If You're Pro-Flexibility but Anti-CS/Essentrics...

[kathym]

I do not mind Essentrics but others that I do:
Barre 3
Jill Miller Quick Fixes
Surprisingly using the beginner videos from Chalean Johnson PiYo

I tried the first lastics but did not love it.

[AsSweetAsSugar]

I also love the original Lastics, I haven't try the second one yet. Stretch and Joint Mobility Therapy by Annette Fletcher and A.M. & P.M. Stretch by Madeleine Lewis are another favorites of mine. Karen Voight Full Body Stretch is lovely too, it has a 15 min. warm up that is mostly Pilates, the stretch portion is around 25 min. Slim In 6 and Slim Express has great flexbility workouts too: Cool It Off 60 min., Cool It Off Express 30 min. and Slim & Limber 15 min. long.

Lorelai, if you like Pilates for flexibility, you might love Kristin McGee Pilates for Beginner, that one is so gentle that it feels like an hour of full body massage to me, I always feel great after that one. And it is well chaptered.

[dmlarue1]

I really love CS, but I wanted to add that I really like Jessica Smith's stretching. She has some on youtube. And I like Karen Voight's stretch dvd.

[Donna D]

Originally Posted by txhsmom

you were in a relationship with my ex-husband????

Carol

lol!

[A-Bot]

Originally Posted by txhsmom

You were in a relationship with my ex-husband????

Carol

Hilarious!

[firmaniac]

If you don't mind retro, Kari Anderson's Angles Lines Curves is my weeekly reward (on Saturdays). A dear friend recently sent me the dvd (I had worn out my vhs copy several years ago). I appreciate that each segment briefly pauses at the beginning with a still shot of the pose you need to be in before you begin. The music is perfection. A more modern favorite is Tracie Long's Focus: Reach Further. In 30 minutes you can really honor what your body can do while becoming loose & limber.

[marya]

Originally Posted by txhsmom

You were in a relationship with my ex-husband???? Carol

Carol, you and Demeris must have taken up with my ex-partner. More's the pity! (The old song "You're So Vain" was surely written with him in mind.)

For some reason, I'm finding it more difficult to find my perfect match with flexibility training than with any other aspect of fitness. Sigh!

[bzar]

i can't pin flexibility improvements/maintenance on any one particular DVD.

from when i was a kid, i would stretch - especially the legs.

callanetics really appealed to me - it was my very first workout video, and there's lots of stretching in it.

when i began purchasing regular workout videos, the 5-7 min stretch at the end of the workout, like the classic firms and karen voight, i would really make the most of that short period. my muscles would be warm at that point, i'm mentally calm, and i really get into that part.

i never did any full-length yoga routines until a few years later, and those included madeleine lewis, karen voight, and tamilee. i acquired a few rodney yee vids, and i didn't use them too often because these were long.

[cherimac]

Pilates.

[Lorelai]

Originally Posted by AsSweetAsSugar

Lorelai, if you like Pilates for flexibility, you might love Kristin McGee Pilates for Beginner, that one is so gentle that it feels like an hour of full body massage to me, I always feel great after that one. And it is well chaptered.

I do like Pilates for flexibility, because I feel like I can get a lot done all at once (why not multitask?). All the leg extensions and large ranges of motion make it so I feel a lot of stretch in my legs especially... but I think I'm tight, perhaps more than average, always have been. I can't even successfully sit up straight with both legs straight out in front of me (unless I'm sitting on a book, that was Miranda's suggestion and it does work). I figure I can't be the only one who's that inflexible, but, then again, I often find that certain "thigh oriented" exercises such as the frog are just as much of a core challenge (if not more, for me). Right now I'm a Pilates wimp I guess! More things to work on. Thanks for that suggestion, my library has it so I've requested it. Whether I like a Pilates dvd usually comes down to presentation and instructor - I'm not a huge fan of voiceover, they usually come across as sleepy and remind me of high school when I had my Pilates/yoga PE class first thing in the morning.