I talk about Contracted Stretching all the time.
Then occasionally I remember that most normal people have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about.
So let’s fix that.
First, it has nothing to do with stretchy resistance bands.
We’ve sometimes called it resistance stretching, which immediately makes people picture somebody standing around with a giant rubber band.
Nope.
The resistance comes from you.
You’re Stretching a Muscle While It’s Working
That’s the basic idea.
Instead of completely relaxing a muscle and having somebody push you farther into a stretch, you actively contract that muscle while it’s lengthening.
That changes the whole experience.
You’re not simply trying to become more flexible.
You’re asking the muscle to be strong while it’s getting longer.
That’s one of the reasons Peggy and I became fascinated with this work nearly 20 years ago.
This Didn’t Start With Us
I want to make that clear.
In 2007, Peggy and I discovered a form of resistance stretching called Ki-Hara.
We didn’t watch three YouTube videos and decide we were experts. 😂
We spent about 18 months training intensively in the system, including five trips to Miami, and both eventually became Ki-Hara Master Trainers.
What we learned changed our bodies and eventually changed our lives.
I was pretty beat up from years of sports injuries and was facing several recommended surgeries. Peggy had her own collection of problems.
The changes we experienced through this work were dramatic enough that we wanted to understand it, practice it and eventually share it with other people.
That training became one of the foundations of RiversZen.
Then We Spent Years Working With Real Bodies
And that’s where things got interesting.
Since opening RiversZen in 2012, Peggy and I have used this kind of work in thousands of sessions and classes.
Over time, what we do naturally evolved.
Some things came directly from our Ki-Hara training. Some came from yoga, movement and other things we’ve studied. And a tremendous amount came from putting our hands on actual people and paying attention to what happened.
Because bodies don’t read instruction manuals.
We’ve worked with athletes who wanted more performance and people in their 80s who simply wanted to move through their day more comfortably.
Same basic principles.
Completely different people.
That’s why today I usually call what we do RiversZen Contracted Stretching.
It grew from an important foundation, but after nearly two decades of using it, experimenting with it and adapting it, it has become our own way of working.
Strength and Flexibility Don’t Have to Be Opposites
This may be my favorite thing about Contracted Stretching.
People often think of strength and flexibility as two separate jobs.
Lift weights to get strong.
Stretch to get flexible.
Contracted Stretching messes with that distinction.
The muscle is working while it’s lengthening.
So rather than chasing flexibility just for the sake of getting farther into a stretch, we’re interested in strength and control through a useful range of motion.
That makes a lot more sense to me.
I don’t particularly care whether you can put your foot behind your head.
Actually, at this point I’m not entirely sure why you’d want to. 😂
I care whether your body gives you enough strength, mobility and confidence to do the things you want to do.
Is It Magic?
No.
And I probably wouldn’t have said that quite so plainly 15 years ago.
I was pretty damn excited about what we were seeing.
I’m still excited about it.
We’ve watched people make changes that surprised us. Peggy and I experienced some pretty remarkable changes ourselves.
But I’ve also learned something after thousands of hours of doing this:
There isn’t one technique that fixes everybody.
Contracted Stretching is a tool.
A very useful one, in my experience.
Sometimes it’s exactly what somebody needs. Sometimes we combine it with strength work, balance, Qigong, yoga, Pilates or something else entirely.
We pay attention to the person in front of us.
That’s more important than being loyal to a technique.
Can You Do It Yourself?
Absolutely.
We use Contracted Stretching in our classes all the time.
The trick isn’t simply to push harder into a stretch. In fact, that’s pretty much the opposite of what I want you doing.
You’re learning how to create the contraction, control the movement and pay attention to what your body is telling you.
Start gently.
More is not automatically better.
That’s another lesson I’ve learned the long way around.
Want to Experience It With Us?
Contracted Stretching is woven throughout many of our RiversZen classes along with strength, mobility, balance, Qigong, yoga and Pilates.
You don’t need to know how to do it before you arrive.
That’s what we’re there for.
You can join our real classes live online from anywhere, or practice whenever you want with the on-demand library.
Explore RiversZen Online →https://www.riverszen.com/online
And if you’ve been wondering what the hell I mean every time I say “contract the muscle”...
Now you know.
Mostly. 😂