Natalia Vasylyuk remains my favorite female contortion artists. I watch a lot of contortion on YouTube, but keep coming back to this clip.
Cheers
Tim…
Natalia Vasylyuk…
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Quick life update…
I’ve not written for a while, but I’ve been stretching quite a lot.
My stretching has been a little random in so much as I’ve not been sticking to a set routine lately. Much of my stretching has just been short reps of front and side splits. Most of the time I’ve been holding them for less than 15 seconds.
I still think PNF is the most efficient form of stretching, but at the moment I can’t face it. It’s a lot of effort and a little daunting. Short reps seem really easy and I don’t even think about it. There’s a lot to be said for doing something you enjoy.
My back bend training has gone by the way-side. I keep meaning to get back into it, but I always forget. 
Cheers
Tim…
Dynamic Flexibility…
I’ve just added a page about Dynamic Flexibility and a Weekly Stretching Routine. Click on the links and check them out.
I’ve made a couple of minor changes to the site. There is now a fixed homepage and the blog is a link on the “Pages” menu. I think that makes a bit more sense since the pages contain more specific information than the blog.
Cheers
Tim…
Back Bend Progress
More Progress…
Last night showed another marked improvement. Looking at the current rate of progress I think I’ll be back at my best on side splits and left front splits within a couple of weeks. I think the right front splits will take a bit longer. It is dramatically better than it was a few days ago, but it is not responding as quickly as the left leg. It’s hard work holding myself back, but if I try to move to quickly I’ll just re-injure it and put myself back again.
Cheers
Tim…
Yoga Tree…
Injuries, Splits and Back Bends…
About a week ago I was doing a right-side open split and I felt a “ping” in my right butt cheek. I got out of the stretch pretty sharpish, took an ibuprofen and massaged the hell out of the area.
The next day I attempted some stretches and noticed that all my splits had regressed by 6-8 inches. I didn’t feel pain when stretching, but it felt like my legs wouldn’t move any further. I’ve been nursing a hamstring injury for a few weeks, so I decided to visit the osteopath to check if I’d got any alignment issues.
I went to see him on Tuesday and, sure enough, my pelvis was misaligned a little. He put it back and on Tuesday night a did a bit of stretching and it felt good. Last night I tried it out again and there was a little more progress. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to get back to normal, but I’m confident it will be soon.
As a result of all this drama I’ve not been doing my back bend practice much, but last night I made a firm commitment to start again, so I have a couple of weeks until my next progress shots.
Cheers
Tim…
Back Bend Update…
Links Page…
I’ve just added a Links page, with some links to assorted video clips I like.
The stretching has been a little eratic over the last few weeks. I seem to be back on target now, but I doubt the back bend progress shots for this month will be much good.
Cheers
Tim…
Experimenting with new routines…
I’m experimenting with new stretching routines at the moment. Rather than holding stretches for a long time, or doing PNF, I’m trying short reps. Typically, I’m doing one of two things.
- Hold for a five count, then rest for a five count.
- Hold for a five count, switch to another stretch for a five count, then switch back.
I generally do 10+ reps of each stretch.
So far it feels really good, but maybe that’s just because it’s different.
Cheers
Tim…