22 yo goalie and questions about stretching

[abo9]

Hi all! I hope someone can help me a little here. So as the title indicates I'm 22 and have played goalie since I was 10 in organized leagues (but non-competitive). Recently I felt really stiff and decided to take a break for my body and legs especially (I played 1 full calendar year + 4 months straight without break between 1 and 4 times a week)

However I never really had to stretch as a kid, not that I was really flexible but I was never taught the importance of it. I've tried to begin some stretching but got really scared. You know the stretch when your sitting, extand a leg and try to reach your foot? I have difficulty setting my foot straight up (it leans on the side, straightening up is super tight and already a stretch). I know I did this stretch for fun a year or 2 ago maybe and I was almost able to touch my foot, now I can barely get into position...


Did anyone get that stiff can give me some pointers on how/where to begin with stretching? I want to do it regularly now to stay healthy but the basic stretches I knew are suuuuper hard right now and I;m not sure they do any good at the moment :S

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[puckpilot]

First, I'm going to say, I'm no expert, but it sounds like you may have tight hips. Hockey players are known to develop tight hips because of all the squatting and stuff like that.

I learned the importance of stretching a few years ago, when I got a pinched nerve in my shoulder, because I was shooting too many pucks. My muscles tightened up in my shoulder and was crushing on a nerve, so it was pain city for like three months. Went to physio, and learned how valuable a nice stretch was.

Below are some videos of some of my favorite stretches for my hips and lower body. I can't stress enough to take it slow and be careful. The quickest way to injury is if you to force the stretch. A proper stretch is about putting yourself at the limit of your flexibility and going a tiny bit more. And once you're there, the most important thing is to relax and take deep breaths. Eventually, as you stretch more, you'll get to a point where the muscle will just release. It kind of feels like the air being let out of a balloon. It's one of the best feelings ever. But it may take time for you to get there. I find that watching tv while I stretch helps me relax.

Part of stretching is you're re-calibrating your nervous system. Right now, your body thinks that going beyond a certain point in your range of motion will result in injury, so it stops you a that spot. If you force your muscle too far beyond that point, your nervous system will try to protect your muscle by spasming, contracting your muscle back into a safe position. This can result in not just one spasm, but a bunch of them, hence why people get painful muscle spasms.

There are plenty of more videos on youtube, and I'd suggest googling up stretching techinque. Usually, if I have a tightness, I use google to figure out what muscle(s) it could be and then I look up stretches for those specific muscles and areas. I found it helpful in building up an understanding of what muscles I needed to keep on top of, and it allowed me to build up a collection of goto stretches that I can perform on a regular basis.

Any way, I hope this was helpful.

 

[varano]

I highly recommend you go on maria mountains youtube channel. She will teach you everything you need to answer this.

 

[abo9]

First, I'm going to say, I'm no expert, but it sounds like you may have tight hips. Hockey players are known to develop tight hips because of all the squatting and stuff like that.

I learned the importance of stretching a few years ago, when I got a pinched nerve in my shoulder, because I was shooting too many pucks. My muscles tightened up in my shoulder and was crushing on a nerve, so it was pain city for like three months. Went to physio, and learned how valuable a nice stretch was.

Below are some videos of some of my favorite stretches for my hips and lower body. I can't stress enough to take it slow and be careful. The quickest way to injury is if you to force the stretch. A proper stretch is about putting yourself at the limit of your flexibility and going a tiny bit more. And once you're there, the most important thing is to relax and take deep breaths. Eventually, as you stretch more, you'll get to a point where the muscle will just release. It kind of feels like the air being let out of a balloon. It's one of the best feelings ever. But it may take time for you to get there. I find that watching tv while I stretch helps me relax.

Part of stretching is you're re-calibrating your nervous system. Right now, your body thinks that going beyond a certain point in your range of motion will result in injury, so it stops you a that spot. If you force your muscle too far beyond that point, your nervous system will try to protect your muscle by spasming, contracting your muscle back into a safe position. This can result in not just one spasm, but a bunch of them, hence why people get painful muscle spasms.

There are plenty of more videos on youtube, and I'd suggest googling up stretching techinque. Usually, if I have a tightness, I use google to figure out what muscle(s) it could be and then I look up stretches for those specific muscles and areas. I found it helpful in building up an understanding of what muscles I needed to keep on top of, and it allowed me to build up a collection of goto stretches that I can perform on a regular basis.

Any way, I hope this was helpful.

Thanks a lot for the detailed answer and the example videos! Sorry for the late reply I tought I would get notified if answered.

I continued doing some stretches but those will add diversity and target other muscles !

 

[abo9]

I highly recommend you go on maria mountains youtube channel. She will teach you everything you need to answer this.

Thanks it looks like quite the complete package!