kasanya
Forum Replies Created
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ElevatED is based out of NYC, but they travel all over the place teaching it. You’ll have to check their website for training dates and locations: http://elevateducation.com/
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I just checked the X-Pert certification website and they have a couple dates scheduled in Asia this year. You should maybe look into those: http://www.xpertpolefitness.com/#/training. Another training program worth considering is ElevatED. It’s from the same ladies who developed the original X-Pert certification program, but with an updated and more in-depth curriculum. Good luck with your new studio!
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You could also screw a chunk of plywood across a few joists to give yourself a larger surface to work with. I would cross 3 joists, personally, and then put the pole up centered over the middle joist. If the joists are angled, you could use the plywood as a base for a vaulted ceiling mount. If they’re flat, you could just mount the pole normally. Good luck!
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If your lower back is rounding, that means the body is trying to cheat the stretch by moving it away from the really tight area (hamstrings). It’s better to do a stretch with proper form and less depth in order to really get it into the muscles that need it. In this case, that would mean keeping the back straight.
That being said, the double leg sitting forward bend is REALLY difficult to do effectively if you have super tight hamstrings. I would suggest approaching it as the final stretch in a series of stretches intended to prepare the body for it. I would start by stretching the calves. Then I would do an active stretch variation of the standing forward bend, where you place your hands on a chair seat and really focus on lifting the tailbone to the ceiling as you bend and straighten your knees several times. You should be able to start bending your elbows and bring your chest gradually closer to the chair as you do this. Then I would do single leg sitting forward bends on each side. THEN I would try the double leg sitting forward bend. If you’re still having trouble with the starting position at that point, you can elevate your hips a bit by sitting on a pillow or rolled up yoga mat.
Hope that helps!
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Well, I’m just going to bow out of this conversation now. I did not intend my comments as insults against anyone in this thread and I’m very sorry they were taken as such. Once again, I posted because I have seen threads similar to this repeatedly after competitions and thought it was a general trend worth some discussion. Apparently I’m alone in that thought, which is fine. I wish all the best to everybody here.
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Maybe it would have been more diplomatic to say “we should be careful of arm chair quarterbacking”. *shrugs* In any event, my comments came from the fact I’ve seen threads like this over and over again after competitions. People may not be trying to bash the performers, but there is a subtle difference between saying “X shouldn’t have placed” and “I really loved Y and thought she should have placed”. A few other comments with regards to judging competitions… What the judges prefer stylistically is not necessarily what you or I prefer stylistically and the marks will reflect that. Also, the nature of the competition is important. This was the competition at the Arnold, right? Which is fundamentally a sports and fitness event? I would therefore expect the technical scores to be weighted heavier than the artistic ones. Anyway, just some food for thought.
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I haven’t watched the stream, so I don’t have any comments specific to this competition. I have attended several competitions in the past though that were professionally filmed, and then went back to the videos to re-watch favorite performances… and without exception, all of the performances lost something in the filming. The experience of watching some people performing live is radically different from the experience of watching them alone, from your living room, on YouTube. So, maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to armchair quarterback.
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You know, you’re absolutely right. It was taught to us as a static pole trick, but it would be way easier and really pretty on spin. Thanks for the suggestion!
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You really need to press the belly into the pole when the legs reversed are reversed. I tried doing it with my shirt on initially and just slid down the pole.
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Thanks Runemist, that got me on the right track. I found a tutorial for “Skater” here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0tcJztuF_U
It’s _almost_ the same thing. The main difference is she’s taking her front leg off the pole and using the back leg as her POC. The move I was shown is the opposite. Does that have a name? Or is it just a more advanced variation of the skater? (It’s much harder to keep yourself from sliding down the pole when the legs are switched.)
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Those look like slightly more advanced variations of Kit’s solo lunge hip flexor stretch. If you look at the position of the pelvis in the first picture, she’s actually got a bit of a posterior tilt happening (the lower back is rounding slightly). This means the hip flexors are being extended even more than if the pelvis were in neutral. Pretty intense! I don’t have enough flexibility to get into that position myself, but I would bet it’s a fantastic stretch for those who are ready for it. The only thing I would do differently is look down rather than forward. Hyperextending the neck serves no real purpose here.
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I actually thought it was a good blog post. Monika’s credentials may not be particularly impressive, but the information she’s presenting is in line with what I’ve been seeing from other people like Dean Somerset, Katy Bowman, Kit Laughlin, and Kristina from Fit & Bendy. These are all people with much more extensive credentials who are well-respected in their particular fields, which include biomechanics, post-rehab, strength training and flexibility training.
It’s not a question of whether it’s _possible_ or _advisable_ to keep your pelvis in neutral when performing this particular stretch. The point is, if it’s not neutral, you aren’t actually stretching your hip flexors at all. How do we know this? Well, contracting the hip flexors has different results depending on your connection to the ground. If you allow the leg to move, then the hip flexors pull the leg up towards the pelvis and you get hip flexion. If you _don’t_ allow the leg to move, then the hip flexors pull the pelvis forward towards the legs and you get an anterior pelvic tilt. So, if you’re hanging out in a forward lunge and allow your pelvis to tilt forward (and your lower back to arch), what you’re actually doing is contracting the hip flexors rather than stretching them. Dean Somerset has an excellent blog post explaining why this happens for many people:
http://deansomerset.com/some-reasons-why-you-should-stop-stretching-your-hip-flexors/
The half kneeling position that Monika is recommending is actually the exact same forward lunge hip flexor stretch performed with neutral alignment. Most people will feel it in their quads though for a couple of reasons. First of all, the rectus femoris muscle in the quads is actually one of the four muscles that collectively make up “the hip flexors”. So even if you’re feeling this stretch in the front of your thigh, rather than the hips, you’re still stretching one of the hip flexors. Secondly, the rectus femoris is chronically tight in people who sit a lot. Which is most of us. And lastly, the rectus femoris also crosses the knee joint and is responsible for knee extension. This means any position where the knee is bent is going to add extra tension to the rectus femoris. So, the take away from all this is that you’re going to have to lengthen your quads before you’ll ever be able to push that lunge forward and move that stretch deeper into the hips. As a side note, if you’re interested in finding out how tight your quads actually are, this blog post from Katy Bowman is quite interesting:
http://www.katysays.com/quad-stretch-fakeout/
If you would like to play around with some different hip flexor stretches, Kit Laughin has several posted on his YouTube channel. Notice his emphasis in the standing versions on squaring the hips and not allowing the pelvis to tilt forward. The stretches also involve straightening the back leg, which allows more of the stretch to be felt in the deeper hip flexors such as the illiacus and psoas.
Solo Lunge Hip Flexor Stretch – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bWQGIm9raw
Solo Standing Hip Flexor Stretch – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHwyBHS6MQs
Band Assisted Solo Standing Hip Flexor Stretch – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPBSTE7Yk8wAs for anecdotal evidence, there are also thousands and thousands of ballet dancers who have had to give up dancing because of the abuse they put their bodies through. Just because something has always been done a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the best way of going about it.
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Kenneth Kao has a couple great video tutorials for split grip. If you’re having trouble even getting started with it, the second video has a couple options for building up to it.
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You should ask on “The B&P Vortex” on Facebook. It’s all B&P staff, students, and fans. You can also check out the AirBnB website.
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I’ve purchased your 1 year subscription at least 2 or 3 times over the years, because Veena’s lessons are by far the best I’ve come across for learning all of the tricks I consider foundational at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. I’ve allowed my subscription to lapse though because new content is so slow to be added.