Essential Stretching exercises?

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Pugilistic

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I found out not that long ago but that certain parts of my body was getting tightened up because of lifting and it is likely the cause of my light injuries that occur once in a while. As I'm not a physical therapist, I don't know exactly what parts of my body need the most stretching. So I just been doing pretty much every stretching exercise I can find, but I don't know if I need all of it (or if some of them might be doing more harm than good).

For example, I saw an Athlean X video saying that if you have a anterior pelvic tilt (which I have), it's not a good idea to stretch your hamstrings much, but you should stretch your rectus femoris (I think that's what he said). I've been having some hip issues so I've been trying to do hip stretches.

For people who do mostly compound lifts (squat, dead lift, bench, overhead press) what are the most essential stretches? Or is this completely a case by case basis?
 
Pugilistic said:
I found out not that long ago but that certain parts of my body was getting tightened up because of lifting and it is likely the cause of my light injuries that occur once in a while. As I'm not a physical therapist, I don't know exactly what parts of my body need the most stretching. So I just been doing pretty much every stretching exercise I can find, but I don't know if I need all of it (or if some of them might be doing more harm than good).

For example, I saw an Athlean X video saying that if you have a anterior pelvic tilt (which I have), it's not a good idea to stretch your hamstrings much, but you should stretch your rectus femoris (I think that's what he said). I've been having some hip issues so I've been trying to do hip stretches.

For people who do mostly compound lifts (squat, dead lift, bench, overhead press) what are the most essential stretches? Or is this completely a case by case basis?
Click to expand...
It's completely case by case, however, we can generalize a little bit.

Stretching and foam rolling is only a small piece of the equation. Most mobility deficiencies come from poor movement and poor core/ pelvic control. Stretching will only take you so far, you need to learn how to move your body better. Stretching without quality movement under load will give you very limited results.

My best advice to you would be to find your biggest mobility weaknesses and work on them via a combination of foam rolling, stretching, and dynamic movement.

So for instance, if you have "tight" hips:

~ Foam roll your hip flexors and glutes for a few minutes
~ Stretch those areas for a few minutes (Lunge Stretch, Tactical Frog, Figure Four Stretch etc.)
~ Do some slow controlled Goblet Squats for a couple sets to "activate" your core and focus on the specific movement pattern.

This formula could be used for just about any mobility or flexibility issue that you have.
 
Not "stretching" per say, but I was struggling with IT band issues for about 2 years.

After some research, I began doing side leg lifts before every workout (lay on your side, keep your leg straight and raise it). At first it burned so bad that I was maxed out at about 10 reps. I kept at it, and within a couple of weeks I was up to 50 reps.

In that span of time, my IT band issues completely disappeared. After 2 years of near constant pain, I became a believer and I continue to use the leg lifts as part of my regular warmup. I couldn't argue with those results.
 
Dream Evil said:
Not "stretching" per say, but I was struggling with IT band issues for about 2 years.

After some research, I began doing side leg lifts before every workout (lay on your side, keep your leg straight and raise it). At first it burned so bad that I was maxed out at about 10 reps. I kept at it, and within a couple of weeks I was up to 50 reps.

In that span of time, my IT band issues completely disappeared. After 2 years of near constant pain, I became a believer and I continue to use the leg lifts as part of my regular warmup. I couldn't argue with those results.
Click to expand...

That's really interesting. I have some muscles/movements that just immediately cramp up or burn when I attempt to use them. Might be similar to the problem you had? For me it's some movements in the ankle, quad or hip. What exactly is this? Weakness? Tightness? It will go away if I just start to make these movements regularly?

With regards to essential stretches, I feel like the couch stretch is in every routine I've ever seen recommended. And the spiderman stretch seems to make a lot of sense to maintain your squat range of motion.
 
Left Hook Lacy said:
That's really interesting. I have some muscles/movements that just immediately cramp up or burn when I attempt to use them. Might be similar to the problem you had? For me it's some movements in the ankle, quad or hip. What exactly is this? Weakness? Tightness? It will go away if I just start to make these movements regularly?
Click to expand...

Yup, that's exactly what I had with the leg raises. My hip would cramp and burn so badly that I needed a break by 10 reps.

I kept working on it every day (sometimes 2 or 3 times per day), and the improvements came fast. And with that improvement my knee pain went away. I don't understand the science, but the results were undeniable.
 
Best thing I have found for mobility improvements has been banded activation. Clamshells, side steps, in and out's, monster walks. SHoulders you can use bands as well or something like crossover symmetry. I do very little foam rolling anymore...
 
I have some knee issues as well. I need to start doing those leg raises!
 
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