Stretching. A thread about (or in search of) stretches.

Complete Conditioning for Swimming, by David Salo and Scott Riewald. Book and DVD. I like it. Includes some pylometrics, although doesn't call them such. Uses some equipment for the conditioning (bands, medicine balls). Lots of bridges and such, which may be more strength. Stretching, by Bob Anderson. I like it. Uses body weight and environmental props (broom, filing cabinet, chair, doorway). Quazillion copies in print. Read FAF AFAP Leslie "The Fortress" Livingston's blog, do what she does. Try a step class. That was really good for the legs and improved balance quickly. Mountain climbing - hiking and backpacking - will also do wonders. The best for posture and leg stuff for me was figure skating. Gradually, I stood up straight. :)

Complete Conditioning for Swimming, by David Salo and Scott Riewald. Book and DVD. I like it. Includes some pylometrics, although doesn't call them such. Uses some equipment for the conditioning (bands, medicine balls). Lots of bridges and such, which may be more strength. Stretching, by Bob Anderson. I like it. Uses body weight and environmental props (broom, filing cabinet, chair, doorway). Quazillion copies in print. Read FAF AFAP Leslie "The Fortress" Livingston's blog, do what she does. Try a step class. That was really good for the legs and improved balance quickly. Mountain climbing - hiking and backpacking - will also do wonders. The best for posture and leg stuff for me was figure skating. Gradually, I stood up straight. :) I have a stretching routine that I borrowed from Salo's Complete Conditioning For Swimmers that I do daily. It is really some basic stretching with a mix of core work. I feel great after I'm done and my flexibility has greatly improved.

Another thing you may want to think about in terms of an imbalance is to make sure that when you work a muscle group that you also work the "opposite" muscles. This is part of my problem and it was addressed in PT I had for my shoulder. In addition to stretching muscles in the front, I had to strengthen muscles in the back. Something to think about . . .

Complete Conditioning for Swimming, by David Salo and Scott Riewald. Book and DVD. I like it. Seconded. Very useful. Remember to stretch after your workout. It's not a good idea to stretch muscles that aren't warmed up. Also, stretching during your workout (after warmup) will help get better results from your strength training. But the best thing you can do for your posture is to strengthen your back, especially shoulder blades. Doing that will actually pull your neck up and your shoulders back. Worked wonders for me, anyway. ETA: "Thirded", I reckon.

Courborous, you have bad posture. Do you know how to stand up straight? Sit up straight? You are not be getting shorter because you are becoming more muscular. Your legs are sore from muscle damage. Stretching will not help with this. Try the foam roller. You already know all about it. Your posture is affected by lack of flexibility in the muscles. Forward slumping shoulders is an imbalance between the chest and the back. Surprising that the chest would pull the shoulders forward when we use the back so much to swim, but we use the back to pull the arm down the body, and the chest hold the arms in front of the body. The shoulders are never back. Start stretching today, it won't hurt your training. Everything should be done without too much force. There was a study I read recently that found 30 seconds a day was enough to increase flexibility, per stretch. 10 seconds was too little and, I don't remember the high test case, but it didn't improve any more than the 30 second group. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds. Warm up the muscle before stretching. If you are stretching first thing in the morning, jog in place, do jumping jacks, something to get warm. Right after working out, you should already be warm and you can stretch. Apparently dynamic stretching fell out of favor last week on Wednesday at 6:32 pm Mountain time. Stretching rules seem very trendy to me. Chest: Door way stretch - hold your hands up, your elbows at shoulder height and try to press your way through the door way. Back: Broomstick twist; hang from pull up bars with a shoulder width hand grip; roll yourself into a tight ball, head tucked to your chest with your arms pulling your legs tightly into you. Triceps: USAS does recommend this stretch anymore, but I don't know anything else that stretches the tris better. Put your hand on your shoulder (same side), and pull your elbow straight up. Quads: Grab your toes and pull your foot to you butt. This stretch has gone in and out of "approval" about 8 billion times. Hamstrings: Touch your toes; Put one foot up on a chair and touch your toes with the opposite hand; There are a million stretches for hamstrings that all do the same thing. Pick one. Groin: Side lunge Calf stretch: One foot in front of the other pressing/holding the back heel to the ground as you lean forward; one foot in front of the other, press the knee forward while holding the heel to the ground Ankle stretch. Sit on your heels. If that is easy, elevate your toes and sit on your heels. That should get you started. If you have time for yoga, that by itself would be enough. I was never more flexible than when I was doing yoga once a day, but I have no idea if it helps swimming, swimming and regular yoga never overlapped for me.

I notice some stretches feel good and others just don't feel right (like those in the artcle for stetches not to do), I only do the ones that feel good. Usually my neck and trapezius fatigues but it's difficult finding the perfect stretch for it.

I found a thread on tritalk (a great triathlete forum). The guy who did the reasearch seemed to do a great job. That's the site below. www.tritalk.co.uk/.../viewtopic.php I also found a article that shows what kinds of stretches not to do. The guy who did the research works with USA Swimming, the LPGA, and USA Figure Skating. www.usaswimming.org/.../Shoulder Stretching Literature Review 090907.pdf

I also found a article that shows what kinds of stretches not to do. The guy who did the research works with USA Swimming, the LPGA, and USA Figure Skating. www.usaswimming.org/.../Shoulder Stretching Literature Review 090907.pdf This link appears to be broken. Can anyone point me to one that works?