Real Detroit Muscle

Stretching- From Top to Bottom

We have all heard conflicting messages through the media and other sources that we should
stretch, that we shouldn’t stretch, stretch before a workout, wait until afterwards….. It’s tough
to know WHAT to do! It’s simple. Before a workout, perform a set of exercises that limber you
up and get your heart prepared for the bout ahead. These stretches are called “active stretches”
that activate your musculature. AFTER the workout, perform either PNF (a type of resisted
stretch) or passive stretches.

The following stretches are provided as a guide to stretching basic musculature from your neck
to your calves. After a hard workout, many of us feel stiff and sluggish. By stretching, this
primer will assist you in regaining supple musculature for your next workout.

The Neck
Most people when they “tweek” their neck have pulled one of a small pair of muscles called the
levator scapulae. They assist in drawing the shoulder blade up toward the neck.
Unfortunately, due to every day stresses and overuse, poor posture, muscular imbalance, etc
etc, the muscles weaken and become more prone to strain. The following stretch will help with
posture and alleviating the pain of a pull in this muscle.

Take a seat on a hard surface (like a bench). If the pull is on the right side, sit on the right side
of the bench. Sit up nice a tall. Grab the edge of the seat with your right hand, drawing your
right shoulder down away from your earlobe. Turn your chin toward your left shoulder and
tuck it into your left clavicle. Then take your left hand and put it over the top of your head and
place it on the back/right side where your skull protrudes. Pull your chin into your clavicle
lightly; about 1 lb of pressure, and hold for 5- 10 seconds. Repeat 3-5 times.
The Chest & Shoulder Girdle
Having a chronically tight chest can wreak havoc on your body. Your shoulders slouch
forward,, your head falls forward, and your neck tend to go unto a stage of chronic spasm and
tightness trying to draw your skull back over your shoulders. While you can stretch your
chest on a wall, most people just end up stretching their shoulders. A better stretch is to do this
laying down on a bench.

This passive stretch is most productive using a pair of tiny weights (i.e. 1-2 lbs) With weights in
hand, lay down with shoulders depressed (down from your earlobes) and palms UP. Find that
balance point above your neck where you’ll start to feel a stretch to the center of your rib cage/
sternum. Stretch for 1 minute. After doing palms up, put your thumbs up like Fonzie toward
the ceiling. Let that drop for one minute. Finally, go thumbs down. You’ll feel this into your
biceps tendons. Hold for, you guessed it, one minute. Now go through the entire cycle again.

The Back – Lats

Your lats, latisimus dorsi, originate along the spine and insert near the tops of your arms. Your
lats can get pretty sore/ tight after doing some of those rows and pullups. By stretching out of
your lats you’ll improve posture, relieve pressure on your upper and lower back, and help flush
out some of those kinks!

Start by kneeling on a mat with your knees spread. Maintaining a face down stance, walk you
left hand to the right and walk it out as far as possible. Once you get as far as possible, draw
your elbow down to the ground and hold for 3-5 seconds. Alternate by going to the left and
holding. Perform this 3-5 times each side. You might notice one side is tighter than the other.
That’s normal because we all have imbalances of flexibility and strength. This will draw your
body back into alignment.

Triceps
After a hard up body workout doing overhead presses and pushups try doing this stretch for
your triceps.

Stand right up against a wall with an arm stretched overhead. With your arm stretched out,
drop your hand behind your head with your head looking forward. You might feel a stretch at
that point, but for further stretching, draw that hand further down using your opposing hand.

Forearms
Quite a few people come to workouts with weak grip strength and chronic tightness in their
wrists/ forearms. After doing a few sets of pushups and kettlebell snatch, they might feel a bit
of discomfort. Try performing these stretches.
Using a wall, extend your arm from the shoulder socket as far as possible. Now make a “stop”
symbol with your hand. Now lean into the wall without letting fingers splay out. As your
flexors stretch, move your hand down. To stretch your extensors, located on top of your
forearm, turn your hand downward. Press the top of your hand against the wall. Depending
on cause of your extensor/ flexor tightness, you might feel tension closer to the elbow or hand.
If it’s really tight, well, you’ll feel it all the way down. By keeping your forearms loose, you’ll
increase circulation, nervous function, and stave off problems like tendonitis, and carpal tunnel
syndrome.

Abs
This one is simple. If your abs, or rectus abdominis, is sore, simply lay on the ground and,
while looking at the ceiling, push your upper torso off the ground and keep your keeps down.
Hold this stretch for 20-30 seconds and repeat 3 times.

IT Bands (Iliotibial Bands)

Your IT Bands originate above your gluts AND right next to your hip flexors and insert just past
your knees. Runners tend to get really tight IT Bands, but if your perform any type of repeated
activity, your IT Bands might tighten up. Here are a couple ways to get that fascia broken up
and loosened.

A) If you run your palm down the side of your leg, it might feel as though your IT Band is
lumpy, for lack of a better word. That’s because you have knots along the lateral portion of
your quadriceps and the IT Band over top has pockets of metabolic biproducts . To get rid of
those knots, try myofascial release, or rolling.
Using a roller before or after boot camp, lay laterally over top of a foam roller with your
opposing foot placed near the top of your thigh. Use your opposing foot to roll the outer
portion of your thigh over top of the roller.

B) Laying on your back, using a band or noosed rope around one foot, extend your foot
upward until the knee is locked then drop the leg over the opposing leg. You’ll feel tension in
your IT Band. Now sweep the leg down until both heels are on the ground.

Glutes-
Your butt. It’s a strong group of muscles and you use it for darn near everything. After doing
lunges, squats, jumpies, etc. your butt is going to be sore. Try the way of stretching:
Either lay on your back or sit on a bench. Draw your knee up to your chest and, using your
opposite arm draw your knee to your opposing armpit. Hold the stretch for 20-30 seconds. It’s
a simple stretch, but effective.

Hamstring Complex
The hamstrings tend to get sore and tight after perform ballistic sprint-type motion and pulling
exercises such as different type of deadlifts. This key portion of the posterior chain helps keep
the pelvis in line and protects the back. If the hamstrings get tight, then the hips move out of
alignment and put more load on the low spine. If you need to stretch your hamstrings, try this
one.

Lay on your back with a band or noosed rope. Pull the band, bending your knee, then extend
your leg straight up until you feel a pulling on your hamstring. After achieving a nice stretch
using that band/rope, drive the heel of that stretched leg down to the ground using your
hamstring and glut. Repeat this motion 10-15 times each side.
Quads- Quadriceps & Hip Flexors
While people complain about hamstring tension being a cause of low back pain, science is
showing that chronically tight hip flexors cause substantially more low back issues as they
originate at the low spine and insert near the top of the thighs. The strength of the hip flexors
also make them incredibly stubborn. To stretch the hip flexors, perform the following:

Lay down on a hard surfaced bench to prevent the hips from tilting. In other words, use your
abs to press your low back into the bench. Now draw both knees your chest and wrap both
arms behind one knee. Pull that knee to your chest to assist in keeping the low back pressed
down. Now allow the other leg to drop. Keep your knee in toward midline while allowing
your hip flexor to slowly release. Since this muscle is so stubborn, allow for it to release for
1+minutes. Repeat 2 times each side.

After stretching the hip flexors, lay face down on the ground and, using a band or noosed rope,
wrap the band/ rope around your ankle and extend your hands with the rope overhead. Try to
keep the hips down while performing this function. Since the quads are a complex of four
muscles, you can extend your hands overhead to left and right to stretch the muscles in
different ways. Hold each stretch for 20-30 seconds and repeat 3-4 times.
Tibialis Anterior- Shin Muscle
If you are not used to running, have built up intensity/ duration too quickly, then you might
have really tight TA’s. To stretch these out, try the following:

Stand against a wall for stability and act like you’re dragging the top of your foot on the ground
without the movement. This will alleviate the problem if that’s all it is. If the problem is shin
splints, then you must stop running and heavy pounding and ice massage the affected area
along the shins. Recovery is typically 4-6 weeks and you don’t want to go back at it to soon
because it may progress to stress fractures.

Calves- Soleus & Gastrocnemius

Going from TA to the calves, it’s important to understand the link between the two. If you have
a problem with your shins, it is important to understand that, if your calves are tight, it puts
your shin muscle (TA) in the position of working that much harder to lift the foot, and
subsequently causing the muscle to fatigue that much faster. To put yourself in a better
position, make to sure stretch if you sit for long durations, wear high heels regularly, or have
pulmonary issues. The stretches are as follows:
The soleus is the “ball of muscle” located outside of the gastrocnemius closest to the knee. To
stretch both muscles lean into a wall with the stretching calve in back. Make sure the back foot
is straight and the knee is straight. Another way of stretching deeper is to place the stretching
foot against a stair or some other elevated surface while both feet are side by side. By driving
the heel into the ground with the toes propped up, the gastroc muscle will get a bit more of a
stretch. Lastly, if the Achilles tendon (that group of tendons that connects the soleus to the heel
of your foot) is tight, then perform the first stretch against a wall with a split stance. But instead
of keeping a straight leg in back, bend the knee while attempting to keep the heel down.