This is another site I found ages ago that I liked.
It's listed in the useful stickys post #1 - but I'd like to add it onto this thread also.

http://www.bodymindresources.com/Class1/Class1lab.htm

Here's the main page for all info/overview-
http://www.bodymindresources.com/

Thanks for all the above info

Interesting interview with Scott Sonnon
 

http://physicalliving.com/exclusive-...hed=1&ids=2953
I thought this interview was really interesting. He talks about a lot of things that I've never heard before. It's pretty long but the part where he's talks about joint mobility starts 24 minutes into it.

Not today
 

One of these days I'm hoping to do some posts on how much I've improved from stretching, but not today. I overdid some new stretches yesterday and my shoulders are tight and hands are swollen. Unfortunately, that's how it's been from the start of my stretching journey. There's many ups and downs, it's not a steady uphill climb.

Most of last year I felt worse. It wasn't until the last couple months that I've started to see some big improvements in some areas. I'm constantly playing around feeling for tight areas and figuring ways to stretch them. It's usually when I try something new that I flare up but that's how I learn. There's no way around that, that I know of. It takes so much patience and persistence and can be very frustrating and discouraging at times.

It's really true though, we each have to more or less experiment for ourselves to see what will work for us.

And to find our limits as to what is a little bit too much, then you go back a step and then go forward with a smaller increase. Baby steps are about the best way for us to go forward.

I still will overdo once in awhile, especially if I've lapsed on my stretches like I have this long winter.:(

Still having some cool weather here and it's just hard to get myself moving to loosen up in the mornings...and I can really feel the difference when we have a warm day vs a chilly day.

If you guys only knew how many wrong keys I hit ...LOL
thank you to Firefox for the built in spell check:D

Bodybuilding
 

I don't know if anyone listened to that interview with Scott Sonnon that I posted here but he mentions how bad bodybuilding is for you. Unfortunately, I did a lot of that in my younger days and I think it's caused a lot of my problems. It compresses your joints and it can cause nerve impingement, rounded shoulders, and many other problems. He's a coach for many types of athletes and he says," Bodybuilding is as close to death as you can come while remaining animate". That's an exact quote from that interview.:eek: If you're someone that does any weightlifting you may want to listen to it.

Surgery side vs. non surgery side
 

Since I had surgery 20 years ago(scalenectomy) on my right side it's always been worse and more painful than the non surgery side. However, lately I've been noticing that the two sides are getting more evenly matched. In fact, during this last flare up that I've had there's been more pain in the nonsurgical arm than the surgical one. Also, I've noticed that I now have better flexibility on the surgical side than the nonsurgical side. So what does this mean? Could it be possible that the surgery I had 20 years ago did me some good but I just never had the proper therapy to release all the adhesions? I did work that way for more than 10 years before I was ever diagnosed with TOS and had the surgery. I don't know but this is getting pretty interesting. I just plan to keep on stretching and see what happens.

Fruit and vegetable smoothies
 

Sharon butler recommends that you drink a lot of water when stretching to relieve repetitive strain injuries. I've also read studies where people who eat alot of raw fruits and vegetables tend to be more flexible and pain free, so I've combined these ideas and started drinking a lot of fruit and vegetable smoothies. I've been doing this every day since last Christmas when I got a blender.

I start out by putting about 2 cups of water in the blender and then adding raw spinach, coleslaw mix, baby carrots, bananas, apples, oranges, frozen berries, frozen peaches, frozen pineapple, and sometimes a little bit of yogurt. I don't put all that in at once, usually 4 or 5 different things. The frozen stuff is nice because it's already cleaned and cut up and it doesn't spoil. If you put enough fruit in there these things actually taste pretty good.

I try to drink at least two of these a day. Do I think it helps any? It's hard to say but I figure all the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and enzymes aren't going to hurt any.

ive sworn off stretching but that sideways roll looks very tempting

antioxidants have definitely helped me
and just moving in general

Bruising or discoloration from stretching?
 

I noticed yesterday that I have some bruising and discoloration on the outside of my right knee. It's kind of where the lower leg muscles tie into the outside of the knee. I have been doing a lot of stretching for my legs and and that spot has been a tight, painful area for many years. It doesn't hurt so I'm thinking that I must have released some adhesions or scar tissue in that spot, which would be a good thing, I think. Has anyone else ever noticed bruising after stretching?