Full-Body Flexibility

This is a review of the book “Full-Body Flexibility”, by Jay Blahnik. Taken directly from the book, Blahnik’s “3-step Method for Flexibility, Mobility, and Strength” includes:“Step 1: Maximize your range of motion in each stretch.”“Step 2: Minimize the difference between passive and active flexibility around each joint and within each muscle group.”Step 3: “Equalize the range of motion in the left and right sides of the body as well as the front and back sides of the body.”This is a beautiful book. It is illustrated with clear color pages that include 175 individual stretches. Each stretch is shown with a picture and step-by-step instructions on how to perform the pose. The instructions are precise and easy to follow.Blahnik has designed the book around 5 sections of the human body. Each chapter includes the major muscle groups of each of these 5 sections and the stretches for these muscles. He also includes a chapter of stretches which he calls “multiregion” and a chapter of stretches for Sport Mobility.One part of the book that I highly valued was the “Stretch Finder” charts. These charts include the names of the stretches, what region of the body is affected by each stretch, and the page number of the stretch in the book. They are well illustrated and easy to read.Part III of the book is titled “Fitness and Sport Routines”. There are over 20 prepared routines such as: General Stretch Routines for Total Body, Sport Stretches, and Specialty Stretch Routines. The practices are illustrated with the poses and the page numbers where the pose can be found.The photos in the book portray ideal range of motion. Most people do not have ideal range of motion so it is unwise to try to achieve the stretch shown in the photos. If the reader skips the first two chapters and jumps straight to the exercisies you will miss Blahnik's explanation of range of motion included in chapter two. A caution in each picture's instructions would be good.I read the procedures and discussion of range of motion several times before I felt comfortable with the described methods. There is a lot of information in chapter 2 for the reader to digest and I don’t think it will sink in quickly.The ‘system” may take a little understanding but the pictures are great; the individual pose instructions are clear and specific; and the charts are very useful. The stretching routines are well designed and flow easily. Overall, I loved this book and highly recommend it.

I was looking for a reference book that provides me with the basics of stretching and gives me a wide range of stretches in an easy to understand fashion to improve my flexibility doing martial arts. This book does it and I believe I don't need any other books on the topic for a long time. The first chapter provides some basics on the types of stretching and the pro's and con's, i.e. active vs passive and dynamic vs. static. The remainder of the book then focusses on a vast range of stretches looking at all the different muscle groups and a number of different stretches for them. Each stretch is clearly documented and supported by photos showing the different stretches. I bought the Kindle version and use the book on my iPad and have to say it is one of the better books on the iPad. Sometimes I find ebooks with illustrations are not well thought through when converted from print to electronic versions, but whether intentionally or not I didn't have an issue at all using the Kindle version of the book on the iPad. It probably won't look as good on a Kindle, since the illustrations are better in colour, but then I haven't tested it on my Kindle in comparison to the iPad. All in all a great reference book for someone who wants a large variety of stretches to increase flexibility.

The book is good, but it could be better. The pictures are a weak point, a lot of the stretches would benefit from an additional angle or a couple more pics showing the steps of te stretches because some of them are subtle, also for beginners an arrow in the picture (or some other visual artifact) pointing to the muscle worked in the stretch would be great: it is not obvious where the exercise should be felt.The other week point are alternatives, what if I find a stretch difficult or painful? Are there alternatives? How can you make it easier or stronger. That's something that I miss in this book.Again, is a good book. A little more detail will make it better.

It's a good text to learn about stretches and what pose engages which part of the body. In the first part of the book, you learn about individual poses and at the end there are several routines, varying durations.My main objection is that there is no flow in the consecutive poses both in the introductory part or in the routine part. That means, when you consecutively go from one pose to another you have to make many changes to your pose and it does not have a sense of "flow". My other objection is that the pictures are not clear enough. The background is white without any picture of mat, so it is not obvious where the foots are (how much they are bent or far from the centre).If you really don't know anything about stretches, this book would be a good start, but the routines offered in the text won't be much useful.

I have never really been that flexible. Always feeling really tight. As a martial artist I knew I had to do something or I'll have to have surgeries when I'm older, I'm only 25. I also suffer from head aches. I've bought several yoga books and DVDs but this was more geared towards my speed, the author has several different routines in the book for you to do. I'll do the stress free neck and shoulders routine which takes 10 minutes to help with my head aches, the basic stretch routine in the morning to start my day, and the strength training stretch routine after work outs. I also work for UPS and for several hours you lift boxes some over 100 lbs, so you need all the flexibility you can get when doing that type of work.

Great easy to follow. Very easy for the beginner to follow. Would recommend to the pro and novice runner or sportsperson

loved this book! great stretches and great pictures. Love that there are programs to follow ( which includes pictures). But if you are like me, It is hard to stretch in front of the computer. At least the book version you can open it to the page you want. But otherwise a great book on stretching!

Just what I needed to get some new ideas and be able to remember the moves in class!

Great read that is easy to understand and look up appropriate stretches

We use this book regularly, but we typically need 5 to 10 minutes more to complete the routines at the end of the book than the time suggested. Perhaps this is because we use the stretches also as a form of relaxation, as we do them in the evenings.