Relax Into Stretch (Book)

Source: My personal notes from book by: Tsatsouline, Pavel. Relax into Stretch: Instant Flexibility Through Mastering Muscle Tension. Dragon Door Publications, 2001. Paperback. Relax into stretch : instant flexibility through mastering muscle tension : Tsatsouline, Pavel : Internet Archive

Waiting out the Tension

Get in a comfortably stretched position and patiently stay in it for a few minutes until your muscles relax.

• Increase the stretch. Your muscles will tighten up again. One more time, wait the tension out. Breathe deep and easy. Repeat until you are close to getting spasms.
• You may massage the stretched muscles and/or gently ‘twitch’ them once in a while to help the relaxation process and ease the discomfort.
• The technique of Waiting out the Tension works well only in select stretches that are comfortable enough to stay in for a long time.
• Never use the Waiting out the Tension for forward spine flexion or toe touching type stretches
• Don’t get eager and start forcing the muscle into more stretch.
• Never stretch when you are in a hurry
• Don’t apply the Waiting out the Tension technique to your back.

Relaxation

Focus your intentions on the relaxation of your muscles and mind.

• Appropriate visualizations, for example heat, help relaxation.
• Anxiety and pain reduce flexibility. Reduce them by progressing at a comfortable pace and maximizing the safety of your stretches.
• Consider taking up meditation, the Jacobson’s Progressive Relaxation Technique, or some other relaxation technique from sports psychology and Oriental self-improvement disciplines. The vibration and passive movement drills from Fast & Loose! are awesome.
• Control muscular tension in the face and hands because it reflects overall tension. Literally ‘wipe’ the tension off your face with your palms, slowly and firmly, from top to bottom.

Contrast Breathing

Inhale maximally and tighten up your entire body, especially the muscles you are about to stretch. Think of your body as a fist. Literally making a fist will help.

• Pay attention not to decrease the amount of stretch when you are tightening up!
• Hold your breath—and tension—for a second or so, then suddenly let it all out with a sigh of relief. Let your jaw and shoulders go limp with the rest of your body. Let your fists and face play dead. Turn your whole body into ‘a mentally relaxed fist’.
• The stretch will increase as the involved body parts drop down when the tension is released. Don’t let them drop more than an inch or so at a time, to make your stretches safer.
• With the exception of the forward bending backstretches, you may stay in the relaxed position for awhile before the next contraction.
• Keep repeating the sequence until you can no longer increase your range of motion.
• Don’t hyperventilate, or take in too much air. Compensate for deep breaths by breathing less frequently; hold the ‘no-breath’ for a couple of seconds following each exhalation.
• You can expand your understanding of the pneumo-muscular reflex and the effect of breathing on muscle tension by reading Power to the People!: Russian Strength Secrets for Every American.
• Hold your breath—and tension—for a second or so, then suddenly let it all out with a sigh of relief. Let your jaw and shoulders go limp with the rest of your body . Let your fists and face play dead. Turn your whole body into what Soviet psychologist Dr. Vladimir Levi called ‘a mentally relaxed fist’.

Isometrics

To develop strength-flexibility with isometrics, stretch as far as you can, then flex the stretched muscle. Sounds just like isometric stretching, doesn’t it?

Forced Relaxation

Stretch as far as comfortably possible and contract the muscles you are about to stretch with one to two thirds of your maximum effort.

• Tension should increase gradually and reach its peak by the third or fourth second. Don’t contract the stretched muscles explosively!
• Hold steady, unwavering tension. If you were holding a real weight with the target muscle, the weight would stay put rather than bob up and down.
• Don’t hold your breath, breathe shallow.
• Hold the tension until it becomes unbearable, then release it with a sigh of relief— don’t let the breath get ‘caught’ in your chest as is common for a very stressed out person; let go! —and immediately increase the stretch.
• Understand that ‘immediately’ means ‘without delay’ rather than ‘with quick movement’!
• The duration of the contraction may vary from five seconds to five minutes. Find your sweet spot through trial and error. Start with thirty to sixty second contractions.
• If you have the mental fortitude, keep the tension until your muscles start quivering and finally collapse in exhaustion, unable to contract any longer .
• Use your head (duh!)

Avoid Ligament Stretching

How can you tell if you are stretching a ligament?

If you feel discomfort or pain in the joint, you are probably doing it. For example, your hamstrings meet their tendons a few inches above your knees. If you feel a pull in the back of your knee during a hamstring stretch, obviously you are loading the ligaments and joint capsules rather than stretching your hammies.

The solution is to bend the knee slightly to unload the ligaments and refocus the stretch on the area between your glutes and a hand’s width above your knees.

Stretching Schedule

• 2 days / week isometrics, 2 sets per stretch
• 4 days / week relax into stretches
• Isometrics can substitute for warmup. Only do isometrics if you don’t need coordination for sport later in the day.
• Sequencing:
  • Decompress spine before hip flexors stretching
  • Stretch groin after hip flexors