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The Bendy Blog: Flexibility Training Articles

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Strengthen While You Stretch: 6 Drills for Active Hip Internal Rotation

Strengthen While You Stretch: 6 Drills for Active Hip Internal Rotation

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.

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7 Oversplit Preparation Drills for Active Front Split Flexibility
Stretching - Lower Body, Contortion, Front Splits Danielle Enos (Dani Winks) Stretching - Lower Body, Contortion, Front Splits Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

7 Oversplit Preparation Drills for Active Front Split Flexibility

Working on oversplits with your leg(s) on blocks is of course helpful for students who already have splits to take it to the next level - but they’re also helpful for students who are looking to close the last couple of inches on their splits to get them flat once and for all!

A great way to prepare your hips before diving in to full oversplit holds is to work on active drills for your hamstrings (front leg) and hip flexors (back leg) to challenge them in the elevated and increased range-of-motion positions they will be in when you are in a full oversplit.

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4 Active Flexibility Drills to Strengthen Your Front Splits
Stretching - Lower Body, Front Splits Danielle Enos (Dani Winks) Stretching - Lower Body, Front Splits Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

4 Active Flexibility Drills to Strengthen Your Front Splits

If you’re trying to get lower in your front splits - passive stretching is only part of the equation, you need to make sure you’re strengthening your muscles to support this unique range of motion in your hips (front hip flexion and back hip extension). These 4 drills help strengthen our hips to support both the front AND back leg stretches needed to flatten our front splits.

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Why Your Upper Back Sucks at Backbending (and How to Make it Suck Less)

Why Your Upper Back Sucks at Backbending (and How to Make it Suck Less)

Are you struggling to bend from your upper back? You’re not alone! In my 11+ years of training & teaching, I’ve found vast majority of students have a hard time arching through their upper back in backbends - and that’s because our upper back isn’t really designed to bend. Thankfully you don’t have to be doomed to have a flat-as-a-board upper back in all your bridges and backbends forever. With the right training and coaxing, anyone can improve their upper back flexibility and let it join in on the backbending part-ay!

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Work Your Active Split Flexibility with Front Split Slides
Stretching - Lower Body, Front Splits Danielle Enos (Dani Winks) Stretching - Lower Body, Front Splits Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

Work Your Active Split Flexibility with Front Split Slides

If you’re looking to train flatter (and stronger!) front splits, working on your active flexibility is a must - particularly working on strengthening your hamstrings and hip flexors while they’re at their end range of motion. These sliding drills below are one of my favorite ways to train active front splits because they strengthen our muscles across a pretty full range of motion, including the end range, helping increase our flexibility over time.

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10-Minute Middle Split & Straddle Routine
Stretching - Lower Body, Middle Splits, Straddles Danielle Enos (Dani Winks) Stretching - Lower Body, Middle Splits, Straddles Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

10-Minute Middle Split & Straddle Routine

This post is a long overdue follow up to my 10 Minute Front Splits Routine post from a couple of years ago. Below is a nice short stretching routine that’s a great foundation for working on your straddles and middle splits. Because both straddles and middle splits require inner thigh flexibility (quite a bit) and hamstring flexibility (straddle pancakes require a lot, middle splits just a little) - it’s helpful to work on them both at the same time.

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6 Exercises for Hip Internal and External Rotation

6 Exercises for Hip Internal and External Rotation

Hip rotation is one of the main actions of our hip (along with flexion, extension, adduction and abduction), so a healthy flexibility training routine should contain some exercises to help with your rotation. Flexy and strong hip rotators not only help in poses that require a lot of rotation (like the amount of external rotation required for pigeon pose, or sitting cross-legged on the floor), but they also help stabilize our hips in positions of flexion or extension (like our front splits!).

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Back Extensions: The Backbender’s Broccoli
Contortion, Stretching - Upper Body, General Back Flexibility Danielle Enos (Dani Winks) Contortion, Stretching - Upper Body, General Back Flexibility Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

Back Extensions: The Backbender’s Broccoli

Whether you are a seasoned yogi, novice contortionist, or just plain working on your back flexibility, back extensions are arguably the best conditioning exercise you can possibly do for your back flexibility. I like to call them a “broccoli” exercise - they’re part of a healthy “diet” of backbending training . . .

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