Flexibility Books

I ordered a couple of his books and while one may be interesting they are kind of redundant. If ordering just try one first.

Get in shape for ski season with this guide to stretching. These easy exercises work well as a morning wake-up call.

This is a good book - a relatively inexpensive book to help know how to get in shape for skiing season. I also purchased Fitskiing (hardback) which is more exhaustive (and was more what I was looking for), but this book is worth the cost.

I'm a personal trainer working in a New York City gym and when a client of mine wanted some exercises for his favorite sport, I did a search and found this book. It has been excellent. All I needed to tailor a program for him, and even exercises he can do on the mountain in full gear. Clear, honest and effective. I highly recommend it.

It is well established that stretching improves agility and quickness of skiers. Resistance exercises strengthen the muscles, but they also shorten them. Stretching makes muscles longer again. This leads to flexibility (greater range of motion in the joints) which allows to get the most out of your training program and helps to ski longer, in better control, with less fatigue. Many books in the past emphasized primarily physical training during off-season period. In the last few years, flexibility and stretches got increasingly large attention. This book is entirely focused on stretches. It contains a well-illustrated 10-20 minute warm-up and stretching routine, and several additional excersises to improve balance. The exercises are very easy, and can be done, e.g., in the morning before work. They help to wake up and to feel better. Additionally, there is a section on warm-up and stretches recommended for the slopes before skiing (partly with the skis on), and a few exercises on skis to improve balance.

The authors emphasize that it is important to do these stretches every day since the result will be nil if you do them irregularly. However, it is not quite clear what kind of progress you can expect if you do them every day. While I appreciate the importance of stretches, I strongly suspect that the result may be rather insignificant if you do these routines every day, but nothing besides them. Stretches obviously work best when they are combined with more vigorous exercise program, such as strength training or aerobics. It is a pity that this book includes very few of those - if it did, it could be an indispensable source for pre-season conditioning. The good part, however, that practically all suggested exercises can be done at home on the floor or standing against the wall, with the equipment which can be purchased at a local harware store, or with no equipment at all.

The subtitle of the book (see the bottom of the book cover) is misleading as it says "flexibility, fitness, and conditioning for better skiing". Flexibility is definitely there, and is very well written; fitness and conditioning - sorry, guys, I did not see much of it in the book. Four stars.

I was not pleased with this book.

For one thing, all the "stretches" shown are basic yoga postures like cobra, cat's breath and downward dog.

Yet I would have given it 2-3 stars for the exercises, if it wasn't for
the introduction and one specific exercise.

So, we learn that "less is more" and that "each stretch works best if done briefly, literally for 2 seconds" and that "overextension actually shortens the muscle"...

I'm all for someone writing out of personal experience, but the author might have checked clinical resources before stating her opinion as fact.

But what REALLY got me thinking was an exercise (not yoga) she calls "cracking your back" in which she encourages people to "crack" their spine by twisting it left to right in order to release tension(?!).

Cracking your spine (or knuckles or ANY body part for that matter) wears away the joint's cartilage and is VERY bad for you.
I am amazed that a person who "has been practicing and writing about bodywork for more than 30 years..." is unaware of that.

Anne Kent Rush offers a way to approach stretching that is simple, safe, and remarkably effective.

I have practiced various mind-body disciplines for over 40 years (17 years of yoga and 25 years of tai chi). Using the Rush Release my range of motion has increased, and I feel stronger and more integrated.

Ms Rush presents more than a technique to get extra range of motion. It's a new and unique way to ease your body into optimal functioning. I have applied it to a variety of exercises with excellent results. I highly recommend this book.

I thought this was a wonderful book. I really enjoyed her innovative way of stretching, also the meditations. I'm in better physical, and mental health since I've started using the stretches and meditations for each chakra.

Though I have studied Kriya and Hatha yoga with some benefit, I've found that stretching can cause injury when done improperly and most seem to stretch improperly.

Anne Kent Rush introduces in this book a simple but powerful technique (which she calls the "Rush Reverse") to help one find more flexibility in a safer more comfortable way.

The technique can be applied to almost any movement. It deserves study and consideration by anyone serious about keeping the body flexible and healthy.

You'll also find simple but powerful ideas and exercises concerning meditation and mind-body connection.

Ms Rush's experience with over 30 years of writing about health comes through in this book which presents powerful techniques in a simple-to-understand format.

This book is well laid-out, done in a easy to refer to day-by-day format, designed for those of us with both time & fitness challenges. A good motivator, too, since - really - who doesn't have 15 minutes a day they can direct towards a little preventative "healthcare" when its all therefor you?

I am a working mother of two preschoolers, and I was gaining weight because I could no longer manage to fit my 1 1/2 hour gym workouts into my schedule. I bought a treadmill a few months ago (with a lot of help from treadmilldoctor.com) and I still couldn't fit in the 45 minutes I felt I needed to use it - maybe 3 or 4 times a week - to replicate at least part of my gym workouts of yesteryear.

I will admit what appealed to me about this book is the 15 minute concept. Yes, I'm busy, but can I spare 15 minutes? I must be able to. Plus, the book doesn't give me that cop-out of "I'm too tired this morning. I'll do this after work," which then never happens. The 15 minutes are in the morning, and 15 minutes is not really all that much earlier to get up, so psychologically, I can handle it without too many excuses.

After using this plan, I have found the following:
1) I am able to stick to it
2) I am more energetic during the day after a morning workout
3) I'm seeing my body come back

As a bonus, I find I'm often motivated to go a little longer on the cardio in because, really, the first 15 minutes are the hardest. If I tell myself I'm just getting on the treadmill for 15 minutes, it's not as hard as telling myself I need to go 45 minutes or not at all. Too often I would choose not at all.

All the equipment you really need are dumbbells. A yoga mat and an exercise ball are highly recommended. For cardio, you can use the sidewalk. :)

I highly recommend this book.

After learning that cardio mixed with mild strength training is a more effective way to loose weight, I began searching for a book that combined the two. First I tried the T-Tapp Method, and I believe that would work great but I was nervous about performing the exercises without proper training and demonstration and it was recommended not to do any other workout programs including cardio. So I decided to try this one. I love it. I still get to do my cardio on my elliptical trainer and upright bike, which makes my hubby happy that they're not collecting dust anymore! Then, one day a week I work on my upper body, one on my lower, then flexability (stretching,etc.), then one day I can decide and Sunday has ideas for relaxing for 15 minutes. I can do my workout first thing in the morning and I've been pretty conistent. I've been using this technique for just over three weeks. I've done three different lower body workouts, and everytime I can feel the results in a different set of muscles, and that feels great! There are pictures for every exercise and the directions are very thorough. The only items you need are some dumbells and either a yoga ball or a weight bench and you can perform all the workouts.

The only real complaints I have is A) The lower body workout is assigned for Thursdays, then cardio for Friday. Since both of my current options for cardio involve the leg muscles it was hard for me to jump into my cardio on Friday with the soreness from the previous day's workout. So I just switched the Tuesday upper body with the Thursday lower so I am able to give my legs a few days of rest in between. B) One of the Flexability workouts is pretty advanced, like intermediate yoga moves. I'm not certain I'll be able to do many of those exercises any time soon, so I just alternate the other two.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this purchase, and I know the fitness plan is working because I haven't gained back a single pound, I can feel my stregnth increasing, some of my clothes are already feeling a bit looser (especially in the hips). Of course, I also began drinking the recommended amount of water per day and cut calories in a few areas.

If you are looking for an easy, effective workout that you can fit in to a busy schedule, I definitly recommend this book!

This is an excellent book, its key feature is the squence of every movement during your yoga practice and photoed specifically breath-by-breath, not just step-by-step.

It's very helpful for new ashtanga yoga practicers.

What lacks in this book is it only provided part of primary series. It will be excellent if the complete primary series and finish series can be included.

You will, no doubt, open this book and expect pages full of plies, grand battlement, ronde de jambe, etc. But you're not going to find that. What you will find is many movements based more-or-less on the Alexander Technique. Which is fine. Most of us need to relearn how to use our bodies so we are more efficient and graceful in our movements. That said, this is not a workout that's going to help you develop strength - except for the small section containing ab exercises. It's mainly based on stretching, rotating your joints, and the like. The exercises given will help you develop flexibility and grace, and relearn new habits of posture and movement.

I gave this book 4 stars because of it's misleading title and lack of strength-building exercises. But it's not a bad book. I think this would be a fine beginner's intro to Alex.Tech. for someone who can't find a practitioner. But don't expect this program by itself to produce a body that looks like any of the gorgeous ballet dancers that are photographed in this book. (and the dancers they chose do have beautiful bodies!)

This was my introduction to Pilates, and it is very complete with respect to floor work. The book does not use a reformer, or any other apparatus all you will need is a yoga mat to get started.

The book is subdivided as follows:
1. Introduction
2. Body and Mind
3. Warm-ups
4. Introductory Level Exercises
5. Beginner Level Exercises
6. Advanced Pilates
7. Glossary or Terms

Each exercise is shown in a step-by-step illustrated manner. This includes the following:
1. An introduction that outlines the aim of the exercise and the areas it benefits
2. The step by step instructions
3. Illustrations (photographs) which help you to achieve the correct movement and position
4. Variations which so you progressions to the position for a better workout

You can learn Pilates floor work from this book alone. And, it is nice to be able to go at your own pace, and not need to keep up with an instructor on a DVD. I found it necessary to get a DVD to compliment this once I was comfortable with the positions.

Overall I would recommend this to anyone that is new to Pilates and wants to understand the principles, posture, breathing and positions so that they do not get hurt.

I don't know what it is about pilates, but something about it calls to me. This book provides the perfect introduction that covers all the basics, including history and philosophy. Great pictures were a help as well as it takes you through the step-by-step procedure of every aspect of the excercises. I appreciate that the breathing and health techniques were discussed, as that is a huge mistake of beginners. It's nice to read something that treats pilates as what is truly is.

While this book was obviously written as a manual on stretching for patients of physical therapists, it is written in a simple format. There are great descriptions of each stretch under each picture, and with a little practice I was able to go through the lower body stretches with great results. The theory here - Active Isolated Stretching by name - is really powerful and I found it incredibly safer than other forms of stretching. There is only a two-second hold with these stretches, so I couldn't believe the range I achieved after one set of the exercises. The best thing is it does not hurt to do these stretches! This manual may not be the prettiest thing to look at, but its exercises are powerful. I look forward to any DVD on this form of self-stretching!

"Opening All of the Doors" works on two or three levels. I thought the most interesting part was the sense of getting to know people that the author met in Romania; not just the important and powerful people, but also the common every day people.

It was interesting to find out what they think -- and sometimes HOW they think.

Some of the stories about life under an insane communist dictator are chilling, especially when they pop up unexpectedly among the normal daily events. I think a reader would be surprised at the hospitality extended to an American scholar and his wife by the Romanian people.

The biggest thing I got from this book, however, is an awareness of how communism warped the values and the mindset of the people. Imagine every business, every office and every classroom run with the efficiency and courtesy of the DMV. While people adapted to and survived it, you get the impression that some scars are buried deep inside the national psyche.

It's a pretty interesting read, bouncing back and forth between travelogue, and political / business / social observer.

This college textbook is a concise but comprehensive guide to starting a walking program. The book highlights everything you should know about walking. The writing flows nicely and is easy to follow. The topics are reinforced by diagrams and photographs in every chapter. The books give a complete overview of how walking can lead to total health and wellness.