Fitness Stretching

I believe that a good stretch routine is as important as your cardio, abs, lower body and weight programs. While stretching alone won't give you the same benefits of cardio and exercise, it complements these activities and enhances their good effect on your body. It feels good and it relaxes your muscles before and after your day's activities. I've been using this book for several years. I bought it when I needed a guide to safe alternative stretches for hamstrings, quads and calves while recovering from a back injury that limited standing. I was, and still am, very happy with the presentation of the many variations offered for safe stretches for every part of the body and have built an entire head-to-toe stretch program from the illustrated poses in this book, including it as an essential part of my daily workout routine. For variety or to meet travel limitations, different stretches for the same muscles can just be plugged into the routine as needed. One thing I love about the book is the chapter on stretching habits to AVOID, like the hurdler's stretch and the neck roll. I remember some 1970's yoga and exercise classes that used those same harmful stretches and am glad to see them identified, and safe alternatives given for them. Fitness Stretching will teach you to stretch safely and with great results and you will feel terrific afterward!

IMHO, this book bests Stretching, 20th edition, by Anderson. for the info it provides regarding the circumstances of stretching, info which doesn't appear in Stretching. Also, unlike Anderson's book, the authors aren't trying to sell you equipment. The bibliography and index indicate that this book is a professional work. GUYS, do not be put off by the fact that all of the drawings are of a woman. It is worth the price.

This book is really good for someone who is new to putting stretching into thier routine. The book is about 200 pages. The first 30 pages talks all about stretching, the benefits, the different kinds of stretching etc. This part of the book is excellent and I would buy it just for that because it had a lot of good information. (I exercise a lot but didn't know too much about stretching). I like the way this section is written, its talks scientifically but explains everything in layman's terms so the average person can understand. The next 45 pages are the actual stretches. I think they're okay. I would have been happier if they showed more variations. They seemed kind of simplistic. However, the benefit of this is they all looked very safe, which is important. Minimum stress on the knees for example. Good for people starting out or are injured or older. I was looking for something a little more challenging and more variety. Anyway, a very few of the stretches didn't have illustrations which I thought was strange- did they forget? Overall, there are stretches for every part of the body. The last 100 pages is devoted to specialty stretches, different stretch routines for ALL different kinds of sports, as detailed as windsurfing, stretches using special equipment like a pole or ball, recommended stretches for morning and evening and that kind of thing.

Not only is this book a great reference (they show you how to do over 100 stretches, then group them by sport for easy reference) it is also entertaining and easy to read. I recommend it highly, even for someone who knows how to stretch. With so many stretches shown, I'm sure there's something new in there for everyone.

This book really envelops the need to strech so that through excercise we can all develop lean lond muscles and feel better. this book was very descriptive of a variety of stretching styles.