Stretch #1
What:
Hang from a pull up bar.
Why:
- To stretch the muscle groups that attach your arms to your torso, mainly the pecs, lats, and even the biceps and triceps.
- To force thoracic extension, (the opposite of a hunched back).
- To become familiar with a good overhead position. A dead hang places your arms in the equivalent of a (proper) overhead press finish position.
- To decompress your spine. All daily tasks apply a compressive force to the spine (walking, standing, sitting, etc.) Getting off the ground and onto a bar allows the spine to lengthen.
- In summary, this is a good stretch to develop and maintain good posture.
How:
Reach or jump up to a pull up bar. With your arms completely locked out, allow your shoulder joints to fully relax. You should feel them slightly separate from your torso. Make sure your torso remains upright. Make sure your ribcage is pulled down and your chest is facing forward (not at all toward the ceiling). Experiment with leaning and rotating your body to feel the stretch in different areas. Also experiment with different grips.
Stretch #2
What:
Sit in a deep squat.
Why:
- To stretch the hips, quads, hamstrings, and calves.
- To improve hip, knee, and ankle range of motion.
- To become familiar with a rock bottom squat.
- In summary, this is a good stretch to develop and maintain a healthy lower body. This is also a great drill to learn to squat correctly
How:
Find an upright to hold onto. Stand with your feet somewhat narrower than your normal squat stance. Don't just squat your way down, pull yourself toward the ground into a full squat. If you only rely on your squat to sit you down, you won't be deep enough. You need to pull yourself deeper. As deep as you can possibly go. Once you are as deep as you can be, push your knees out using your elbows. Try to keep your chest up as best as you can. Keep pushing your knees out while simultaneously pulling your hips toward the ground. Experiment with tipping from side to side, and leaning forward and backward to feel different types of stretches throughout the hips and ankles.
What Else?
Include these in your warm up however you want. You can even warm up pretty well by doing only these two stretches together. Try going back and forth between the two in this fashion...
:30 hang
:30 squat
:20 hang
:20 squat
:10 hang
:10 squat
Good to go.