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The Bendy Blog: Flexibility Training Articles
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Is It Anatomically Possible for Me to Do the Middle Splits?
You may have heard that some people have a hip anatomy/structure that makes it impossible for them to ever do flat middle splits. You may have even seen a common test (spoiler alert: this “test” is crap) to show whether or not you have a boney limitation that would make middle splits impossible for you. In this post we’ll explore hip anatomy variations and their implications on our middle splits.
Example Chest Stand Training Progression
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.
Flat Split on the Floor but Not in the Air - What Gives?
Are you working on flatter, split-ier legs in your inversions? Being able to nail a flat split in a handstand, dangling from the top bar of a lyra, or virtually any instance where your body is upside down is a major active flexibility challenge! Let’s look at some drills that can help train our active flexibility for a flatter split in the air.
Proper Pelvic Position for Hip Flexor Stretches
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.
Is Nerve Tension Limiting Your Shoulder Range of Motion?
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!
Easy Contortion Performance Makeup for People Who Are Crap at Makeup
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!)
Gentle (Passive) Stretches for Internal Hip Rotation
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.
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.
My Contortion Warm Up Routine (An Example)
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.
Help! My Outer Hips Hurt When I Straddle
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!
Shoulder Conditioning for Contortion Forearm Stands
Whether you’re just starting to work on inversions like forearm stands and handstands, or have been practicing for some time but need help learning to balance, working on strengthening your shoulders - especially your good ol’ rotator cuff - will be a big help in stability and feeling controlled in these poses.
Pincha (Forearm Stand) Tips to Balance Like an Instagram Yogi
Being able to hurl your entire bodyweight over your shoulders/forearms in a forearm stand is a formidable task to begin with, let alone try to balance yourself in that position! Thankfully once you learn to properly engage your muscles (and stop being a darn wet noodle), finding - and holding - your balance becomes much more achievable! With practice, you too can be busting out fancy forearm stand balances like a fancy Instagram yogi influencer (#yogisofinstagram).