Stretch and Strengthen
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List Price: $18.00
Our Price: $12.24
Your Save: $ 5.76 ( 32% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Manufacturer: Mariner Books
Written By: Judith B. Alter
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Click on the Buy From Amazon.com link to know Amazon.com's best price & availability.
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 613.71
EAN: 9780395528082
ISBN: 0395528089
Label: Mariner Books
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: 1992-02-25
Publisher: Mariner Books
Studio: Mariner Books
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Editorial Reviews for Stretch and Strengthen
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An exercise book with a difference, STRETCH AND STRENGTHEN features 100 exercises, fully illustrated, which apply the invaluable system introduced in SURVIVING EXERCISE. Soundly based on exercise philosophy and on new discoveries in kinesiology and sports medicine, the book fits the individual needs of everyone who exercises, from sedentary beginner to professional athlete.
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Consumer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: I love this book.
Comment: This is the best stretching book I've ever read. The best stretching advise of any knowledgeable person I've heard. Judy is thorough and right on target. I would love to see a DVD of basic stretches based on this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Best
Comment: As a spiritual person I had always assumed that I would find Yoga or Pilates the most useful method of working with my body. But I never took to them that much, although I did try hard. All my frustration went away as soon as I tried the methods in this book.
I always get the feeling that Judy Alter knows exactly what my body needs and how to attain it. A couple of the stretches in this book made my body feel far younger almost instantly, and now I do many of the things in this book every day - my body loves me for it.
I won't go in detail through the material; Alter basically breaks the body down into 11 different sections and includes a chapter on each one, adding one chapter with a whole-body approach. There's also an initial chapter with a series of routines, combining suitable exercises for different lifestyles (from very unfit to very fit with a lot of midrange options). I was totally satisfied with the whole approach and the range of stretches available.
This book is *not* only for those who are quite fit already (although it's probably good for them too). Everyone will find something here. I was particularly impressed with how I got taken on a journey from stiff to flexible in the lower legs, with a range of ingenious ankle and calf stretches that I soon started to look forward to every day.
There is only one downside to this book, which to me is not a problem (in fact for me it has even been an advantage), but I have to mention it. Alter has a specific technique for strengthening and a specific one for stretching, and both these techniques can be a little time-consuming. Her strengthening technique always involves doing slow moves, and her stretching technique always involves waiting out the tension, that is, simply pausing in stretch position and allowing the muscle to relax. As a result you may find that doing a complete workout takes you longer than it might with another method.
Certain of Alter's stretches were similar enough to the ones in Tsatsouline's "Relax Into Stretch" for me to be able to compare them. I found Tsatsouline's very effective also, but not nearly as comprehensive - that is, there were certain muscles that I just couldn't get to with his method. The stretches I *could* do his way, I thought were a very useful addition to my stretching vocabulary - but only on top of what I knew from Alter. In other words, Alter's waiting-out approach works really well all-around in a way no other method that I have tried does.
The bottom line for me is that nothing has ever made me feel this physically good, head-to-toe. My body has really taken a leap in terms of health. Any book that is over 2 decades old, still selling, and still getting only positive reviews on Amazon, must have something to recommend it. This is the best book of its kind I've found.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Good source for all the essential stretches.
Comment: This book has all the essential stretches for the entire body. Complete head to toe stretches. It also sorts out the stretches accourding to neck, legs, wrists, arms, etc. Not only does it sort those out for you, but it gives a list of stretches for those who sit, stand, and all other sorts of diffent activities. One downfall, believes in evolution. The author did not need to include her opinions that we used to come from apes that swing on trees. This view damages a man's identity. Ok exact quote, "Because human beings no longer hang from trees as we did when we were evolving from primates,...." Get rid of that evolution phylosophy. It has never been proven, and why some man wants to believe we were once some ape is beyond this person, or better yet, that we evolved from a rock that was rained on for billions of years; and somehow this rock came to life. Bunch of garbage if you ask me. Other than that, it is good for what it was designed for.
Customer Rating:
Summary: shes the best
Comment: after 15 years and dozens of other stretching books judy alters books are the ones I use the most
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the best stretching books
Comment: These days physiotherapy is becoming rather specialized, with "sports therapists", "dance medicine", etc. Unfortunately, there's a lot of quackery mixed in with some half-useful advice.
"Stretch and Stengthen" is one of the few books on stretching I can give an unqualified recommendation. It was written before the Pilots/Yogurt craze, and manages to avoid all the goofy (and completely useless) mental imagery and holistic gibberish. The routines are comprehensive, thorough, and if followed regularly really will increase your flexibility without decreasing your brain cells.
She gives suggested routines for specific sports and specific problems. I have immense amounts of flexibility combined with insanely tight hamstrings and gait-related issues, and of course I have lower back problems. A combination of daily stretches from this book plus Thai massage has done wonders--I'm truly ache-free for the first time in over 20 years. (And I will also attest that one hasn't worked without the other.)
My only complaint is the book's organization. The routines are listed at the beginning of the book, but the actual stretches are scattered in an rather unorganized fashion throughout. I had to make copies of the individual routines so I didn't have to keep flipping through the book. Not a big deal, but a little annoying.
An easier way to deal with this is to list pointers from each routine to the next one. For example, if you're doing "the tight hamstring routine" the book would then list the next stretch in sequence. One of the other stretching books I've read (perhaps the Fitness stretch book, I'm not sure anymore) did this and it was a much better solution.
In any case, although it'll never be among the most popular stretching/fitness books because it doesn't have any brand-name power, it's really worth the money. It has the most stretches per dollar of any of the books I've read (plus the greatest variety--she even covers doing splits) and she does an excellent job of describing how to perform each stretch along with specific "troubleshooting" tips which I've found enormously helpful. I've read most of the recommended stretching books, and this one has stood out for me.
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