This is a question I sometimes get from students (and even other flexibility instructors) - should we try to keep feet flat on the floor in a bridge, or is lifting the heels OK? The answer - like with so many flexibility questions - is it depends.

Obturator nerve tension refers to a situation where the obturator nerve, one of the main nerves that goes through our inner thighs, is prevented from sliding like it’s normally supposed to and instead tugged into a position of too-much-tension when we try to stretch our adductors (inner thigh muscles). This can be tricky because it may feel a whole lot like muscle tightness, so it’s important to be able to recognize whether the inner thigh “tightness” or “stretching” sensation you are feeling is actually a muscle stretch (good!) or nerve tension (probably less productive) - so let’s talk about how to figure that out!

A “Y Scale” or a side leg hold is one of my favorite standing contortion shapes because it’s one of the first ones I ever learned to do. Most students tend to enjoy this shape because it looks cool (obviously!) and is typically easier to train than a “traditional” standing split or the even-more-complex needle scale.

Earlier this week I posted a quick how-to showing the basic mechanics of how to do a Y scale. Today we’ll be looking at how to make it look bendier (working on our flexibility to lift the leg higher, make it look split-ier, etc).

A standing side leg hold, often called a “Y Scale” in the contortion world, is a fun (and impressive!) standing balance that showcases leg flexibility. Unlike a “regular” standing split, a Y Scale is an open split position that allows for both turn-out in the hips, and a tilt of the hips to maximize how high we can lift our leg.

Let’s look at two ways to do this pose: both the traditional standing variation, as well as an easier-to-balance variation lying on the floor.

Do you find it pretty easy to open your legs out to the sides in a frog stretch, but when you try to open your legs in a middle split or a straddle, your legs don’t go nearly as far (and it feels waaaaay harder)? They’re both inner thigh stretches, so what gives?

(Spoiler alert: it’s probably your gracilis)

’ve written before about why we often care so much about keeping our hips “square” (both hip bones pointing forwards, not opening out to the side) in things like front splits and lunges, but that’s easier said than done! Even for students who are totally on board the “I’m Gonna Square My Hips to Get a Better Hip Stretch” Train, it can be challenging to realize are your hips actually square? So today I’ll cover a couple of ways you can train both your visual awareness (can you see if your hips are square?) as well as your physical awareness (can you feel if your hips are square) to be able to identify when your hips are square - and when they’re not and they’re probably avoiding a deeper stretch.

While we are often tempted to DO ALL THE THINGS when it comes to flexibility training, which may mean enthusiastically stretching every day without fail - this is actually one of the least effective ways to train. Rest days are a critical part of an effective training routine - let’s take a look at why, and how to plan them into your training. You may be pleasantly surprised to see MORE progress only “training” 3-4 days a week instead of every day.

Earlier this week I wrote about why you may choose to keep your back flat (instead of letting it round) in a forward fold - but for many students that’s easier said than done! Like I’ve mentioned in previous posts, our body is really good at avoiding a challenging stretch and compensating by moving other joints (in the case of a forward fold, when the hips are tight that means we tend to try and round the spine to “fold” or reach farther). So for those of you wanting to practice your forward folds with a flat back, here are some of the best modifications and training adjustments I’d suggest.

Do I have to keep my back flat in a forward fold, or is it OK (and safe) to round it? Like with most flexibility-related questions, the answer is “it depends.” So let’s take a look at why you’re doing your forward fold, and discuss different situations where rounding-vs-flattening your back would be a better choice for your particular goals.

Unless you have totally flat middle splits on the floor, I strongly recommend flexing your feet, and keeping the outside edge of your foot lifted. Why? Because that mimics the most “neutral” position of your ankle, so puts the least strain on your ligaments and connective tissue (while in a relatively “heavy” bodyweight-bearing position). Let’s take a look at several foot positions in a not-yet-flat middle split so you can see for yourself…

If there’s one correction I have to give just about every leg/hip flexibility class I teach, it’s for some students to lean back a bit more in their front split (or lunge, or pigeon, or any hip flexor stretch for that matter…). Leaning forwards is SUCH a common “cheat” to avoid stretching the hip flexors in the back leg, which for most students, is a critical part of being able to get your splits flat. Let’s take a look at the anatomy of our front split to understand why you probably want to avoid leaning forwards (or in what situations that might be preferred!)

The position and orientation of our pelvis can have a big impact on the effectiveness of the stretch we’re getting in poses like middle splits or frog stretches. A couple of variables we want to consider are: hip-knee alignment, thigh rotation, pelvic tilt, and torso position. A “traditional” middle split calls for neutral hips, hip bones facing the floor, knees and thighs facing forwards, and torso parallel to the floor - but that isn’t the “only” way to do a middle split, nor is it necessarily the “best” way to do it if that doesn’t fit your hip anatomy.

A chest stand is arguably the most iconic contortion pose, requiring extreme levels of back flexibility (from the neck, upper and lower back), as well as incredible core control. It’s no wonder so many students dream to be able to one day do a chest stand! In this post we’ll take a peek into what a skill progression might look like on your journey to this magical trick.

Our hip flexors are pretty sneaky when it comes to avoiding being stretched - watch out for these two common compensations our hips wiggle into to avoid actually stretching our hip flexors to their maximum extent.

When it comes to being able to reach your arms overhead (shoulder flexion), there are a couple of nerves that - when under tension - can cause tightness in this range of motion. The two most common troublemakers are the ulnar nerve and the median nerve - because they impact very similar ranges of motion, I’m lumping them together in the same blog post. Let’s learn how to identify if they’re restricting your range of motion, and what to do about it!

I was never very “good” at makeup, so stage/performance makeup was a bit intimidating when I started out. Thankfully there’s a lot you can do quite easily with very minimal skill to get you circus-fabulous in less than 15 minutes (psssst the secret is RHINESTONES!)

Last week we talked about internal hip rotation in the “active” sense, why this range of motion is important in both everyday life (and potentially in your flexibility-related hobbies), and how to train the active mobility to move through as much of a safe range of motion while strengthening your stabilizing muscles. Today we’re talking about relaxed passive stretches you can also include in your training if you need to increase your overall ROM.

Hip rotation in general is not only helpful for many stretches/skills, but a necessary part of everyday movements like walking and running. Internal hip rotation specifically refers to the action of rotating our thigh internally (towards our midline). But since this isn’t an action we often use in everyday life, most people are quite weak (and inflexible) when it comes to internal rotation. So here are some great active flexibility exercises to help improve your hip mobility and strength in internal rotation.

Since it’s October and that usually means the start of a heavier performing season (really from Halloween-ish themed things all the way to the Holidays and NYE), I thought I’d do some more posts this month about performing as a contortionist.

I had two (!) contortion gigs last week, both using my lollipop lyra, an aerial-ish apparatus that’s basically a big hoop (lyra) that sits on top of a stage pole that I do bendy tricks in. For one of them I filmed my warm up routine so I could share what a typical contortion warm up (for me) tends to look like.

Straddles, like middle splits, are mainly meant to stretch your adductors (inner thigh muscles) and/or your hamstrings if you’re taking it into a straddle pancake forward fold - so if you’re feeling pain or discomfort in the outside of your hips, and not a stretching sensation on your inner thighs, something needs to change!