Day 9 – Baddha Konasana

Skritheads* call this pose Baddha Konasana, the “bound angle pose,” but us regular folks know this exquisite little inconvenience as a “butterfly stretch.”  It is a great stretch for the adductors and will help you get deeper in your squat.  I recommend placing your back up against a wall and sitting up straight.  If you’re really tight, you will need to sit up on a couple of bumpers like I showed in the Straddle Stretch video.  I like to use some light weights to help the stretch.  I am using 12kg kettlebells in the video, but you can start much lighter.  Also the intensity is much greater if you place the weights by your knees, so if it get’s too intense bring the weights closer to your hips.  Sit up straight and breathe slowly and deeply.  If you want to fast track your stretch, try to lift the weights with your knees by contracting your adductors, hold that isometrically for about 5 seconds and then relax and let the weights gently press your knees closer to the floor and stretch for about 10 seconds.  Repeat that contract/relax sequence several times and watch your range of motion increase.

Baddha Konasana from Force Distance Time on Vimeo.

Here are the rules for the 30-Day Stretch Fucking Harder Challenge. Each day do the deep stretch, post it on Instagram and tag some friends to do it with you. Post your stretch with the tags: #stretchfuckingharder #supplepandas #30daypandachallenge Tag me @coachpanda. Come back here to my website or vimeo channel to see more details on each stretch and modifications and scaling options. Try to stay in each stretch for at least 2 minutes per stretch per side. Remember to breathe slowly and deeply and start gradually and move deeper over time. Back off if it hurts.

*skrithead – noun. A derogatory term used to refer to yoga practitioners that only speak in sanskrit and believe yoga will fix everything.

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