{"id":308,"date":"2011-10-21T21:38:04","date_gmt":"2011-10-21T21:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?p=308"},"modified":"2025-07-22T11:08:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T10:08:38","slug":"stretching-is-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?p=308","title":{"rendered":"Stretching is great :)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week has been my first full week back doing full-on cardio classes at the gym. As many of you will know I don’t just teach Pilates… currently I teach 8 Pilates classes and then I have a back to back Step Aerobics followed by Spin session on a Tuesday and a Step followed by a Body Conditioning class on a Thursday. I love teaching these classes but they can be quite tiring so I’m trying to look after myself in between classes with good nutrition, plenty of hydration and hopefully some sleep! Having a baby means I have to dash back from classes as quickly as possible, jump in the shower and quickly feed her so she can get to sleep. What I noticed today was due to the rush home I hadn’t stretched fully and suddenly had tight, tight hamstrings…. ouch.<\/p>\n

Tight hamstrings can affect your posture, your movement, stop you using your abdominals correctly and lead to tight back muscles. If you usually have tight hamstrings it lead to a tucked under pelvis as part of the hamstrings function is to keep the pelvis aligned. When muscles are tight, they are weak. This means they can’t hold the pelvis in position properly \ud83d\ude41 So you end up with a tilted pelvis, you can’t use your core muscles properly and your body compensates, meaning it all comes out of line and you get backache.<\/p>\n

Hoe do you know if your hamstrings are tight? Good question. According to these guys\u00a0http:\/\/www.sportsinjuryclinic.net\/cybertherapist\/back\/hamstrings\/tighthams\/hastringstretches.php\u00a0you should be able to lie down, with one leg extended on the mat and the other leg in the air, foot towards ceiling, this leg should go to 80-90 degrees comfortably. Give it a go. Is your leg staying down on the mat? Check your spine, are you still in neutral? If the answer is No, you need to take the raised leg further away from the body and do some hamstring stretches.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So tonight at the end of Pilates we stretched out using resistance bands. It felt good. After everyone had gone I went back in the studio and had a good long stretch using a band….oh my, that was needed \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

If like me you rush around and sometimes, (well actually in my case often) forget to devote proper time to stretching try and build some in this weekend. Be it in front of the TV, whilst out in the garden or whilst waiting for your roast dinner to cook…your body will thank you for it!<\/p>\n

Let me know how it goes…comment below or send me a tweet (@dietitianuk).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week has been my first full week back doing full-on cardio classes at the gym. As many of you …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[18,46,47,75,94,99,106,107],"class_list":["post-308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exercises","tag-baby","tag-hampshire","tag-hamstrings-tight","tag-pilates","tag-southampton","tag-stretching","tag-tucked-pelvis","tag-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/hamstring-stretch.jpg?fit=500%2C308&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3FIsx-4Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1723,"url":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?p=1723","url_meta":{"origin":308,"position":0},"title":"The plague of tight hamstrings","author":"Priya Tew","date":"8 November, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Following on from our last post (where I discovered how tight my husbands hamstrings are) and a few enquiries this week.... I bring you the plague of most of the men who come to our classes and also quite a few women! So what is going on and why does\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Back pain"","block_context":{"text":"Back pain","link":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hamstring Stretch","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/IMG_2721-224x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1128,"url":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?p=1128","url_meta":{"origin":308,"position":1},"title":"Stretch those Hamstrings to help your back.","author":"Priya Tew","date":"18 November, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking around classes there are a fair few people who look like they have tight hamstrings so here are some tips on how to improve your flexibility in that area. Why? Because tight hamstrings can lead to lower back pain! So get stretching if this applies to you. How to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Back pain"","block_context":{"text":"Back pain","link":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hamstring Stretch","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/IMG_2721-224x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2053,"url":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?p=2053","url_meta":{"origin":308,"position":2},"title":"Why can’t I do a roll up? PART 2. Hip Flexors and Hamstrings.","author":"Priya Tew","date":"6 December, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The hip flexors include the deep muscle called the Psoas. This runs from the middle of your spine to inside the top of your thigh bone. It helps pull the spine up towards your legs. The other hip flexors are the ones you can feel in the front at then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Core"","block_context":{"text":"Core","link":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?cat=964"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/TpFx3-SBvPk\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1424,"url":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?p=1424","url_meta":{"origin":308,"position":3},"title":"Pilates to Detox","author":"Priya Tew","date":"1 January, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0It's that time of year when people have over eaten, drunk too much and not been as active as they usually are. Plus there are still a pile of treats hanging around tempting you. I know as there are choccies and cake in my house looking at me. \u00a0Detox is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exercises"","block_context":{"text":"Exercises","link":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Detox-with-Pilates.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Detox-with-Pilates.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Detox-with-Pilates.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Detox-with-Pilates.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1889,"url":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?p=1889","url_meta":{"origin":308,"position":4},"title":"A Man’s Pilates Journey and a Challenge for you.","author":"Priya Tew","date":"14 March, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a while since my last Blog. I\u00a0am still regularly attending classes, and loving it. ;-) The only week I have missed, was when I was in Spain for a family holiday...the commitment is paying off. I am starting to see the benefits. I look forward to Wednesday evenings.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Back pain"","block_context":{"text":"Back pain","link":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hamstring Stretch","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/IMG_2721-224x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":768,"url":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?p=768","url_meta":{"origin":308,"position":5},"title":"Pilates makes you taller!","author":"Priya Tew","date":"5 August, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've had a couple of people mention to me lately that since starting Pilates they have grown from 1cm to 1.5 inches taller. Initially I laughed at this, but then I happened to re-height myself and guess what? I've grown too, one whole centimetre. It got me thinking. What's this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Classes"","block_context":{"text":"Classes","link":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/unnamed.jpg?fit=220%2C220&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=308"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3732,"href":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions\/3732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}