Book Excerpt: 'The Genius of Flexibility'

Sept. 12, 2005 — -- Flexibility guru Bob Cooley, who founded The Moving Center in 1974, has discovered that by increasing the flexibility and strength of specific muscles you can experience improvements in your physiological and psychological health.

His new book and video, both titled "The Genius of Flexibility," highlight a unique method called "resistance stretching," in which you contract your muscles while lengthening them. Although it seems contradictory, Cooley has discovered this technique brings out remarkable results.

Stretching can bring changes to your body in surprising ways. For example, if you have back pain you should stretch out your hamstrings. And, you should lengthen your quads to lose hip fat.

"Stretches are both preventative and rehabilitative," said Cooley, adding that any time you stretch out a muscle on one side, you must stretch it on the other.

Below you'll find an excerpt from "The Genius of Flexibility." You can find more information about the Meridian Flexibility Center at www.meridianstretching.com.

The discovery that will change the way you stretch forever

WHY AREN'T PEOPLE AS FLEXIBLE AS THEY WANT TO BE? Is it thata handful of fortunate people are simply born flexible, while most of us aredoomed to live the life of the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz -- perpetuallytight, stiff, creaky, and getting worse with age? What is that secret somethingflexible people just naturally do when they stretch, that special knowledge that'sso obvious to them yet remains a mystery to the rest of us? What's happeninginside of them that is somehow not happening inside most of us?

Give me just ten minutes. That's all I need to show you that you can be moreflexible than you ever imagined. What I am about to teach you is not somethingyou already know. It is something completely new, something that you've neverbeen told before.

Trying something new isn't always easy. You may feel uncertain anddoubtful or think that you already knowwhat I'm about to tell you. But if you hangin there for only ten minutes, I'm confidentthat you will realize that what I've discoveredis truly transforming. I know that afteryou see how much more flexible you becomeafter trying only a few simplestretches, you are going to say, "Ahhh,that's unbelievable. A new, organic way tostretch."

Benefits of this stretch
Stretches the muscles on the back of yourhip, thigh, lower leg, ankle, and foot.

Getting into this stretch
Lie on your back and bring your right thightoward your chest. Then bend your rightknee so that your right heel is near the backof your right hip. Your left leg can be eitherstraight or bent.

Resisting: how to create a great stretchwithout pain
Grab hold of your right foot with bothhands. Contract the muscles on the back ofyour thigh (your hamstrings) so that yourheel pulls toward the back of your hips.

Keep contracting your hamstrings, but simultaneouslyuse your hands to pull yourheel upward, unbending your knee andstraightening out your lower leg as youlengthen your hamstrings. You are lengtheningbut also contracting your hamstringsat the same time. Yes, you can contract andlengthen a muscle at the same time! Andyes, you must maximally contract to discoveryour true flexibility range.

Return tothe starting position and do 6 to 10 reps. Nowchange to the left leg and do the samestretch. Stand up and check out your flexibilityafter the complete set.

What You Discover
Did you discover that you are more flexible?Most people do. Why? Because youtraditionally only lengthen a muscle to tryto stretch it. But this time you lengthenedand contracted your hamstring to stretch.You've probably never done this before. It'scalled resistance stretching.