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Proportions and flexibility
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All this talk about proportions makes me want to start a study. I know for example that I am shorter than average but I don’t know whether my arms/legs/torso are long or short for my body. I found this article so interesting, and now I want to measure a whole bunch of peoples’ proportions to determine some “normal” ranges and to find out where I stand. 🙂
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Me too dustbunny! this is all very interesting. a couple of weeks ago in class I thought about this thread. there was a student who couldn’t do elbowstands. it ended up being that she has a very short humerus (shoulder to elbow) and literally elbows were below her head height. it was impossible for her to get her head off the ground in this position unless she arched her head back. I was pretty impressed that our instructor thought to stop her and ask her to raise her arms. she quickly saw that her proportions needed a different technique for the move. I think it would have been easy to just assume that she was not strong enough to push off the ground but this was not the case.
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Lilred, that’s a great example of how this type of knowledge can help us as instructors to determine what moves are suitable for whom or at least give us some insight as to why someone may be struggling with a certain move.
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Maybe this weekend I’ll grab a wall and a measuring tape and see if hubby will be the first Guinea pig.
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Oh I just thought of something else too. I’ll bet proportions change with age, what is normal proportionately for a 7 yr old will not be the same normal proportions for a 40 yr old. This is getting very complicated very quickly. Lol
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@dustbunny: It’s so exciting, at least for us acrobats since it matters more than one may believe at first. Regarding finding out about ones proportions, there is one measure called “ape-index” where you simply measure your wing span (length from fingertip to fingertip when arms stretched out to the sides) and divide it by your height. If the ratio is greater than 1, the arms will be considered being on the longer side, and vice versa. But it says nothing about if they are long with respect to torso or so.
@lilred: Interesting example there. Truely that matters to her forearm stands. I suppose that when arching her back she could lift her neck and head a bit and make it easier. Good that your instructor was that attentive.
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thank you for sharing and i’m delighted that this was helpful for you and your followers/students. it’s interesting to read and see how proportions play out in other areas besides yoga and back bending. thanks again! xo peg
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Great article you wrote, as you can see many found it useful. And yes, in pole dancing these things play major roles!
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glad I read this as the ‘king cobra’ move (cobra with the feet touching the head right?) is one I have never ever got and having private classes with a flexibility teacher she noted that as soon as I bent my legs it knocked my form out of place and that my quads are the problem. I have good flexibility in my back, hips and have seen improvement in my shoulder flex too but in over 2 years I haven’t been able to get this move and I’ve just given up with it now. I hate my quads! haha
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Yes King Cobra is when you bring feet to head. It does become more difficult to keep the form when the legs bend. So yes, could be your quads, at least partly. If you have long femurs in relation to total leg length it will also be more difficult. Other proportional factors may play in as well.
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