TOTUM TIPS
THREE DYNAMIC CORE STRETCHES Totum’s training director sheds some light on the gentle art of being flexible.
Kornacki
Chris Kornacki uses a simple test to determine your range of mobility. He asks you to move into a deep squat while holding a bar overhead. This shows him your ankle, hip as well as upper back and shoulder mobility. “Less than one in ten people I ask to do that can do it without much trouble,” says the Personal Training Director for Totum Life Science’s King Street West location. This, he says, is just a fact of our desk-jockeying ways, and if we want to improve our flexibility beyond our ability to sit and stand, we should look to stretching. But don’t start static stretching (i.e., from a resting position) just yet, advises Kornacki, a former gymnastics coach with certifications in strength training and fascial stretch therapy.
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“If you are looking to stretch as a means of increasing flexibility, you can do static stretches anytime up to six hours after a workout,” he says, adding that studies have found the optimal time is actually before you go to bed. But static stretching, that is the deep-feeling, stretch-and-hold positions, should not be done before your workout. It could even have a negative affect on muscle performance, he says advising instead to focus on dynamic warm ups like leg swings and shoulder circles to get the fluids working through your joints. Or use this set of three dynamic core stretches. “Think of them as a series of movements rather than stretches,” says Kornacki, adding that these can be done at the start of a workout to warm up your core muscles. Do them one after the other on one side and then switch and repeat on the other side. – Yvan Marston
HIP FLEXORS 1. Start in the lunge position with your right leg back, chest up and right hip forward.
2. Bring your right arm up, right hips forward and bend over your left side, arching back slightly.
3. Rotate your chest upwards, turning your palm up. Then move into the Glutes stretch.
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GLUTES 1. From the hip flexor position, bring your right leg forward and sit on your right side with one leg bent in front of the other. Put your hands on the floor in front of you to support your torso.
2. Now bend your arms to bring your body toward the floor and move side to side.
3. And come back up into the start position. 1
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LATS 1. From the Glutes position, roll to your right side and drop onto your right arm.
2. Reach your left arm overhead and rotate your chest up. 3. Reach your hand outward, turning your palm up.
For more videos on stretching, to read the Wellness Blog or to sign up for a FREE week at Totum Life Science on King Street West, visit Totum.ca
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