Powerful Full Body Stretching Routine in Under 10 Minutes (3 levels)
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- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
- Most of my students only spend a small amount of time training outside of classes- so a few years ago I set out to devise the fastest, most effective stretching routine possible. Something my students could do every day, and something I run them through in every class. No BS, based on research (mainly a 2018 meta analysis that looked at effectiveness of different types of stretching, and found that static passive stretching, despite all the flack it's gotten lately, actually produced the largest increases in range of motion).
Over time I've refined this stretching routine, significantly enough, and with so much more effect that I decided you guys needed an updated video about it: Powerful Scientific Stretching 2.0.
You can't use positions you don't have. And you can't strengthen range of motion that you can't access. Yet, you can be as flexible as you like, and still be a horrible mover. Hence, this routine is focused on increasing your accessible range of motion in all the most notable and utilitarian ways, without any of the fluff. Not one wasted second.
Yet, many of the most powerful exercises require a certain level of performance. You can actively work your hip mobility with gravity assistance while in the handstand for an incredible compounding of results (hip mobility, scapular stability, strength of the forearms, shoulders, and triceps, etc.), but good luck accessing it without having a handstand. Not just any handstand either, you need it good enough that you can focus your energy and attention on pulling your legs into position while balancing unconsciously.
Yet, I am well aware most of you aren't yet capable of this level of hand balancing. Therefore, we synthesized this routine into 3 levels for each stretch, so that you all should be able to find a variation that will be optimal for you at any level, on any of these exercises. Good for anyone with flexibility between the level of a contortionist and a grandpa ;).
Every exercise held for 45 seconds, then conjugated with its 10 second active mobility version, other than the bridge pushups, which should be done for 10 reps, with a 1 second hold at the top of each rep, and a 10 second hold at the top of the last rep. During the 45 second variations, remember to cycle between contractions of the muscles being stretched, the muscles that pull you into the stretch, holding the position (especially with a big inhale), and relaxing deeper into the position (especially with an exhale)- each for ~5 seconds.
Stretches involved:
Middle split
Horse Stance
Conjugate: side leg lift/ straddle headstand/straddle handstand
Pancake
Conjugate: straddle leg lifts (hands behind or in front), Straddle L sit (elevated), Straddle L sit (floor)
Pike stretch, Jefferson Curl
Conjugate: Leg lifts, (not shown but can do elevated L sit which is much preferable to leg lifts when possible), L sit, V sit
Couch stretch
Front Split
Conjugate: Leg lift (hip extension), split headstand, split handstand
Toe Stretch
Conjugate: Toe Lifts
Bridge pushups (isometric, middle, high), can also do feet elevated for those with good strength but poor hip mobility.
Conjugate: Superman, Mexican handstand (can do against a wall to start).
Perform this routine 1x/day, 6-7 days per week, and let me know how you do :).
Special thanks to my editor @EshaanDesigns and partner Susan Pi :).
I remember when we were training together, we would do these stretches every session and would continue to see progress even with the minimal effort. Keep spreading the good stuff my friend!
Thanks Bro :)
A real-time follow along workout of these with the appropriate time periods would be one of the top performing videos on this channel. Please consider posting one.
I hope people appreciate the immense amount of time you put into these edits!
Incredible.
Thanks Harvey! Yeah this one was a huge effort :).
I was just showing a friend this exact thing, he is investing his own time to save ours. This man is a treasure!
Brilliant editing
Thanks :). Credit to eshaan on this one, although I will take credit for some of the ideas here ;)
Loved the change on the direction of your voice when you change the inscription of the level of the movement. Love your work
Greatest thing I’ve ever watched to do with fitness on RUclips. Given I worked as an exercise scientist/ PT for 10 years, that’s saying something 🔥
This routine is fantastic and just what I was looking for. Thank you! 🙏🏾
As a eye doctor I will tell you that staying long in inversions will create risk of disease like glaucoma, central retinal vein occlusion , etc. please do not stay longer then 1 minute in inversion . Some predisposed people with small optic disks should not invert for time. Unfortunately you don’t know who those people are unless you have seen your eye doctor
Thanks for putting something like this together! It's so good to have someone finally understand that can't use positions/ranges of motion that you can't yet access, having a level for those of us who are still beginners and not super flexible is such a blessing.
This is great! I also really like the creative 10s active holds for each position. However, to make this better for following along, it would be great to have a timed 3-5s pause between each position, to allow viewers to switch positions, otherwise each position is held for less time than the timer. Also, the unilateral stretches could be shown on both sides. Thanks Bren!
Yeah! And do both sides for front split sequence!
This was the most I've ever learnt from a fitness video in a short time ! It was an enriching experience for me to work on this project with you !
Thanks Eshaan! It was a pleasure for me as well lol and as you can see from the comments people were really impressed with your editing skills. I'm still not sure how you hid the transitions between the different clones so well ;).
@@BrenTeachesMovement glad to see the lovely comments !
Thanks for making the video short, yet stacked with information! I'm certain your channel will explode in terms of subscribers sooner or later as you describe Ido's movement concepts (which are amazingly fruitful) in a much more understandable manner. Think there is a great public for such a crossover and I believe you'll find bigger audience than Ido himself.
Thank you for the really kind words Martin, really appreciated. And that is the goal ;).
Nice video man! Could you perhaps do a full video (with exact timing and such) on each of the 3 levels? 😅
I love the color coding and the video edit. The video also features Luna! :)
Great job Bren! :)
Thanks Sina! color coding was all Susans idea, and luna misses you :)
The three levels are very helpful! Shows that there are levels to this
This is superb
Love this style of video, been trying to get into movement but the whole thing has always been kind of closed... about time someone demystifies it
Thanks for such deep explanation! I started to look up information about Ido’s method of training bc can’t visit his school. And thanks god I found your channel 🙏🏻
Such a great side by side demonstration love it.
Thanks Sugar!
This video is goated. Thank you sir
Omg this is Soo good. Thx Bren!
Thanks Hazrif :)
This is amazing content and I dunno why your channel hasn't blown up by now. I've been following along with this video for a few days but had one question (if you're reading this): for the stuff like the couch stretch and front splits, isn't it necessary to do it twice, bringing each leg forward once?
Also, one small comment on the follow-along part: the video is paced so that there's no time to switch between movements...the stretch and conjugate are immediately after one another. Might've helped to add a couple of seconds in between!
Man I love your videos very much.
If you can make one on your approach to nutrition that can be cool too
Yes! This is on the list, and I'm excited to do it :). Probably will be a few months until I get to it though unfortunately
You re my roll model now!
Aww! Thanks :)
That was so sick!! Blown away, going to need to watch this multiple times to process everything.
Thanks Ray!
This is fantastic Bren. Thank you 🙏
Thank you!
Concise, content-rich, I needed someone to tell me to do the sofa stretch again.
Best of the best , even 2 years now i use it everyday for my mobility routines + i add some sun salutation 🦍
As someone quite genetically gifted in everything lower body flex ability has been a struggle. Idiopathic toe walking as a child has brought a stiffness in places that is very hard to get out combined with immense strength in other spots that people normally are not. This has improved movement and gait massively without compromising my strengths.
Absolutely awesome content! Thanks
Great videos! Would you or anyone who reads this recommend doing this daily?
Seriously appreciate the content u put out. Quality and knowledge level is insane and u seem like a really genuine person which makes watching these vids a real treat !! Thank u
I will try that for shure!
Let me know how it goes! :)
U r a legend for providing all this content for us. With your background you definitely have a unique twist on movement training. What would u do if u pulled an adductor tho? Something I'm doing is aggrevating mine what sort of exercises would be good for strengthening them. Cheers bren 😄👍
Thanks Chris! The horse stance in the beginning is a good start actually, and you could probably do this whole routine with good benefit for your rehab as well as your mobility, but I'll go over this stuff in detail in the rehab video coming soon.
@@BrenTeachesMovement cheers bren much appreciated
Bren !
love your videos !
you motivate and teach me a lot
wish to see you more active
thank you brother
Great content, man! I'm glad I've found your channel up here (I came up to it while researching Ido's stuff). Looking foward to the next 10 hour Q&A (maybe it doesn't need to be 10h🤣 ). Cheers from Brazil.
Also, a question: is it counterproductive to do this routine or other stretches while feeling sore (be it from strength training or just stretching)?
ahahah. It doesn't need to be 10hrs, but the next was 24 ahahah. We should be doing another big one soon btw, thanks for joining and keeping me company on the last one :)
@@pedroleal758 as far as soreness like muscular soreness (DOMS): No not at all- keep doing it, it'll be worse if you don't lol.
Got it! Thanks :)
And that's right, the 24h idea surprised me 😂😂
You made it 👏👏👏
This will be my new evening routine, great stuff :)
Great content!
Thanks - this stuff is gold!
Great routine! One question - in the pancake stretch, how or what are we contracting exactly? Thanks
I like the active (red) toe stretch!
You mentioned using a 2018 meta-analysis to build this stretch routine.
Do you mind sharing the source?
Thanks so much! Love the 3 level approach with colored pants. Perhaps one of the most effective ways of demonstrating progression I’ve seen!
thanks for making this stretching routine, im going to be doing it daily. why are there no upper body stretches?
Just found your channel. Great content! Thank you for sharing your knowledge :)
Thank you very much for all the work!
Thank you for your appreciation Wadim!
This is a great video, Thank you very much!
However, What is the place of a warm up before this routine? is it ok to immediately start an active side split, without any warm up? what about warming the scaps before going into bridge push ups?
Thanks again
when is the best time to stretch? can i do this cold? or do i need to break a sweat / do it post training?
Love this routine, Thank You for putting it together! Engaging the antagonizing muscle group to increase the stretch in addition to engaging the target muscle has been very helpful.
Question about your time under tension and breath patterns:
Are you using a specific breath pattern during your routine? For example: In 5, Hold 5 & Engage Target Muscle, Out 10 & Relax? I find that I hold each posture a few breaths longer than the timer when attempting to engage both muscle groups (feels great, btw, just curious about your breathing pattern).
Thanks a lot! Great Video & as always, I have learned something new 🙏
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it :)
I have one question: Should I warm up before doing this?
I tried this stretching routine for a few days and Ive noticed some progress but Ive also started to notice a bit of hip pain, not just during the workout but all day long. Am I doing somethig wrong? I would concider myself of an average flexibility concidering I can do almost all streches of the middle difficulty but I am very bad at pancake exercise. I cant reach even to the point where I would start to feel the muscles stretch. How could I improve this?
Thank you for the answers
Just did this, i feel loose. Thank you,
very nice video :D, but I noticed that there is no stretch for hip rotation, why is that the case?
Great video. I've been doing a stretching routine from gymnastic bodies for years and this is a highlight reel. Nice when I don't have 45 minutes
Awesome Benjamin!
I can see the effort you've put in to the editing. The sound effects are awesome. How do you integrate this with recovery? Is this generally more about increasing range of motion in key areas and then you have different routines for recovery?
Very good Video.
I will make quite few adjustments to my stretching routine after watching this.
Altho I am no certain, I wanted to ask why you let out some functions of the lower body?
For example hip internal as well as external rotation arent really addressed.
There are sources that state that those movements are better targeted with hamstring/ hip flexor/ adductor stretches and that internal/external rotation arent necessary to train directly but still.
I'd also say that the calves as well as the front side of the feet/tibialis weren't mentioned either altho I believe them to be necessary.
Great side-by-side skill level comparisons! Hope to be black/red pants one day
Thanks Louie! Do it everyday and It won't be as long as you think :)
Could you make a video regarding shoulder health? Perhaps ways to fix, prevent shoulders clicking, popping, snapping, and strengthening with mobility? If you could, it would help me a lot with those annoying noises in my right shoulder. Cheers!
yes indeed I could, but there are so many bigger conceptual things I want to get out there for you guys first that I think will be more useful before going into the rabbit hole of what things for what joints. That said, any of those clicking, popping, cracking noises you mentioned are actually not a problem at all and not associated with pain or degeneration at all. if the sounds come with pain then you need to address it, but again not because of the sounds but rather the pain.
That is a very interesting concept of stretching. I will give I a try… it totally makes sense. Much learned in a few minutes. Really awesome! I am totally „stiff“ when it comes to pancake stretch. Let’s see 🤙🏼
Is it more optimal to do this routine first thing in the morning or at the end of the day, closer to bedtime?
I'd like to know too plz !
Excellent video and fantastic choice of positions. Seems like very little is being left out.
I have learned a ton about stretching from Emmet Louis and it appears that many of the concepts he advocates are sprinkled through out your video.
I love to see similar information being relayed by the best in the industry :)
Do you change up this routine depending on what your current movement priorities are? Will you skip stretches if you are actively working the position in the days session (ie 1 arm handstand training that day)?
Thanks!
@Bren Veziroglu What do you think about performing this every morning and evening?
Excellent if you can handle the volume and want to make serious mobility gains. I would modify the pm routine though given 2x/day frequency
@@BrenTeachesMovement How would you modify it if you don't mind me asking?
If I do side splits for example, multiple sets allow me to get deeper into the stretch instead of only doing 1 set like you show, would your way be better as it trains us go get deeper daily while cold and not warmed up?
No twists?
For the front split do you think it will cause a inguinal hernia. When I was doing it I felt pressure in that area like the fascia was ready to rip
Standing Pike is easy for me. I haven't done it in ages though because I've heard it's bad for the back. What's your opinion on this?
Beautiful
My hips are grateful
Thank you for great video, this will help me return to normal posture and flexibility since my work is 8+ hours of sitting and I became golum :D
Great
How many times per week should we do this?
5-7!
can anyone tell me what the music is?
question: when ido portal does the middle splits he never turns his toes out, he keeps them facing forward. I noticed in your advanced version you turned your toes out. just curious, why do you do this?
Human anatomy of the hip. HIp extension also rotates femurs outwards, which means if you are doing middle split and want to activate glutes as he did there you must have toes turned out. So, toes forward = different pelvis orientation.
@@lightsw0rd u sur?
Different kind of stretch. But if you just start or have a weak knee you should do this version.
@@moredatesmorefiber3526 I am sure as I can be from the knowledge I have. Look up following things: hip q angle, muscles of the hip which muscles are responsible for which movement, hip muscles activation regarding foot position…
@@lightsw0rd This isn't quite accurate.
yeah but why all of these stretches though?
I don’t think i gained anything watching this ? Do i hit everything with these ? Why choose these stretches over other stretches
I don’t get it
Bren can you make a Video about your top 10 Books
What a wonderful idea Tobias! I’d love to do that. Who else would like to see this?
So funny I notice my toe stiffness when I pray in the kneeling position , and thus only started with not stretching after my long hikes.
how interesting.
Thank u love u
damn this is great
I need a 4th level to the right :)
for which movements do you feel this?
@@BrenTeachesMovement Thanks for replying. I got to front split, but especially the first few, so horse stance, standing hip abduction, pancake, straddle leg lift, were very difficult.
Any reason for using couch stretch over diagonal stretch?
Great question bob! Yes, a few, but the main reason is that honestly I’ve noticed it works better for my students to perform in a short amount of time and make more progress in terms of flexibility/mobility. I can go into the others later if you want- just remind me
Hi,
First time doing this…I’m supposed to feel better after that?
Because it’s really not the case 😂
Take care.
Those horse stances are not for the faint-hearted..
Ahahah. You know how it is 👊
should I do this before or after my other training? interspersed throughout the day whenever I have time?
depends on the training, but I usually like to do it before.