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The Bendy Blog: Flexibility Training Articles
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Forearmstands for Beginners
Been eyeing those bendy yogis and circus folk on Instagram effortlessly balancing on their hands? Lucky for you forearmstands aren’t reserved for the realm of contortionists, anybody can get started with some beginner-friendly handbalancing with a wall-supported forearmstand!
“Big C” vs. “Little c” Backbend from Standing
A lot of people struggle with being able to backbend into a bridge from standing (sometimes called a “drop back”) - and rightly so, that shit’s hard. You need a lot of core and glute strength on top of general back and shoulder flexibility to be able to lower with control. The secret to a safer (and easier) backbend from standing is all about your center of gravity…
Advanced Shoulder Warm Up for Contortion
Contortion-style backbending asks a lot of your shoulders. To make sure I’m properly warmed up before I practice deep backbending postures, there are some extra drills I like to include beyond my “regular” shoulder warm up and conditioning exercises that cater to the more difficult work shoulders will asked to help with in contortion, like extreme shoulder rotations.
Beginner-Friendly Shoulder Conditioning
Whenever I’m warming up my shoulders for backbends, I like to include some conditioning exercises as well. Like I’ve said before flexibility training is as much about strength as it is about stretching. If you are trying to get more open shoulders, like in a bridge, you’ll see more progress incorporating some strength and active flexibility exercises like these.
Quick and Easy Shoulder Warm Up
Shoulders are a critical part of any circus practice, whether you’re backbending, handbalancing or doing aerials - so it’s important to give them the proper love and attention they need in your warm up.
Here are some great exercises to help warm up your shoulders, get your joints moving, and start explore your mobility. I like to start with mobility work, then move on to conditioning.
Protecting Your Low Back When Backbending
Does your low back always feel sore after backbending? It's extremely common for people to "dump" a lot of the bend from a backbend into their low back. Your spine has a natural curve here in your lumbar spine, so this is typically where your back “wants” to bend first! But without proper core engagement you may be relying on your bones and joints in your spine to hold the bend instead of your muscles - ouch!
The Ultimate Bridge Pose Progression Guide
Being able to do a bridge is a common back flexibility goal, but if you can’t just “do a bridge” you may not know where to start! Here we have a simple progression of pose variations you can use as goals to practice and build the strength and control to eventually do a full bridge. Let’s get started!
Trouble Breathing in a Chest Stand? Elevate Yo’ Shoulders!
Having trouble breathing in a chest stand? Is your neck upper back flexibility holding you back? Most people need to spend a lot of time training upper back (thoracic) flexibility as well as neck flexibility to get a nice round curve in a chest stand (and to be able to safely hold that pose without dumping too much pressure into the neck). But in a pinch you can use props to help adjust and progress!