Best Yoga/Pilates videos for extremely inflexible rider?

[OneGrayPony]

Long story short, took 10 years off, injured myself when starting back up again with a fall, I’m riding again successfully but struggling with tightness in my glutes/hams and pain in my lower back. Have visited the chiro on my husband’s insistence but I’m loathe to do that again as that caused more pain, not less. I’m very nervous about the status of my discs and vertebrae.

I also ran while pregnant years ago and damaged my hip flexors badly. They are…frozen…almost. And it causes issues post-riding, severe pain that requires icing. I can’t get the ortho docs to take me seriously (the last one called me medication seeking…I don’t want medicine…I want to be FIXED…but because I tend to read about my conditions I get sh*t from the docs - as a sidenote, that’s why my mom nearly died from her hypo/hyperthyroid issues (she has graves) before she could get anyone to take her seriously - PSA to physicians please be aware that there are people who are just really curious about medicine and when they feel something they like to read about it. It does not make them hypochondriacs, just nerds).

So ANYWAY, to make a long story short, Yoga and Pilates feel like really good ideas to at least de-kink myself but I’ve gotta go slowly, like old lady who never exercised slowly.

Any recommendations for good videos geared toward inflexible riders with bad hips and backs?

[rascalpony]

I have brutally tight hamstrings, and a few sessions with ‘Happy Hamstrings’ from doyogawithme.com made a huge difference. They have a ton of free yoga videos (some with better instructors than others) including a lot of beginner yoga lessons. It might be helpful to look into that and see if you can find something that works for you. Many of the videos also offer modified poses, so if something seems difficult you can back off.

[OneGrayPony]

Marvelous! And now that you answered that, I’m wondering if I’ve asked this question before. If I did, please forgive me because I also have a really poor memory

[Countrywood]

I addition to any yoga/pilates, I highly recommend buying a foam roller. It looks like a thick pool noodle ! Reasonable price around $30 (buy it at sporting goods store, not the cheap knock off at Walmart). It acts like a “rolling pin” on the body, stretching tight tendons and ligaments. The foam roller comes with a chart of how to use, but also look up on online youtube videos for more excersizes with it and demonstrations. It is fast to use, about 5-10 minutes a day. It may make the tight areas feel sore at first but stick with it, the soreness goes way down after regular use which shows it is working.