Need some help

Good morning, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I am in need of a little help. I am currrently converting the first class, free for viewers, to a format that can be easily viewed. The conversion process is taking longer than anticipated (almost a day for 30 min of video compression), but from what I read, that can be normal.

When I get it uploaded, I need a few volunteers to view the video (it will be uploaded to howtostretch.com), and email me on how the video looks on their computer.

You can email me at howtostretch@howtostretch.com, and let me know if you would do that for me. (folks will be viewing the video, I just want to line up some viewers willing to give me a little feedback on view quality, etc).

Thanks for your patience

As I type, I am converting the first stretch class to a different format for my server. This compresses the file so when it is uploaded, many people can view it at once. This was a step I have been working on for a few weeks. Now that I ironed out the process, we are closer to getting my online classes live!

Check back, or check my homepage over the next few days. I hope to get it up by Sunday at the latest.

Free Stretch Class

This weekend I should have the Free Stretch Class edited and uploaded to howtostretch.com. This will let you take a sample class with me. Just a taste of things to come.

Closer still

Just an update on what is going on at howtostretch.com. I have the software installed to allow membership, but need to configure it to my needs. This part will take a few days. I have a few videos (30 min long) ready, they still need a little editing touchup and compression. Even before I can set this up, those videos need to be tested to make sure everyone can see them. As it stands, your computer will need Quicktime to view them. You can get Quicktime for free, so if you don't currently have that software, viewing will not be a problem.
I need to install some new RAM I just purchased as well (I cannot believe how cheap 512 of RAM is these days), but that's just to make things easier and a little faster on my end.
Stay tuned, lots of fun stuff ahead.

Upcoming Events

How to get into Side Splits

Until the website is fully configured with the longer videos, I will keep posting to youtube. Here's the latest for you to work on.

Closer still....

I worked on the videos that will be on the membership site, and got them to upload and run as planned. A lot of little steps I never did before (conversion factors, compression, etc), that were not necessary when I upload to youtube, that I did not know about. I do now :0).

My host server is upgraded to a size that can hold all the videos. Things are rolling along!

The process so far

I have had to do a fair amount of work (who am I kidding, lots of work) to get this project of having a curriculum of classes on the web. Been staying up till the wee hours of the morning sorting out the details. I needed to update my OS to run Quicktime Pro, to have options for video conversions. I can upload the videos in either .mov or MPEG4 files, still playing with which one is going to work better. (if you have any suggestions, I am all ears).
I have been playing with upload options, and I am going to have to increase the storage capacity on my server to hold all the videos ( I have a lot of material. I taught for over several decades!)
I can only upload the membership software and videos after I upgrade my storage. Every day I get two or three things done. Funny thing, as I finish one thing, I see another that I want/need to do, to have this work out as seemlessly as possible for members.
Will keep you updated, keep checking back!

Letting the cat out of the bag......

so to speak. I am hard at work on my new project, which will be of great interest to those of you who want a more "hands on" experience with me. I am adding a membership portion to my website, and there will be a whole curriculum of stretch classes. Each class will be 30 minutes long, and I will cover many topics. I will also have a curriculum of classes in Tai Chi Chuan, where I will teach the first 13 moves of the short form of Yang style Tai Chi.

The benefits of stretching and Tai Chi go hand in hand. Energy does not flow through locked joints. Tai Chi allows one to release joints held in improper tension. Joints that are stiff, arthritic, injured, weak, and inflexible do no lead one to greater health. Stretching opens the joints, lengthens tendons, and builds muscles in eccentric contraction. Eccentric contraction is what muscles do when you hold a stretch for a long period of time with proper posture. Your muscles get longer, flatter, and stronger, from end to end. By contrast, concentric contraction tightens the muscles from the belly, or center, of the muscle. An example of this is weight lifting. I will cover principles of weight lifting in a video as well, as it applies to stretching, Tai Chi, and energy flow.

When is all this going to happen? I have done much work on it the past few weeks, have a few bugs to work out with uploading videos, so I am estimating sometime in December. Stay tuned, check back often, and shoot me an email if you have any questions!

Squats

One of the best all around exercises