Iliotibial band stretch 2 (Imax2)

[HollyCat]

Hi Cathe and Everyone!

First I want to say that I've done all the new Intensity Series workouts except for Muscle Endurance and wanted to commend Cathe and the crew for really outdoing themselves and helping me to push my fitness regime to the next level! I love ALL the workouts so far, enjoy the new music, and enjoy the innovative stability ball segments.

My question relates to one of the stretches at the end of Imax 2. There is a stretch where you put one leg behind the other, foot at an angle, and stretch one arm up toward the ceiling. Cathe says it stretches the iliotibial band, but which leg are you supposed to feel it in? Front or back? I do not feel the stretch in my legs at all. Is there any sort of modification to this stretch that would help me feel it?

Thanks for your input!

Holly

 

[betsylz]

Holly-I think you're suppose to feel it in the leg that is behind the other one, but, like you, I don't really feel it. Maybe it's a subtle thing. I will be interested in Cathe's response too.

 

[TarHeelMom]

Holly,

I haven't done ME yet (it's on the schedule for Monday), but I thought you might like to see another ITB stretch or two that I learned in physical therapy a while back. My physical therapist had me do these ITB stretches three or four times a week. Do this with warm muscles, needless to say.

1 --- Stand straight upright with your feet crossed at the ankle, one foot planted beside the other close together, toes pointing forward. Bend forward and down, hinging from the hip joint, back as straight as possible, toward your toes. Push your tailbone toward the ceiling as you bend forward to increase the stretch. Keep your knees as straight as possible without locking the knees (and bend them a bit if necessary). Important -- Don't let your hips jut out to the left or right as you bend forward -- try to keep your hip alignment squared forward and in a straight line up from your legs. At the farthest comfortable reach whether that's your shins, ankles, shoes, toes, etc., hang on and relax and breathe into the stretch for several seconds. You should feel a good stretch not only in the hams but also in the ITB of the REAR leg. Straighten up, relax and then repeat a few times.

2 --- Lie down on your side on a table or bench or your step (elevated more than 2 risers). A bed will work but will sag a little, making your form less than ideal. Keeping your hips as stacked as possible, drop your top leg OFF the edge of the table or bench and relax into the stretch, letting your foot just dangle naturally. This is a gentle stretch for the ITB of the TOP leg. As you feel the flexibility increasing you can do this stretch with an ankle weight to add "pull" to the stretch, but be careful about adding this weight and do it very gradually. Hold the stretch, relaxing and breathing into it for several seconds. Bring the leg up, relax and then repeat a few times.

Keeping the ITB stretched is important and is often overlooked. Just like having your quad heads unevenly developed, a tight ITB can dramatically affect how correctly your kneecap tracks, and we all know most women have kneecap tracking problems of one degree or another. I speak from experience here!

Hope this helps!

 

[Lisatv]

Here's another one, for those of you who aren't feeling it when standing.

1. Lie flat on your back on the floor.
2. Bring your right leg up in the air, holding the foot with a belt (of any kind) for a nice ham stretch.
3. Holding both ends of the belt with your left hand, bring your right leg across your body, over to the left side of you (go ahead and roll on the outside of your left hip but do NOT let either shoulder come off the floor), trying to lower it to the floor as well as raise it up high toward your left shoulder.

Repeat on the other side. I like bringing my leg up for the ham stretch, then out to the right for an inner thigh stretch, then across to the left for an itb stretch.



Lisa

 

[HollyCat]

Thank you for the suggestions! I will give those stretches a try.

Holly