Tendon Stretch

Let's take a look at the tendon stretch. Truly one of my absolute favorite exercises because it really puts all the pieces together and gives you an opportunity to practice so many challenging things. In this work. I want to offer some options and some ways to learn how to achieve this skill. Another thing to be mindful of is the spring choice. The spring choice here is going to depend a little bit on who you are and what you're trying to focus on know that this exercise is about control.

So a slightly heavier spring will make it a little bit more accessible, and a lighter spring will make it much more challenging. I'm going to do the spring, do it today on a green spring, which offers enough support to be able to go through the full range. When I'm practicing on my own, oftentimes, I do it with just one red spring. So you'll go somewhere where it feels good to you. If this is your very first time trying this exercise, you may even begin with a red and a blue to feel supported by the equipment before you move into full execution of the exercise.

So let's look at what the tendon stretch looks like and then break it down. So I'm going to take a step up on my reformer And I'm not, with hands on the foot bar. I've got my heels hanging off the edge quite quite a lot here. So really, a lot of my foot is hanging off the edge, and I am in a foot flexed position, which is where tendon stretch comes from. My hands could be on the headrest or shoulder rest if needed or on the, foot, the carriage, if better.

We're gonna look rounding through the spine at the foot bar and place one hand all five fingers facing the same direction and then the other hand, all five fingers facing the same direction. Curl your chin in a little bit, press into the arms round through the back. You've gotta feel that you're fully committed to your core, to the flexed spine before you even do anything here. And then we would simply push through keeping those ankles flexed, and we pull up all the way back to where we came from, and we push through. I'd use an inhale here, and we exhale and pull up.

Now you can step off the same way we got in, and then everyone take a seat on your foot bar. This is how I like to teach the exercise first. Sitting on the foot bar, feeling comfortable and confident in this position, set your hands up in that same position, all five fingers facing forward, push the carriage out with your feet and establish that dorcey flexion position. That means ankles are flexed. And that means you're really pushing the heels underneath.

This is where we get the name tendon stretch. So I'm in a big foot flexed position here. Now keeping that position, we're gonna round the spine, look down at your belly. Push into those arms, nice straight elbows, and try to hover the bottom off the bar just a bit. Here, keeping the shape of the body. We drive through with the heels out a bit.

Hover a little bit. And out pushing through with the heels one more time. And then here, come out of it by having a seat, bringing the carriage to rest, and take a pause. So that is a very nice preparation for the exercise. Once you can do that first part, the goal is to come all the way up to the very first position where your hips are high without somersaulting forward. So you wanna make sure you're in control.

Let's try that this time. So again, press the feet out. Press into the arms around through the back look. Keep the dorcey flexion of the feet. I'm gonna hover off the footbar, and I'm gonna push through keeping everything as as is. I feel like I'm really tucking my pelvis here to keep my spine in flexion, and then I'm gonna see if I can come all the way up and tip the corner, or around the corner, if you will, to the high position.

And now from here, we move. We're gonna inhale and reach forward and exhale, use those strong abdominals and control to find the end position. Again, inhale one more time. And exhale. Once you have the exercise, try to step out of it by walking forward, walk forward with your feet, and step off of your reformer.

And that's the tendon stretch.