to focus on key problem areas.

Stretching: 20th Anniversary (Stretching)

Bob Anderson

Amazon Price: $12.21
List Price: ~~$17.95~~
Usually ships in 24 hours
By: Shelter Publications
Amazon Marketplace: 74 new & used starting at $7.82

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 96 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

When Bob Anderson first published Stretching in 1980, the fitness movement was new to most Americans. The term aerobics had just been coined in 1968, and few people outside bodybuilding circles had heard of Arnold Schwarzenegger yet.
Now, fitness is such old hat that it's even had a backlash or two. Lots of the original ideas have been called into question, including the preeminence of aerobic exercise. But flexibility is bigger than ever; Pilates and yoga are two of the fastest-growing fitness programs in the U.S. in the early 2000s. The type of stretching Anderson recommends--called "static," meaning you sit in one place and hold the stretch for a specified amount of time--isn't exactly trendy, but it remains the most accessible way for entry-level exercisers to improve their flexibility. (Or, perhaps more important, to keep from losing whatever flexibility they have as they get older.)
Those who already have the version of the book that's been put out by Shelter Publications since 1980 won't find a whole lot that's new in this 20th-anniversary version. Some of the simple drawings by Anderson's wife, Jean, have been updated to show athletes in sport-specific outfits doing stretching routines, and there are more routines than before. The new edition includes routines for children, stretches to do in front of the TV, and some exercises to do before and after gardening. Plus, the old staples remain--stretching routines for all muscle groups, and pre- and postplay sequences for common sports (football, baseball, basketball) and a few uncommon ones (equestrian, motocross, rodeo). He's also created routines for sports that barely existed in 1980, such as snowboarding, triathloning, and inline skating.
The constant in Stretching is ease of use. Anderson doesn't need a lot of complex explanations because the drawings are so easy to follow. He makes it clear that stretching should make you feel better, not worse, and that it's not a competition. Any little bit you can do is better than not doing anything. That's a timeless message, which is why his book has been such an valuable reference for the past 20 years. --Lou Schuler

The Genius of Flexibility: The Smart Way to Stretch and Strengthen Your Body

Bob Cooley

Amazon Price: $11.56
List Price: ~~$17.00~~
Usually ships in 24 hours
By: Fireside
Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $9.79

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 56 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

An odd and inadequate introduction to a good system 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Our collective understanding of athletic performance training has changed a great deal in the past couple of decades. For a number of years the athletic culture was dominated by a strong emphasis on bodybuilding and general strength training. This has been refined over the years to a more functional direction and to incorporate more efficient training methods that make better use of training time and effort. It was once nearly impossible to get what most experts considered the right amount of skill training, flexibility training, strength training, endurance training, and so on, all in the same athlete because our approach was to keep adding more effort and more volume and eventually burn out and injure the athlete.

As a result, the evolution of athletic training has neccessarily moved us toward increasingly more efficient methods emphasizing baseline assessment testing, functional performance areas, specific methods of recovery, and more subtle forms of training feedback rather than blind incorporation of increasing training workload volumes.

I think the Meridian Flexibility System that is the basis for the material in this book is one of those effective methods that reflects this trend. While I don't doubt that it is effective and that the author is good at using it with people, I don't think this system is especially unique. It is true that not every subtle skill for using these kinds of methods can be described in mechanical terms, but I don't think it serves us any better to use unvalidated esoteric theories instead.

Personally I think there's more integrity in simply saying that the method works and we don't entirely understand all the details if that is the case. Even better would be working to explore scientifically reasonable explanations for the method which are often not far from hand. Not that a coach should always have to worry about explaining how and why their methods work, but if they also want to present themselves as a leading revolutionary theorist they do have to make that additional effort I think. As an example, I particularly like the way Stretch to Win treats its somewhat novel flexibility training principles. Not as strong an emphasis on being "revolutionary" as Cooley but just as much originality and more plausible explanations.

I think this book spends too little time describing the practical elements of the method and too much explaining the author's idiosyncratic theories about it. It also suffers from a failure to recognize methods that are similar and claim similar results, whether to point out common underlying principles or simply to compare and contrast.

My experience is that the same sort of benefits that people claim from this system are common to dynamic movement forms of Yoga (for example: PRASARA YOGA: Flow Beyond Thought, which paradoxically are now being taught in increasingly less esotoric ways. As Yoga has become a more common and increasingly Westernized mode of training, coaches dissatisfied with traditional American and European athletic training have often resorted to dipping more into esoteric principles.

It may be that we really do need to incorporate some of those esoteric principles into our understanding of human health and performance, but so far I haven't seen any compelling reason to think so. Rather I've found that the authors who have made more of an effort to be open minded about methods and yet keep a slightly more skeptical approach to explanations for those methods have made the most interesting and substantive contributions.

I cannot recommend this book as an introduction to flexibility or as a reasonable explanation of the principles of flexibility, "genius" or otherwise. I didn't get much out of it and found it particularly difficult to follow in spite (or perhaps because of!) having a lot of experience with other methods. However I do think that the method itself is well worth exploring as one of a number of good systems that in practice makes use of sound principles of muscle opposition, breathing coordination, optimal tension, mind/body feedback and so on.

Editorial Review:

Something The World Hasn't Yet Seen -- You Can Forever Be More Flexible.
The Technique: RESISTANCE STRETCHING® offers immediate, cumulative, and permanent increases in flexibility, takes the pain out of stretching, and protects you from injuring yourself by overstretching.
The Program: THE MERIDIAN FLEXIBILITY SYSTEM® provides stretches for sixteen unique muscle groups with physiological and psychological benefits.

The Eat-Clean Diet Workout: Quick Routines for Your Best Body Ever (with DVD)

Tosca Reno

Amazon Price: $13.57
List Price: ~~$19.95~~
Usually ships in 24 hours
By: Robert Kennedy Publishing
Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $3.59

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

This book/dvd got me going! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This book is just what I needed! I purchased it after one of the reviews here stated that the included DVD showed proper weight training form. The book itself starts by listing the benefits of weight training. Reno advises the reader to start slow with light weights and build gradually. She says to have realistic goals and make a plan. Correct form is stressed and pacing of the workout is discussed. Reno recommends keeping a weight training journal. An official "Eat-Clean Diet Workout Journal" is available, but unnecessary. You can simply use a spiral notebook and list the date,exercise, weight used, number of sets and reps. There are also sample pages from the journal in the back of the book that can be copied.

Of course Reno says to eat healthy (eat-clean) and drink plenty of water. Bodybuilding tools and vitamin supplements are discussed. There is a chapter on building ideal proportions that interested me and was the final clincher for purchasing the book. After that are charts for beginner, intermediate and advanced routines. This is followed by a chapter on each body part: chest, thighs and calves, biceps and triceps, abs, shoulder shaping, and the back. Exercises are shown with clear directions for each and their specific target. The book then goes into training principles for competition.

The DVD is 30 minutes long and is essentially a primer on weight training. It is not a workout routine (I already have many of those) but rather a demonstration of how to do 9 moves correctly. 5 - 20 pound weights are used. The moves demonstrated are: seated shoulder press, dumbbell bench press, lunges, reverse crunch (toe to ceiling for bad backs), stiff leg dead lifts, single arm rows, standing dumbbell curls, single arm triceps extension and single leg raises. Reno advises resting 1 -2 minutes betweens sets and 24-48 hours between working a particular body part. She begins with warm-up suggestions and after showing the proper form for the 9 moves, shows 8 stretches. You will need to pause the video while you complete the moves. I used a portable DVD player and found that worked well. I did find the oil on her body to be distracting. I also wish that she had demonstrated squats. However, squats are covered in the book.

This book/DVD has motivated me to begin weight training at the age of 61 which is why I gave it 5 stars. I have purchased other weight training books such as the Body Sculpting Bible for Women, which also has a DVD, but I found it too dry and have not used it. The conversational style of The Eat-Clean Diet Workout works for me and I feel healthier already after working with the DVD.

Editorial Review:

Eating Clean gets and keeps you lean. But if you want your metabolism to burn faster than ever before; if you want to shape the body you've always wanted; then The Eat-Clean Diet Workout is for you.Think fitness comes only with hour upon hour of exercise? Nope! Tosca will show you that you can have a better body than you ever dreamed possible, in 30 minutes a day, four days a week. Don't believe it? You will, 'cause Tosca's workout will get you there.

The Anatomy of Stretching

Brad Walker

Amazon Price: $16.47
List Price: ~~$24.95~~
Usually ships in 24 hours
By: North Atlantic Books
Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $14.77

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

One of Two Best Single Volume Stretching Book for Back Therapy 5 out of 5 stars.
65 of 68 people found this review helpful.

If you wish to be a martial artist, there are other stretching books that teach maximum flexibility: e.g. Stretching Scientifically by Thomas Kurz. or yoga books such as YOga: The Iyengar Way by Mira Silva & Schyam Mehta. But if you've hurt your back or other body parts (e.g. legs, shoulders, etc.), then this single volume is a gold mine. I've written several cover stories in Inside Kung Fu and Kung Fu Wushu magazines, and have practiced martial arts since a very early age. I have had perfect splits in life, but became less flexible via neglect. Trying to get back in shape, I hurt my back three years ago and sometimes had trouble bending down (on very bad days) or would rehurt my back when trying to resume running and shaolin kung fu. Fortunately, I taught at a college that had a Ph.D. program in physical therapy so I got free physical therapy for a year. All of the therapy exercises I learned for free are included in Brad Walker's Anatomy of Stretching. In addition, Walker's book contains dozens of wonderful exercises to provide therapy for hurt body parts, and to obtain general flexibility. I visited bookstores to compare the texts, and Walker's book provides wonderful schematic drawings on how the muscles are involved at the very moment of each specific stretch. Unlike other stretching anatomy books, Walker's provides a specific itemization of how to do the exercise, what body part is affected, what injury it treats, what sport it's good for, and when to avoid the stretch if you have a particular injury. It's the best diagrammed text around. I would recommend buying this book with a couple of other texts that are equal to Walker's in many respects (and sometimes better, sometimes worse):

Two books by Kit Laughlin:

1. Stretching & Flexibility, and
2. Overcome Neck & Back Pain.

You can order DVDs from Australia from Laughlin's website. Kit even emailed me to answer my stretching queries.

3. Back Care Basics by Mary Pullig Schatz, M.D. Dr. Schatz combines knowledge in injury science with expertise in Iyengar yoga. It's a wonderful text for injured practitioners.

4. The Stark Reality of Stretching, by Dr. Steven D. Stark. Dr. Stark presents a wonderful theory of stretching that argues convincingly that the best way to stretch is to avoid any stretches that load the specific muscle groups you are trying to stretch. He also demonstrates how we injure ourselves unwittingly: e.g. by running with a stride that is either too short, or too long. His research is a bit dated, but logical and convincing.

5. Yoga: The Iyengar Way (authors mentioned above).

Remember NEVER TO BOUNCE HARD WHEN STRETCHING, ESPECIALLY IF YOUR BACK IS INJURED. As long as you stretch everyday, you should gently heal your back.

Stretching one's back using a "half therapy roll" available at medical supply stores is useful if you have lower lumbar injury, but get diagnosed by a top notch physical therapist. Unlike general medical practitioners, they know the body much better and know the excercises to heal the back. The function of a regular medical doctor is simply to authorize x-rays to ensure you don't have unusual injuries: e.g. spinal/skeletal, herniated disks, torn muscles, dislocated ligaments and torn tendons, etc. Once you've excluded extreme abnormalities, a good stretching book can do wonders for your back and other body parts.

Back pain is due to muscle imbalance and slight injuries. Scarred muscle tissue gets tight and one needs to stretch those tissues to prevent spasms. These books, written often by medical doctors, are a great adjunct to qualified medical care.

For general back care, buy:

6. the Second edition of Mike Hage's THE BACK PAIN BOOK, REVISED 2ND EDITION.

Hage covers everything from how to bend properly when picking up objects to sitting correctly on a toliet to prevent reinjuring or weakining one's back. We cause injury to ourselves gradually until that single extra straw one day breaks our camel's back.

Without question, Walker's ANATOMY OF STRETCHING, is one of the best in the market. There is no single perfect book, but the relatively short list I've constructed is all you need. They might save you thousands of dollars on professional physical therapy and provide you with healthy restful flexibility and relief from unnecessary pain.

Editorial Review:

Books on stretching are common, but The Anatomy of Stretching takes a more fundamental approach than the others, taking the reader inside the body to show exactly what is happening during a stretch. At the heart of the book are 300 full-color illustrations that show the primary and secondary muscles worked in 115 key stretches arranged by body area. Author Brad Walker brings years of expertise—he works with elite-level and world-champion athletes, and lectures on injury prevention—to this how-to guide. He looks at stretching from every angle, including physiology and flexibility; the benefits of stretching; the different types of stretching; rules for safe stretching; and how to stretch properly. Aimed at fitness enthusiasts of any level, as well as at fitness pros, The Anatomy of Stretching also focuses on which stretches are useful for the alleviation or rehabilitation of specific sports injuries.

Ultimate Flexibility: A Complete Guide to Stretching for Martial Arts

Sang H. Kim

Amazon Price: $15.61
List Price: ~~$22.95~~
Usually ships in 24 hours
By: Turtle Press
Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $10.73

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 38 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Ultimate Flexibility is the book you've been waiting for. More than a collection of exercises or an explanation of technique, Ultimate Flexibility is a complete guide to stretching for martial arts, from the very basics of why you should stretch to detailed workout guidelines for every style and level of martial arts practice.
Written by acclaimed author and martial artist Sang H. Kim, Ultimate Flexibility is your guide to achieving maximum flexibility in your training. Begin with an in depth look at the hows and whys of flexibility and stretching. Learn about the many types of stretching, which methods are best for beginners, when to graduate to advanced techniques and why you should completely avoid certain types of exercises. You'll also find information that you wont find in any other martial art book, including a detailed exploration of how your body works for or against you in your training and how flexibility can make you stronger and faster.
Building on this foundation, Sang H. Kim teaches you nearly 200 flexibility exercises that he has personally used to achieve the highest levels of flexibility. You'l get detailed instructions, workout planning guides, goal setting tips, difficulty levels, injury prevention and recovery, and over 400 photos to guide you. Special bonus sections: 10 Tips for Full Splits, 20 Tips for High Kicks and 10 workouts for specific martial art types.
Includes Exercises and Workouts for:
Core Workout
Warm Up
Cool Down
Light Contact
Full Contact
Grappling
Mixed Martial Arts
Boxing
Weapons
High Kicks
Splits

The Eat-Clean Diet Workout Journal

Tosca Reno

Amazon Price: $9.56
List Price: ~~$11.95~~
Usually ships in 24 hours
By: Robert Kennedy Publishing
Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $4.09

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Diets & Weight Loss -> Diets -> Healthy
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Exercise & Fitness -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Exercise & Fitness -> Stretching

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Okay but not necessary 3 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

This journal goes along with Tosca Reno's Eat-clean Diet Workout Book. However,it can be used to track any weight training progress. It does have some motivational sayings/info on the pages, but nothing that's not common knowledge. Basically there are two charts: one for weekly, monthly and long-term goals and one to list the exercises. On the exercise chart are spaces to list body part, exercise, and the weight/reps used for up to 5 sets. At the bottom of the page is a space to note cardio activity and general notes. Samples of each of the charts is in the author's Eat-clean Diet Workout book and can be reproduced from there. I gave it 3 stars because you have to write in the name of the each exercise and pound used each day. Also there is not any designated nutrition notes. This is surprising given Reno's emphasis on clean eating and frequent small meals. Other journals provide space for nutrition and weights used. Reno's book might work as a motivating tool if you like to have the matching set of books. Otherwise, keep a computer based journal or use a regular spiral notebook/steno pad to keep track of your progress.

Editorial Review:

In The Eat-Clean Diet Workout, Tosca Reno explains the importance of keeping a training journal: With a few simple flicks of the pages, I can see how I was training seven years ago or seven weeks ago. This is indispensable as a tool for success. The Eat-Clean Diet Workout Journal offers not only journal entry sheets, but also goal sheets to help you keep track of your short- and long-term goals, great photos, motivational quotes, and tips from Tosca. In addition there are anatomy charts and pages to record your weight and measurements to track your improvements.

The Slow Burn Fitness Revolution: The Slow Motion Exercise That Will Change Your Body in 30 Minutes a Week

Fredrick Hahn, Mary Dan Eades, Michael R. Eades

Amazon Price: $15.61
List Price: ~~$22.95~~
Usually ships in 24 hours
By: Broadway
Amazon Marketplace: 53 new & used starting at $11.45

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 93 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Better than Pilates for losing inches when incorporated into a more traditional workout schedule. 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

I have waited years to review this book: I bought it five years ago with "The Power of Ten" when I was a professional Pilates instructor. At the time, I was 33, and working as a Pilates teacher in the busiest Pilates studio in the city--of which I was the owner. I did this program for three months without following the dietary recommendations other than cutting out bread and pasta. Clients who hadn't seen me in a few months looked dumbstruck when they saw me: "WHAT are you doing? Your hips are gone!"

Some people are foodies: I'm an exercise-ie. I like trying new ways to work out, and one of the things that made me a good Pilates teacher is that I made a point of trying to figure out which exercises worked best for certain body types. One of my students who took from me for years came to me one day, and said, "I love this stuff for the meditation, but I've gone back to the gym. Heavy weight training is the only thing that makes me physically smaller."

I had a hard time believing her: weight training with light reps and little weight had always made me bulk up--one of the things I loved about Pilates is that it didn't make me bigger.

However, I was frustrated with the fact that although Pilates had done incredible things for my coordination, flexibility, strength and overall appearance, and it had made me lot thinner than I would be without it, I had never been able to make my legs much smaller. (Prussian ancestors. Enough said.)

So, I started reading about heavy weight lifting, including another book like this called the "Power of Ten". I chose the routine in this book over the "Power of Ten" because it seemed safer. The exercises in this book use a very limited range of motion--they specifically avoid challenging your balance or using your rotator cuff with your arms out to the side, movements which I had seen injure clients when done with a heavier weight, both in my own practice and from people who had shown up to my studio with black eyes. (Stability ball and heavy hand weights. Hmm...that will end well.)

Anyway, from following this program, I became the thinnest I have been in my adult life, with the exception of the years I went to strict Iyengar yoga classes three days a week. (I love yoga, but to really get the muscles activated you have to concentrate in ways that feel like work. Now that I work for a living, some weeks I'm not up for that.)

Aside from the fact that this takes less time and less mental effort than some other kinds of strength training, I never felt like I was about to get hurt while doing this routine. Traditional weight training programs use movements that might injure some people precisely because of the large range of motion required; the number of repetitions required by standard weight training can cause overuse injuries or injuries because of poor form when you have to do so many of them.

All in all, I highly recommend this workout. But, I disagree entirely with the idea that this is all you need. I found that I had much better results in terms of lack of pain and tightness when I did this workout and then did the Pilates matwork for thirty minutes afterward: we've all seen those guys at the gym who are bound up by their arm muscles. That's what happens when you use a muscle to the point that it has to repair and then don't re-set the resting muscle tone to its normal length--the muscle heals shorter. Not good.

Also, I found that it was really helpful to do a Pilates machine workout on the third day to work out the lactic acid and to remind myself not to start hunching over with my newfound, but still-not-entirely healed-and-slightly-painful strength.

Finally, you will have to do more exercise than this workout if you are expecting to lose fat: both authors are from cities where people walk. I think that fact causes an error in the thought process used by both authors to evaluate how exercise effects the human body; their test populations were doing this with another form of exercise before they started weight training. Furthermore, most of the people featured in both the "Power of Ten" and this book have active jobs like teaching and modeling. So, the experience of both authors had to be that doing just this workout once a week will make you thin--but, the results are actually from walking with this workout.

Truly, without some extra activity, it doesn't work: I found that when I stopped being a Pilates teacher and got a more sedentary job, this was not enough exercise to keep me from gaining weight, even though I was actively dieting. There is a, 'calories-in, calories-out' truthism here. Also, both human growth hormone and metabolism are stimulated by intermittent activity, which would require more than once a week exercise. (See the book, "The Spark." by Gaesser.)

In addition, you need to walk or run or jump or dance for other reasons--there is a lot of evidence that even very mild cardiovascular exercise improves brain function dramatically in a way that strength training does not. If part of your goal as you get older is to keep your marbles, weight training is not enough.

That's not to say you can do this and keep up a heavy workout schedule: it wouldn't work--it would just be overtraining. However, when combined with some kind of Pilates, yoga, or stretching, and even a little bit of walking, um, well, yeah, this is the magic bullet.

Editorial Review:

Join the Slow Burn Fitness Revolution!

In The Slow Burn Fitness Revolution, authors of the three-million-copy bestseller Protein Power team up with leading fitness expert Fred Hahn to revolutionize the way America gets strong, lean, and healthy. The Slow Burn Fitness Revolution lays out the accumulating body of scientific evidence that shows the spend-hours-in-the-gym approach to exercise is over. The Slow Burn exercise routine gives great results in just 30 minutes a week. With Slow Burn, you will:

*Get strong fast
*Increase bone density and ward off osteoporosis
*Improve cardiovascular health
*Enhance flexibility
*Say goodbye to lower back pain
*Increase your metabolism, and
*Make your body a powerful fat-burning machine

Slow Burn promises a leaner, fitter, stronger you with a realistic workout that lets you have a great body and a life!

The Whartons' Stretch Book

Jim Wharton, Phil Wharton

Amazon Price: $10.85
List Price: ~~$15.95~~
Usually ships in 24 hours
By: TimesBooks (Random House)
Amazon Marketplace: 70 new & used starting at $3.31

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

One of the dirty secrets of the fitness world is that for all the talk about the importance of stretching, many athletes and other fit people don't bother with it. It's hard to gauge the benefits, and it seems as if the time could be better spent running, lifting weights, or perfecting sports skills. This sentiment is expressed by Dr. Bob Arnot in the foreword to "The Whartons' Stretch Book," and he says that the Whartons changed his mind. He went to them with a stiffened hip that he thought needed surgery, but after a regimen using the active-isolated stretching technique, his flexibility in that hip had increased 40 percent.
Active-isolated stretching is very different from what your high-school gym teacher made you do. Rather than holding a stretch for a half-minute, you hold it for just two seconds. This prevents the muscle from activating an instinctual braking device to keep itself from overstretching. Traditional stretching forces that braking to occur, and the Whartons think that's not only counterproductive, but dangerous. If you force too deep a stretch while the muscle is doing all it can to keep itself from being stretched, something's got to give. And a torn muscle will repair itself with scar tissue, ultimately making that muscle less flexible.
The Whartons--a father-and-son personal-training team who've worked with many pro athletes and Olympic medalists--show you how to use their stretches to prepare for dozens of sports, from aerobics to wrestling. Nonathletes get an entire section of the book, which describes stretch routines to get your body feeling better after prolonged driving, sitting, standing, and word processing. The routines are a bit on the longish side--20 minutes or more--but it doesn't seem like much time when you think of how long you have to live in your body, and how much better it will feel if you keep it supple and flexible. --Lou Schuler

Relax into Stretch : Instant Flexibility Through Mastering Muscle Tension

Pavel Tsatsouline

Amazon Price: $23.07
List Price: ~~$34.95~~
Usually ships in 24 hours
By: Dragon Door Publications
Amazon Marketplace: 31 new & used starting at $20.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 38 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Regain the Buoyant Flexibility of a Young Child While Maximizing Your Power and Strength
"Conventional stretching attempts to literally elongate your tissues, which is dangerous and ineffective. Relax into Stretch simply teaches your muscles to relax into a stretch. If you compare traditional training to a messy hardware reorganization, then Relax into Stretch is an efficient software upgrade.
While stretching tissues may take years, changes in the nervous system are immediate! Your muscles will start noticeably elongating from your first Relax into Stretch practice—and within months you will have achieved a level of flexibility uncommon in our species."—Pavel Tsatsouline
—Own an illustrated guide to the thirty-six most effective techniques for super-flexibility
—How the secret of mastering your emotions can add immediate inches to your stretch
—How to wait out your tension—the surprising key to greater mobility and a better stretch
—How to fool your reflexes into giving you all the stretch you want
—Why contract-relax stretching is 267% more effective than conventional relaxed stretching
—How to breathe your way to greater flexibility
—Using the Russian technique of Forced Relaxation as your ultimate stretching weapon
—How to stretch when injured—faster, safer ways to heal
—Young, old, male, female—learn what stretches are best for you and what stretches to avoid
—Why excessive flexibility can be detrimental to athletic performance—and how to determine your real flexibility needs
—Plateau-busting strategies for the chronically inflexible

Page 1 of 23 - Go to page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 12

Stretching Books

Arnold G. Nelson, Jouko Kokkonen

Bob Anderson

Bob Cooley

Tosca Reno

Brad Walker

Sang H. Kim

Tosca Reno

Fredrick Hahn, Mary Dan Eades, Michael R. Eades

Jim Wharton, Phil Wharton

Pavel Tsatsouline