2

For Even Better Results, Check Out The Warrior Warm Up Video Series. With Over 4 Hours Of Video Footage The Warrior

Warm Up Video Series Includes 14 Videos Detailing Every Exercise Highlighted In The Warrior Warm Up E-Book. Click

The Link Below To Learn More. http://www.thewarriorwarmup.com/

To Get Instant Access To the 14 Video Series Click Here http://www.thewarriorwarmup.com/

3

The Warrior Flexibility

By Tyler J. Bramlett

All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2012, Tyler Bramlett

www.thewarriorwarmup.com

www.garagewarrior.com

No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage

and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher.

Manufactured in the United States of America Published by: Tyler Bramlett. Santa Cruz,

California

I’m sad to have to include a disclaimer but here it is.

DISCLAIMER STATEMENT: The Warrior Warm Up Program reflects the authors experience

and is provided for educational purposes and general reference. It is not be a substitute for

medical advice or counseling.

The reader assumes all risks from the use, non-use or misuse of the information in this

book. The Warrior Warm Up focuses on movement quality in a step-by-step format.

Neither the author nor publisher assumes any responsibility for the use or misuse of the

information contained in this book. Please consult a Physician before beginning any

nutrition and exercise program.

4

WARRIOR FLEXIBILITY

THE BEST 16-STRETCHING EXERCISE YOU NEED TO BE DOING!

I created the Warrior Flexibility Program as a special bonus so I can show you exact

stretching exercises I use so you can increase your flexibility the Garage Warrior way.

The flexibility exercises that I like to focus on are the exercises that can give you the most

bang for your buck. Oftentimes people will go to a yoga program spending an hour and a

half just to drive there take the class and come home. What I want you to have is a 15 minute

routine that you can do and you can follow along to that will dramatically increase your

flexibility with no BS, no fluff and no fillers, only awesome exercises that are the best for

increasing your flexibility.

Each and every exercise in this flexibility routine is handpicked to give you the best results in

the least amount of time.

You will notice that I do recommend using relax-contract techniques. This is one of the best

ways to dramatically increase your flexibility by using well timed tension, followed by a little

bit of relaxation. I’m going to walk you through exactly how that works here in a second,

then we’re going to go through every single exercise from the best exercises for hip mobility,

the best exercises for spine mobility, then the best exercises for shoulder mobility, as well.

Here we go!

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RELAX CONTRACT STRETCHING, WHERE IT’S AT FOR FLEXIBILITY

Let’s get started with how to do relax-contract stretching. As I said before, relax-contract

stretching is one of the best ways to dramatically increase your flexibility in the quickest

amount of time. A simple example of relax-contract stretching is a front bend.

Start by coming forward, bending from the hips and stretch your hamstrings out. From here,

tense everything up. Imagine you’re trying to deadlift a really heavy weight off the ground.

You’re trying to tension your hamstrings, your core muscles, even your fists and your toes.

Hold this position for 10 to 20 seconds. Hold, hold, hold… Tight, tight, tight!

After you hold the tension for 10-20 seconds, take a big breath in and let go of the tension,

your breath and make a long relaxing “ahh”…… as you let it all out and relax all of your

muscles, moving into a deeper stretch. Hold the new position you achieved for another 10 to

20 seconds and then precede to tense up again repeating the process.

You’ll notice that as you do these relax-contract stretches, you will improve your flexibility

instantaneously. Take them one step at a time, hold them for about 10 to 20 seconds, then

follow up with about 10 to 20 seconds of relaxation on each exercise. The amount of time

you decide to hold it depends on how flexible you want to get.

Let’s get you started with the best flexibility exercises EVER!

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STRETCH #1

Let’s start with my favorite hamstring exercise. This exercise was a favorite from Bruce Lee

himself. I absolutely love it!

For this exercise, you’re going to need a kitchen chair and a simple bath towel.

If you’re a complete beginner and you have really tight hamstrings, start with your foot on

the chair like the picture below. Your goal for this position is to hinge forward from the hips,

not from the spine. It’s best to think about bringing your belly button towards your thigh

while reaching your hands down to the chair. Try to get a big, giant stretch primarily through

the back of your hamstring. This is the basic version.

If you are more advanced, then take that same towel and drape it over the top edge of the

chair. Bring your foot to the top of the chair and come forward just like before, bringing

your hands to the top of the chair. From there perform several relax-contract stretches.

Keep your posture nice and tall thinking about your spine remaining long throughout the

whole stretch.

To perform the relax contract, push your heel down into the chair, firing your hamstring and

your glute. Hold that tension while you squeeze your hands, squeeze your core, squeeze

everything and hold it for 10-20 seconds. Then let it all go, trying to work your belly button

closer to your thigh.

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Keep repeating this pattern two or three times, trying to stretch the back side of your leg,

until you work your forehead down to your shin. Remember; always try to keep your belly

button moving towards your thigh. I don’t require that you have a perfectly flat back as you

do this, but I want you to make sure that you’re pushing your belly button, then your chest,

then your head down to your leg rather then just bending through the spine.

The ultimate goal for this exercise is to bring your toes towards your face and work your

forehead towards your toes. Once you get forehead to your toes, you will have some of the

most flexible hamstrings and calves in the world! Keep working towards the one-legged

hamstring stretch on a chair.

Repeating this often is the best way to continue to get more flexible. Try to do this at least a

few times a week, but every day is even better.

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STRETCH #2

The next group of muscles we’re going to work on are the hip flexors and the quads. This is

absolutely my number one quad and hip flexor stretch that I’ve ever found!!

What you’re going to need for this one is simply a wall and a place to put your knee.

Starting in a kneeling position, bring your knee back towards the wall. If you’ve never done

this before, give yourself a little space, about a fist’s distance from the wall. This will make it

easier and will get you started without feeling too much discomfort.

From there, bring your opposite foot up into a kneeling position and bring your hands down

onto your hips. It’s important right here to note that you don’t want to have your hips

opening up sideways. Instead try to keep your hips straight forward and your pelvis level.

Instantaneously, you should feel a pretty deep stretch coming through either your hip flexor

or down to your quad. Just like with the single leg hamstring stretch, perform a relax-contract

in this position.

To perform the relax contract, kick your foot out into the wall while you’re simultaneously

trying to drag your knee forward. There are two different vectors going on here. One is to to

extend your quad by kicking your foot into the wall. While the other is by trying to pull your

knee towards your front heel, firing the hip flexor and core muscles.

Hold that tension while you squeeze your hands, squeeze your core, squeeze everything and

hold it for 10-20 seconds. Then let it all go, trying to work your hips forward.

You should feel a much deeper stretch coming through your hip flexors and quad muscles.

Hold this position and repeat for several relax-contracts on the left side, then switch over to

the right side. After completing this you will be well prepared for the next one of my favorite

flexibility drills.

9

STRETCH #3

Now that you’ve done the single leg hamstring stretch and kneeling quad and hip flexors

stretch against the wall, you’re well-prepared to move on to my next favorite flexibility

exercise, which is simply, the front split.

The front split is a great exercise because you get to simultaneously stretch your hip flexor

and quad of one leg and your hamstring and glutes of your other leg.

To start with a front split, come down into a front split position with your hands resting on

top of something for support. Initially to start, you may need a couple chairs next to you. As

you progress, you’ll be able to bring your hands down to the ground.

What I recommend is that you hold the position with your fingertips while you perform the

relax-contract. Then when you relax, let the palms flatten down on the ground and hold the

new position.

Here’s how the stretch should look. One leg goes back behind you. You can drop to your knee

if you want. The other leg comes up forward. Remember to bring your pelvis straight

forward and place your fingertips on the ground.

From there lift your back knee up and hold this position. Hold that position trying to barely

use your fingertips while you squeeze your legs together like a pair of scissors, squeeze your

core, squeeze everything and hold it for 10-20 seconds. Then let it all go and let your hips

settle down to the ground.

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Relax for 10 to 20 seconds. You can do this relax-contract over and over again until you settle

into a full front split.

Before we move on, it’s perfectly all right if you guys are starting much higher than in the

pictures. There was a point in my life where I wasn’t even close to being able to do a front

split and I still have a lot of challenges with the side split, which is what I’m going to show

you guys next.

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STRETCH #4

The next exercise that I want to teach you is what’s called the road kill split. This is a great

way to loosen up the insides of your thighs and your hips so that you’re prepared to do the

side split sequence coming up.

Same as the front split sequence, put your hands on the ground in front of you, just

supporting your weight with your fingertips. From there slide your legs out, keeping your

back and spine neutral. From this position, squeeze your legs into the ground for ten or 20

seconds. Then relax and try to let them slide out.

This is a position I have a lot of challenges in. Something I have to continuously work on

maintaining and improving my flexibility.

In order to make good gains in this movement try hard to fatigue the muscles on the insides

of your thighs. These big powerful muscles can take a long time to loosen up.

As you go through this stretch, don’t just think about your legs, think about gripping the

ground with your toes. Think about squeezing the quads, squeezing the glutes, squeezing

everything really tight.

As you relax and move deeper into the stretch let your palms move to the ground, shift your

weight back and forth and relax in that position.

Just like all the other positions, you can repeat this two or three times to work your way

down. Once 2-3 relax contracts, walk your hands back and drop your butt to the ground, nice

and gently.

12

STRETCH #5, 6 & 7

Now that you’re in a nice straddle position, there are several different stretches that you

need to do within the straddle position.

To start keep your left butt cheek in contact with the ground as you to reach over your right

leg trying to bring your chest, your belly button, and your forehead down as far as you can.

Perform 2-3 relax contracts in this position.

Your goal is to try to bring your body so it’s completely flat down on your thigh, including

your forehead. Again, you can even make that goal more advanced by flexing your toes and

trying to bring your forehead towards your toes. Once you get there, like I said, you’ll have

absolutely amazing flexibility.

Repeat this for the right side.

13

From there, once you’ve done the right side straddle stretch and the left side straddle stretch,

let’s stretch your spine and your hips at the same time.

In the same straddle position reach towards your left foot with your right arm while you also

reach towards your right foot with your left arm. From there try to work the side of your

body down to your leg as much as you can.

This is going to give you a combination of stretches. It’s going to give you a stretch in the

hamstring, in the groin, as well as through the side, through the lat, all the way up through

the arm.

In this position you can do some relax-contracts then repeat this on other side.

14

The final straddle stretch is to reach your hands forward, trying to come down into what’s

called a pancake stretch or a straddle with a front bend. Reach forward as you try to work

your belly button, your chest and your forehead down to the ground as much as you can.

Perform two to three relax-contract stretches in this position, thinking about scissoring your

feet in, firing the muscles of your thighs, firing the muscles of your glutes and squeezing

your core muscles.

Just to recap the straddle stretches real quick. Start with the road kill split, do two or three

relax-contracts then drop the butt down to the ground. From there do the side straddle stretch

on each side, followed by the Side bending straddle stretch on both sides and finally the

pancake stretch.

That’s six total stretches for your lateral hip mobility.

15

STRETCH #8

The pike is one of the best displays of hamstring mobility that you can do for flexibility. Close

your legs from the pancake stretch and come up on our sit bones nice and tall.

Hinge forward at the hips trying to grab your heels, and then try to work your belly button

down towards your thighs.

Just like all the other stretches, I don’t want to see you bending at the spine working your

forehead towards your knees. Instead reach your face forward always trying to work your

forehead towards your toes. Think length from the tailbone through the heels, and length

through the tailbone to the top of the head.

Take a moment to visualize the direction of energy projecting from your center out each

direction. That’s one of the secret keys to developing massive amounts of flexibility. Imagine

projecting the joints away from your center and creating small amounts of space inside each

joint capsule.

Back to the pike… To perform the relax-contract pull up against the heels with your arms

while you push back against your hands with your heels. Hold this position 10-20 seconds

before relaxing. For more of a challenge, pull up on the toes which will give your calves a

bigger stretch.

This is one of the best stretches you can do for overall hamstring mobility. It’s going to

benefit your training dramatically!

16

STRETCH #9

As you should know already, I’m a huge fan of bridging This is perhaps the best way to move

from simple bridging all the way into achieving a full gymnastic bridge.

All you need for this is a wall. Start by bringing your head about six or eight inches away

from the wall. From there keeping your hands on the ground beside you, lift your hips

keeping your weight on your shoulders and start moving your chest toward the wall. This is

the first progression you need to master.

From there, once you’re hips are able to break a straight line, move to the wrestler’s bridge

or a head bridge. This is going to help you build adequate flexibility primarily in your

thoracic spine, which is an area that’s really tight on most people.

17

Start the wrestlers bridge by placing your hands by your ears then lift your hips placing the

weight on your hands and trying to roll to the top of your head. Bring your chest towards the

wall as close as possible.

Do this drill until you are able to press your chest up against the wall and hold that position

while you get that stretch through the front side of your body and your hip flexors.

As you can see, this stretch generates a ton of mobility in this upper spine. The real trick it

to always work your chest to the wall which will help you acquire the mobility necessary to

be able to hold a full gymnastic bridge.

Once you master the wrestlers bridge, move on to the gymnast bridge.

Start in the same position as the wrestlers bridge. Lift your hips off the ground as you try to

keep your weight only on your hands and feet. Press up with your arms as high as you can

and press your chest toward the wall the whole time.

You can hold the position and just try to work your chest to the wall or you can push into the

position, work your chest to the wall then come back down, repeating several times.

Once you can do a chest to wall gymnast’s bridge, you have amazing flexibility in your

shoulders, your spine, and you don’t really need much more mobility than that, unless you

want to become a contortionist ☺

Work on mastering those three progressions to improve your spinal flexibility and mobility

and build an awesome set of back muscles and core mobility.

18

STRETCH #10

If you guys are having trouble getting into a full gymnastic bridge, oftentimes this can be due

to the fact that you lack shoulder mobility. Here is my favorite shoulder mobility sequence

that I personally use to try to open up my chest and shoulders from years of heavy

weightlifting so that I can do more complicated moves, like gymnastic bridging and hand

balancing.

The first is the open shoulder stretch. To perform this stretch, place your palms down flat on

the seat of a chair. Keep your elbow pits facing each other, or even pointing upwards slightly.

Bend your knees and work your chest to the ground.

To perform the relax-contract, press your hands down into the ground and keep your core

tight for 10-20 seconds. It’s important to not move through your spine but rather just your

shoulder’s. Once you relax hold this new position for 10-20 seconds to reset your flexibility,

then repeat.

19

A way to make this an even greater stretch is just to bring your hands up on top of the chair

instead. To do this , hold on to the back of a chair as you settle your hips toward your heels.

Make sure you don’t use your lower back flexibility to make this happen. From there making

sure you keep your pelvis tucked, perform 2-3 relax-contract stretches.

Once you get your arms to the point where they can hold this top position without poking

your ribs out and doing a back bend, you’re going to have adequate shoulder flexibility to do

things like overhead squats, bridging, and some more complicated hand balancing exercises.

Next flip your body around and perform the German stretch.

20

For the basic variation of the German stretch, start with your feet out in front of you, and

your arms by your hips with your palms flat on the ground and fingers pointing backwards.

Slide your palms back, making sure you keep your hands fairly close together.

Slide backwards until you feel a stretch in your biceps, your shoulders, and your pec muscles.

Once you get there, perform some relax-contract movements by dragging your arms toward

your heels firing the pecs, firing the front deltoids, firing the biceps, and hold that position

for 10-20 seconds. Then relax and repeat 2-3 times

You should get a big stretch in the back of your shoulders and your chest. It should feel really,

really good.

21

Just like with the shoulder drill, a way to make this harder is to place your hands on the back

of a chair. With a chair behind you, place your hands, palms down, on the back of the chair.

Bring your feet forward and work your butt to the ground while you perform the same

relax-contract trying on each rep to move your body forward so your hands are as far behind

you as possible.

Those are the two best shoulder stretches that I found that you should do every single day to

increase your functional flexibility and strength.

22

CONCLUSION

All right, that’s all there is to The Warrior Flexibility program. All you have to do is go

through this list of the exercises to get awesome flexibility results in less time!

1. Hamstring Stretch Left

2. Hamstring Stretch Right

3. Hip Flexor Stretch Left

4. Hip Flexor Stretch Right

5. Front Split Left

6. Front Split Right

7. Road Kill Split

8. Side Straddle Stretch Left

9. Side Straddle Stretch Right

10. Side Bending Straddle Stretch Left

11. Side Bending Straddle Stretch Right

12. Pancake Stretch

13. Pike Stretch

14. Bridge

15. Front Shoulder Stretch

16. Back Shoulder Stretch

If you hold each one for a ten-second contraction followed by a ten-second relaxation for

three rounds, that means the Warrior Flexibility program only takes you roughly 16 minutes

to get through. Therefore you have no excuses not to complete this program at least a few

times a week and you should strongly consider making this a daily ritual for you.

The best times of day to perform a flexibility routine are as follows. First thing in the

morning, your body is a little bit cold. But it’s also a good time to stretch out so you feel

nimble and good for the rest of the day. First thing in the morning is one of my favorite times

to stretch.

23

Another of my favorite times to stretch is right before bed. Right before you go to bed, take

this 16-minute circuit and go through it one by one. That way, when you fall asleep you feel

absolutely relaxed, stretched out and ready to fall asleep.

The other options for this stretching routine are before your dynamic warm up or before

your Warrior Warm Up Routine, or after your work out.

Those are the four best times of day for you to follow this flexibility program. The truth of the

matter is this. The more you work on flexibility, the more flexible you will become.

Take these 16 stretches and work on them as often as possible, trying to aim for a minimum

of three days a week through each exercise. The more you stretch, the more flexible you will

become, and the faster you will get there.

The beautiful part is once you gain flexibility; you do not have to stretch as much to keep that

flexibility.

For example, if you follow this routine twice a day for three to six months and you develop

amazing, world-class flexibility, you’re not going to have to follow it twice a day anymore to

maintain that mobility. In fact you might be able to stretch three or four times a week in

order to maintain that world class flexibility.

In using the relax-contract stretching method, you will maintain your strength in those

maximal ranges of motion so you don’t become limber and weak. This is great because it’s

all about becoming flexible, mobile, and strong at the same time.

To sum it all up, try using the Warrior Flexibility Routine a minimum of three times a week.

The more you use it, the better. If you follow the routine and do 3, ten second relax-contracts

on each stretch, it will take you 16 minutes to complete. If you double it and do 20 second

relax-contracts, it’ll take you still only 32 minutes. The best times to add this in are first thing

in the morning, before your workout, after your workout, or right before you go to bed.

Stay Flexible!!

24

For Even Better Results, Check Out The Warrior Warm Up Video Series. With Over 4 Hours Of Video Footage The Warrior

Warm Up Video Series Includes 14 Videos Detailing Every Exercise Highlighted In The Warrior Warm Up E-Book. Click

The Link Below To Learn More. http://www.thewarriorwarmup.com/

To Get Instant Access To the 14 Video Series Click Here http://www.thewarriorwarmup.com/