Customer Reviews

Stretching: 20th Anniversary Edition

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It's a good routine to do, not only at home but also in the office. Stretching can be very helpful to do before starting your hectic schedule.
The book is user-friendly, informative, and simple. Just by doing stretching, it can help you feel relaxed, fresh, and happy.
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While doing PT for a knee injury I got this book. When my therapist saw it she asked me to get her a copy too. She said it is a great book and her old copy is wearing out - plus this one has a bunch of new stretches in it. Fabulous book for learning to safely keep limber and reverse some of the aspects of aging joints.

While doing PT for a knee injury I got this book. When my therapist saw it she asked me to get her a copy too. She said it is a great book and her old copy is wearing out - plus this one has a bunch of new stretches in it. Fabulous book for learning to safely keep limber and reverse some of the aspects of aging joints.

Excellent content. Many stretches, reasonably well-organized, and displayed using simple diagrams.

What I don't like- There are many effective stretches that aren't included. Especially: Isometric Stretching is not mentioned. Isometric stretching is considered (at least by the author of "Warrior Speed") to be by far the most effective way to increase your flexibility. It seems kind of ridiculous to me that it isn't covered in this book.

Overall its a great book, although you'll find plenty of info elsewhere that is not covered by this book. (Therefore it shouldn't be considered a *complete* guide to stretching IMHO.) A large section of this book is dedicated to sports-specific stretches, but you'll probably find this section almost useless compared to other books specific to your sport of choice.

This book has simple and easy to understand stretches that get the job done. I make copies of pages to give to my friends, and recommend the book to them.

A basic reference book of stretching exercises used to stretch different body-areas before and after sports and/or daily activities. The pictures are very well-done and are especially descriptive with arrows illustrating clearly the correct movement when doing the stretch. My favorite 2 pages in the book are "Everyday Stretches" used for 10-15 min per day to fine-tune your muscles and reduce stress. These daily exercises are clearly outlined with pictures and can easily be completed once a day even with a busy lifestyle!

I was not that impressed by this book. The book is overrated; it needs a lot of improvement. I got nowhere with it.

I got this book soon after it first came out and I got nowhere with it. The book uses static stretches. Static stretching has since been shown to actually tighten muscles - in fact, worse than ballistic stretching. And you should never stretch before an activity beyond a few dynamic stretches.

The stretches in this book hurt my muscles and definitely lowered my performance in sports. I kept on doing the stretches anyway because it seemed like it should work. I regret that.

I would recommend a different technique over simple static stretching - either active isolated stretching or relax-contract stretching for real results.

"Stretching" is a fantastic book that will meet the needs of just about everyone - from the desk worker who wants to get a bit more blood flow to the cranium, to the sports and exercise enthusiast who participates in a wide variety of activities. Perhaps the only audience the book would miss is the hard-core athlete or sports physiologist.

The book begins with a down-to-earth introduction and then spends a good amount of time on dozens and dozens of different stretches. These are broken down by what part of the body is getting the benefit of the stretch, such as legs, hips, wrists, etc. These exercises are then combined into 18 various "every day" stretching routines, such as a morning or evening routine, desk stretches, stretches to help lower back tension, etc. Following this are 35 routines for various sports activities. Each stretch is clearly illustrated with an illustration, and each routine has a summary that shows miniature illustrations for the exercises in the routine. This is a great book, and will give you some good ideas for different stretches.

I was given this book 20 years ago, used it and then lost track of it. I was happy to find it in a new edition. I use many of the daily stretches in place of or as a supplement to my yoga. I go to the back stretches whenever I have back pain and find them extremely helpful in both alleviating pain and strengthening my muscles. I also find the way the book is organized, particularly the diagram of muscle/ pain points with page numbers, easy to use. I have given this to friends who don't exercise alot and they also find the book clear and easy to use.