The best part about this book are the illustrations showing where the muscles are and how to stretch them. I want to stay limber as well as in shape and the older I get the more stiff I am and it has been hard to figure out how to reach the areas that plague me. This book has been tremendous in helping me understand how my body is connected. ( )

Stretching Anatomy by Arnold Nelson and Jouko Kokkonen is the complete guide to stretching. And I do mean complete. This guide has it all, from scientific diagrams and explanations to straightforward stretching how-to's. The reading and descriptions can be dense, but if you're just looking to get started, the individual sections make it easy to understand the basic steps.

I recommend doing some of the reading before attempting any stretch because it's easier than one might think to do it wrong and risk injury. ( )

Great detailed info, almost overwhelming. Excellent illustrations and how to guides. ( )

I have been generally impressed by Human Kinetics' offerings as a publishing house, and this title has been no exception. Stretching Anatomy is an excellent reference, both accessible to read and quite thorough! The majority of the book's chapters focus on stretches for particular body regions, and each starts with an overview of the region before moving into a selection of stretches for the region. Each stretch is very nicely illustrated, as seems to be typical for this type of book, but is also well-described both in terms of how to execute it and additional considerations/variations that might apply. Highly recommended! ( )

I am a visual learner. If I can see something, it makes much more sense to me and I can always remember it better and longer. That’s why I was so eager to get this “Stretching Anatomy” book. I’d used a library copy of the 1st edition in the past, so I was familiar with the book and knew it would make a useful addition to my home reference collection. The first edition has become a classic with over a quarter million copies sold. If you do an OCLC WorldCat search on the first edition, you see that this book is held by just about every major public library and virtually all university libraries where they have a strong kinesiology department. With a pedigree like that, you can’t go wrong

I wish the authors of this book had authorized Amazon to allow potential buyers to use the look-inside-the-book feature to view at least one sample chapter rather than just the introduction. If so, you could view a sample chapter and see that the book is organized in a very convenient and user-friendly fashion. You would also be able to see that the illustrations are extremely useful, beautiful, and downright amazing. But the authors didn’t allow you to do that, so my simple words will have to substitute.

The book has an introduction, nine chapters, and an index called “Stretch Finder.” The names of the nine chapters are: 1) Neck; 2) Shoulders, Back and Chest; 3) Arms, Wrists, and Hands; 4) Lower Trunk; 5) Hips; 6) Knees and Thighs; 7) Feet and Calves; 8) Dynamic Stretches; and 9) Customizing your Stretching Program. There are multiple illustrations within each chapter, each covering a specific stretch. Each illustration is accompanied by a detailed explanation for that stretch, including direction on how to execute the stretch, a listing of exactly which muscles are stretched and how much, and finally there is a paragraph or two of miscellaneous notes about that stretch. Naturally, the illustration shows exactly and very clearly all the muscles involved in the stretch. Toward the top of each page, there is a blue tab with vertical white lettering identifying where you are in the book; you can use these tabs to thumb through the book easily and quickly to find each chapter and exercise you need.

Chapter eight on dynamic stretch briefly discusses what a dynamic stretch is and how it differs from the typical static stretch. It also touches on the pros and cons of these two methods of stretching. The chapter contains nine dynamic stretching exercises covering most major muscle groups used by athletes in the performance of theirsports.

Chapter nine, “Customizing your Stretching Program,” is the longest single chapter in the book at over thirty pages. The pages start with a small section devoted to general, non-sport-specific exercises, then they go on to a lengthy set of tables specific to different types of sports. In each case, beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of these exercise routines are highlighted. Each table is color-enhanced to increase easy of use.

There is a small, but very useful index at the end called the “Stretch Finder.”

This book lets you see *inside* every stretch. That’s its beauty. You easily can visualize exactly what is going on inside your body as you perform these exercises. You can see in your mind’s eye how your muscles are moving. Personally, I can’t imagine anyone undertaking a serious stretching routine without it. ( )