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The Bendy Blog: Flexibility Training Articles
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2 Minute Neck Foam Rolling Routine to Ease a Sore Neck
Your neck may not be something you normally think about foam rolling - but man it can feel good! If you’ve got a tight neck from craning your head all day, or if it’s sore from doing lots of backbending and neck extension work (looking at you, fellow contortionists!) using a foam roller to help give it a stretch and gentle massage can feel quite nice.
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.
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.
Am I Too Old to Start Contortion? (Spoiler Alert: HECK No)
I see this question all. the. time. on Reddit (shoutout to all my flexy practitioners in r/flexibility!) and all over the internet for that matter.
The short answer is no you’re not “too old,” literally anyone can start working on flexibility even if you’ve been a total slug your whole life.
Controlling Rogue Hips - Keeping Your Hips Square in a Split
On Monday I talked about what it means to have “square” hips in a split, and why that’s often a preferred position to train in. Today we’ll talk about ways to help train your hips to stay square to ensure you’re getting that sweet sweet hip flexor stretch, and avoid letting your hips open to “cheat” the stretch.
How to Tell if Your Split is “Square” (the “Butt Cheek Test” and More!)
Are you keeping your hips square when practicing front splits and lunges? Do you know how to tell? Here are some of the most common ways I like showing students you can check for yourself if your hips are properly “square.”
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!
What Muscles Do I Need to Stretch for the Front Splits?
If you’re asking what muscles do you need to stretch for a front split - then congratulations on trying to train smarter! Understanding the basic anatomy behind stretches can not only help you choose better stretches to reach your goals, but it can also help you understand where you should be feeling the stretch, and how to stretch with proper form.
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.
Advanced Quad and Hip Flexor Stretches for Contortion
If you’ve got relatively flexible hip flexors and quads (ex. you can easily pull your heel to your butt in a standing quad stretch, and/or you have flat splits) - it may be time to up your hip work for those muscle groups.
These are all deep anterior (front of the) hip stretches that may make you feel your quads like you’ve never felt them before!
How To: Femoral Nerve Glide for Tight Hips (2 Ways!)
As a follow-up to Monday’s post, Stubbornly Tight Hip Flexors? Quick Test for Femoral Nerve Tension, here are two quick, easy nerve glides you can do to help un-stick your femoral nerve before lunging into deeper stretches (pun 100% intended).
Stubbornly Tight Hip Flexors? Quick Test for Femoral Nerve Tension
Do you feel like your hip flexors (or quads) are always pretty stiff, even when doing regular, dedicated stretching? What if I told you the culprit may not be your tight muscles at all and no amount of passive lunges and hip stretches would really make a difference?
Time to learn about the role of our good ol’ femoral nerve and how it behaves differently in out stretches than our hip flexors and quad muscles.