How long do you spend stretching daily?

[Ice-Dancer]

Just curious how long other dancers spend stretching daily, how many times a day, and what kinds of stretches you do.

I need to building a stretching routine and am needing some ideas. Thanks!

[Victoria Leigh]

Ice-Dancer, you need to post this kind of question on a technique forum, not Cross Talk. I moved another you made yesterday, I think, to the Adult Students Forum. I really think you will get a lot more help and information there, so I moved this one too.

[LaFilleSylphide]

Not enough time, I'd say, but now that I've just finished a huge non dance related project, I suddenly find myself with time on my hands. I've been stretching about 20 minutes every other day to maintain what little flexibility I still have, and I have a rigorous 1 hr. massage once a week where my therapist manipulates my legs and body into stretch positions.

 

I think I'll start upping my stretch time to 20 minutes daily plus however long I need at barre now that I'm capable.

[Claude_Catastrophique]

I stretch up to one hour. When I had class and I come back home pretty warm (I have to drive like 5 minutes from the balletschool to my home), I stretch about half an hour but then I do extreme things like splits and leg holds, penché with therabands and so on.

If not, I warm up by rolling first on a foamroller and then doing variouse exercises like push up, sit ups and leg exercises (mostly some abs which include hip flexors and legs), backward sit ups and so on. Then I strech small muscles groups like pirifromis, calves and such, moving on and arriving by the end with splits etc.

 

Usually I stretch in the evening in front of TV. When I have classes in the morning, I try to arrive half an hour earlier and I do some warm-ups which includes gentle stretching.

[pink_Chiffon]

One hour. Usually before bed while checking emails or watching tv.

 

I use my foam roller in the morning for a quick massage and after class.

[Guest Pas de Quoi]

On days I don't take class but just teach, I do a stretch and strength session that usually lasts 60 minutes. On days I dance, I stretch 30 minutes before class and again at night another 30 minutes or so and also do some strength work (arms, core, back, etc.)

 

There is never any day I don't stretch at all.

[Ice-Dancer]

Ice-Dancer, you need to post this kind of question on a technique forum, not Cross Talk. I moved another you made yesterday, I think, to the Adult Students Forum. I really think you will get a lot more help and information there, so I moved this one too.

My apologies Victoria Leigh! I figured this was a topic relevant to all dancers and not just adults, so I thought Cross Talk was appropriate. I will keep this in mind!

 

Thanks everyone else for the input! Very helpful!

[LaFilleSylphide]

Ha ha, I'm laughing because everyone here is super dedicated and I'm so lazy. I need to work on discipline, seriously - as for tv time stretching, I tend to drift off and stop stretching because I'm one of those head tilt-hanging open mouth tv watchers.

[Claude_Catastrophique]

Then you have to position your tv in a way that you can hang into a stretch and watch at the same time ;-)

[Garyecht]

I guess I stretch almost every day, though most of it is integrated with other things rather than done as a strictly dedicated stretching time. Once a week I do a short hour stretch session before a modern class. I've done that for years, so it's both a habit and part of my rigid personality. In my older age, I'm doing fewer classes and more at home work. The at home work always includes stretching throughout what I am doing.

 

When I first began dancing I stretched because I was major league inflexible. Now I stretch in a more "dancerly" way, thinking of lengthening and creating oppositional forces. Despite all the stretching, I remain the most inflexible dancer I know. I've come to just accept that.

 

I'm doing a couple of new stretching things. Though not a big TV watcher, when I do watch TV, I'm forcing myself to sit on the floor for a minimum of 30 minutes. I've also gone back to doing some yoga, as much for physical therapy than anything else. My spine is a total mess--a little arthritis, compressed disks, slight bulging of disks, non-alignment of the bones, thickening of fluid in the disks, all part of something called multilevel degeneration or better said "Gary, you're an old man." Hoping the yoga will help that a little.