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Table of Contents


Foreword

Who needs Super Joints?…the needs-based survey for super-healthy joint owners…decreasing the odds of injuries…how to develop the right blend of strength and flexibility and improve your survival odds…for better performanceactive flexibility versus passive flexibility…restoring youthful mobility…flexibility development for young athletes…improving posture…kicking-range…improving passive flexibility.

Part One: Joint Health and Mobility

How to keep your one hundred joints running smooth…how Mobility Drills can save your joints and prevent or reduce arthritis …the theory of limit loads…Amosov's daily complex of joint mobility exercises…Lying Behind-the-Head Leg Raises…Standing Toe-Touch…Arm Circles… Side bends…Shoulder Blade Reach…Torso Turn…Knee Raises…Pushups…Roman Chair Situps…how to make the Roman chair situp safer…paradoxical breathing…squats… the secrets of safer back bending…Amosov's vital tip for creating a surge in your fountain-of-youth calisthenics.

The distinct difference between joint mobility and muscle flexibility training…Amosov's "three stages of joint health"…appropriate maintenance/prevention strategies for the three stages…how to get started and how to ramp up….the correct tempos for best results—Amosov's way and Pavel's way…when best to perform your mobility drills… shakin' up your proprioceptors—the one-stop care-shop for your inner Tin Man…how to give your nervous system a tune up, your joints a lube-job and your energy a recharge.

From cruise control to full throttle: The One Thousand Moves Morning Recharge—Academician Amosov's "bigger bang" calisthenics complex—how to add more cardio and more strengthening to you joint mobility program…adding One Legged Jumps, Stomach Sucks and Tha Birch Tree—how to achieve heaven-on-earth in 25–40 minutes.

Checking yourself…are your joints mobile enough?—F. L. Dolenko's battery of joint mobility tests…four tests for the cervical spine…two for the thoracic and lumbar spine…four for the shoulder girdle…two for the elbows…three for the wrists…three for the hips…and two for the knee joints.

The Drills: Joint Mobility

Initial tips.

  1. Three plane neck movements
  2. Shoulder circles
  3. Fist exercise
  4. Wrist rotations
  5. Elbow circles
  6. The Egyptian
  7. Russian pool
  8. Arm circles
  9. Ankle circles
  10. Knee circles
  11. Squat
  12. Hula hoop
  13. Belly dance
  14. The Cossack
  15. Split switches
  16. Spine flexion/extension
  17. Spine rotation

Illustrated descriptions and special tips:

Three plane neck movements—deceptively simple but great for bad necks…Shoulder circles…Fist exercise…Wrist rotations…Elbow circles…how to avoid contracture or age-related shortening…The Egyptianan awesome shoulder loosener popular with Russian martial artists... Russian Pool—for super-cranking your shoulders…Arm circles—for all the ROM your shoulders need……Ankle circlesKnee circlesSquats…finding the sweet spot…why deep squats are essential and how to avoid injury with correct performance…Hula hoop— a favorite of Russian Phys. Ed. Teachers, good for your lower back and hips…Belly dance—a must for martial artists…The Cossack—a great drill for the hip joints and your quest for splits…what never to do with your knees…Split switchesan excellent adjunct to your Relax into Stretch split training and simply dandy for your hips…Spine flexion/extension…why spine decompression is vital to spine health and mobility…Spine rotation…mobility drills for your spine as a top priority for rejuvenation.

Part Two: Strength-Flexibility Plus More Joint Mobility

How to make your body feel better than you can remember…active flexibility for sporting prowess and fewer injuries…agonists and antagonists…basic active flexibility training…how long to hold an active stretch…how to "Reach the Mark" —using the ideomotor effect to successfully extend your stretch…how strength coach Bill Starr develops active and passive flexibility.

How to perform the 'Pink Panther' technique…taking advantage of the Ukhtomsky reflex…how one physical therapist used the Pink Panther to add a couple of feet to her hamstring stretch in one set…the partner hamstring stretch.

Is active isolated stretching any good?—the bottom line on AIS…the demographics of stretching…how and why your age and sex should dictate your choice of stretching exercises…the best techniques for young girls and boys—and what to avoid…a special warning for pregnant women…what adults should do…the elderly…and adolescents.

Stretching to help slumped shoulders…stretch weakness and standard weakness…how to address the weakness of the overstretched muscles and the standardness of their antagonists…two respected Russian regimens for better posture…understanding the vital difference between a standard and a toned muscle…the Davis Law…functional and dysfunctional tension.

The Drills: Strength-Flexibility Plus More Joint Mobility

Initial tips.

  1. 18. Windmill
  2. 19. Pink panther straight-legged situp
  3. 20. Bridge
  4. 21. 'Bathtub push'
  5. 22. 'Ghost Pulling Knife'
  6. 23. Shoulder dislocate with a bungee cord
  7. 24. Shoulder blade spread
  8. 25. Side wall reach
  9. 26. Pink Panther knee chambers and kicks
  10. 27. Pink Panther Arabesque
  11. 28. More height and power to your kicks with the scissors maneuver

Illustrated descriptions and special tips:

Windmill—for effectively improving the spine's rotation…Pink Panther straight-legged situp—the drill that can add a palm's length to your toe touch in minutes…Bridge—awesome for opening up the chest and improving spine extension…some warnings for those with back and wrists problems…how to dramatically improve your bridges with the Relax into Stretch hip flexor stretches.

'Bathtub push'—opens up the chest, great for posture and a must for a big bench press…

How to develop an actively flexible spine with minimal disc loading—three tips from Russian experts…'Ghost Pulling Knife'—great for correcting "computer hunch"...

Shoulder dislocate with a bungee cord—the Olympic weightlifter favorite for mutant shoulder flexibility…Shoulder blade spread—a popular stretch among old time strong men…Side wall reachPink Panther knee chambers and kicks—to dramatically improve the height and precision of your kicks…a S.W.A.T. team favorite... a unique stretching technique for high kicks from the Russian army's top hand-to-hand combat instructor…

Pink Panther arabesque…add more height and power to your kicks with the 'Scissors maneuver'.