I have started to follow Thomas Kurz' method decribed in "Secrets of stretching", apart from dynamic stretching 'cause I always mess up pelvic alignment and end up with pain in the hips. If anybody has followed it, I have some questions. Kurz states that before starting leg exercises, I should be able to do this exercise 15reps x 3 holding a weight that is 1/3 of my body weight (approx 17 kg in my case). Now this is a problem for me because I have no access to weights, and using homemade stuff - formerly: my school bag full of books and similar creations - I can get maximum 10 kg. Do you think it could be enough or not? Also, in that exercise I tend to rely a lot on my legs' strength to hold onto the bench, which I shouldn't do since I have tendinitis in my shins and they hurt like hell doing that. I wouldn't want to interrupt the training as this problem has already messed up 3/4 of the training I had planned to do. Can I do this other exercise instead? Last but not least, do you know if there is a valid bodyweight exercise to the strength program suggested, or do I have to home-make some other weights?
I ordered "stretching scientifically" yesterday and planning to start as soon as it arrives but I guess I'm going to be in the same position when it does as I have no weights at home either.
A problem with Kurz's earlier work is that it (incorrectly) assumed everyone was a weakling who would get hurt picking up a book off a shelf. While you should be cautious, you'll be fine doing squats right off the bat (IF you do them right and are careful with progression) with a decent program like 5 x 5. Throw in dead lifts and rows (which are integral to 5 x 5) and you've got all the back work you need. You could also do weighted pull-ups for good measure. If you want to be super thorough, then by all means to the preparatory exercises he gives you.
No worries man. If you've posted other stretching questions in this forum I'll get round to answering them this week. I hope. I am catching up on Breaking Bad after all...
