Whenever I do butterfly stretches I do them for quite a long time, but whenever I stop It takes me a while to move my legs out the position because they are stiff and really hurt. It makes my feet (and sometimes legs) numb. Yesterday night I was in agony with my legs.
However, I mainly do them lying in bed (Well, I don't actually think it's a proper butterfly stretch - I just put my legs in the frog leg style position and lie there for as long as I can. I feel like it still works the same as its tender at my inner thighs when I press them, which is the same for when I do them normally).
Am I doing them right? Should I stop? Will lying down with them give me long term/any health problems?
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hikasu2
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you have mentioned two stretches, one the butterfly where you put the soles of your feet together also the frog which is totally different and i expect it would be agony unless you have worked up to doing this. if your doing the frog you could use towels for your knees as your pressing on lots of nerves and inside the thighs is a very tender area to stretch.you can stretch your inner thighs a lot easier than this unless your used to doing yoga. love grace xoxoxo i just realized your doing this on your bed the thing is you should be doing this on a mat or carpet as doing it on the mattress will make you go further than you should be doing and that will cause you the pain. if you do it on the floor then you wont be able to go so far as the pain will stop you. hope this help.
yes its a yoga stretch it looks easy but would be very painful. google images of frog stretch . its the one where your lying on your belly and your knees are out to the side and the bottom part of your legs point down. it looks agony. its good to see that your interested in your health. love grace xoxo
it looks like the one where you have the soles of the feet together i usually do this sitting up i'v not tried it lying down so i will have a go at this.i have just tried this and i think you will be much more supple than me but if i were you i would not press your knees down hard into the mattress.as my knees dont touch the floor and i noticed if i press them down then its painfull. i say always do less. i know that saying no pain no gain but i am the opposite and i say less is more. especially when your hurting yourself as it means that you will have to rest and/or take pain relief. i do pilates and some yoga and feldenkrais technique. i have been ill and inactive for a while but im getting back into it again. i also lift arm weights. i love exercising and need it in my life. all the best love grace xoxo
Would agree with Grace that the bed is not a good place for this kind of stretch (too soft). Your back will not be in the correct position.
You can get a yoga / gym mat for a few pounds that would be much better. Staying in a position where your spine is not supported properly will likely cause you problems over time.
If they are hurting and you are having problems coming out of a stretch, maybe you are doing them for too long? You don't say what conditions you have, but there are some where you shouldn't be stretching like that if it is hurting or causing problems. Maybe you need to listen to your body?
lucy, i can tell you a very simple exercise that wont hurt you and not only will it give you the thigh gap it will give you the 4 natural gaps we have in perfect legs. its one from callan pickneys callanetics and works super fast. all you do it get a dining room chair and sit on the floor on front of the chair. sit upright on your sitting bones. back straight and with the soles of your feet slightly turned in grip the legs chair with your inner soles of the feet. and press them onto the legs of the chair. while your doing that you can actually feel your things tightening. start with your feet quite low down the legs of the chair and as your legs get stronger and tighter you will be able to lift your soles of the feet a bit highter each time. let me know how you get on..love grace xoxoxo
not that i can remember when i did callanetics it was on video tapes. but i will have a search around for it. did i not make it clear enough? it can also be done with a pilates ring all you do is sit on the floor and put the ring between your feet and press. i find that more rough than the chair.xoxoxo
thanks for that. it will be useful for lucyjenkins, i still do that occasionally. the reason i dont like the ring is because you can squeeze harder than you would on the chair because it gives a bit. just like the mattress. that can cause injury. the ring sort of fools you into thinking that its okay to press so hard. where as with the chair its just you doing the work. hope i'v explained that correctly. love grace.xxx
It's an odd exercise isn't it. Using the inner thigh muscles while mostly relaxing (as far as possible) the outer part of the leg and not over-tensing the feet. It took quite a few attempts before it seemed to involve the 'correct' muscles.
i just looked that up and i see them. there are some doing it with a ball as well. the chair is best as you usually have those in the house already. so no need to buy equipment. i hope lucy can find this. i just went to the search and typed i callentics inner thing squeeze. thanks xoxoxo
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