Stretching with Samira Mustafaeva: a game of overcoming

Samira has been dedicated to rhythmic gymnastics since her childhood. Everything started in St. Petersburg, where she was noticed by a strong Moscow coach Arina Zaripova. After that, the young gymnast trained in Moscow and in Novogorsk with Irina Viner, and performed for Azerbaijan. During all this time Samira twice became a bronze medalist of the World Championships and champion of Russia. Four years ago she finished her gymnastics career and left the sport for a while. Having finally moved to the capital, Samira decided to regain her shape in order to retrain as a coach and open her own stretching studio.

Last weekend we met Samira at the adidas BASEMOSCOW site in Gorky Park, where she conducts stretching trainings for everyone. In addition to the free opportunities offered at the adidas facility in July, you can join the champion’s classes at her SM Stretching studio, where Samira helps people achieve perfect flexibility with her personal teaching methodology.

We had a chance to talk to Samira Mustafayeva about the subtleties and advantages of such a popular trend in sports as stretching, as well as why it is important to have an excellent stretch and how to motivate yourself to achieve it.

– Samira, please tell me how popular is stretching nowadays and why do girls need it at all?
– I think that stretching is one of the most popular trends in sports. Why? Because a woman wants to be sexy! She doesn’t want to pull big weights and work out in the gym all day long, where you have to constantly injure yourself one way or another. And on the stretching is just possible to correct the figure and tighten your body.

– And what muscle groups are involved?
– All of them, absolutely all of them! That is, when people come to stretching, they think that they will now rest. But they leave feeling as if they had been working out in the gym for an hour. Tension accompanies every second: you relax, but your muscles are in constant tension. And plus, of course, they tighten up. When you stretch, all your muscles literally go up, butt included. It’s insanely cool! And people really before my eyes in two months the figure changes a lot, becomes more feminine and beautiful, and the girl feels more graceful. She gets more empowered.

Isn’t it the best motivation when you see your body changing for the better?

– Probably a burning question: how long is it possible to sit on the twine and achieve excellent stretching? Let’s be realistic.
– This is a question that no one can answer. Each person has different muscles, different ligaments. Some of them are very elastic, while others have the opposite. So on average, as we have in our studio, 12 classes three times a week – and people sit down. But that’s on average. Some people even sit down in five sessions. But now we are talking about only one twine: everyone can do one twine easier than the other, because one leg stretches better than the other. The hardest twine is generally considered to be the transverse twine.

– It is said that there are two twine techniques: gymnastic and ballet twine. What is the difference and which twine do you recommend?
– The ballet twine technique has an everted back leg, and the emphasis in ballet is more on the transverse twine. It is more difficult for older people to perform ballet twine than gymnastic twine, because the cross twine technique itself is more difficult. That’s why I teach everyone to do a correct gymnastic twine. Otherwise, girls come from other studios, where they were put on a crooked twine, and now they have torn ligaments. That’s why I think that at our age, proper technique is very important.

– Does achieving stretching somehow depend on age or past experience in sports?
– Of course, it is easier for those who have already stretched and sat on twines to recover. Muscles remember in any case. And we have no age limit. People even after 40 come for stretching.

– About the pain: does it ever go away with time?
– Pain always remains. Even I have it. I sit on the twine and feel all the muscles!

– What should a person who decides to take up stretching know and remember?
– First of all, you should remember that you should always relax when stretching. Muscles should not be tense. All movements should be on the exhalation. It is not necessary to stiffen and clench.
Secondly, straight posture: you can not bend your back or slouch, because it leads directly to back injuries.
And finally, straight knees. If you bend your knees, you can end up with a sprain. Be sure to have straight knees on every exercise! This, I believe, is one of the most important rules.

– How would you motivate someone to stretch?
– To be honest, everyone’s motivation is different. For a lot of people, the motivation is people. When you see how others overcome themselves and become better, it stimulates you to do it yourself. And when you start stretching yourself and feel how your posture straightens, all your muscles tighten, your mood improves… you don’t forget it. And this experience gives you strength for new trainings and new victories.