Stuck on Learning a Difficult Move or Pose? Here are 3 Strategies to Achieve Your Goal
Whenever learning a new physical discipline you’ll have the experience of trying out a new aspirational move and thinking… this seems utterly impossible. One way to approach this new challenge is to keep trying the beast move over and over again, hoping that eventually it gets easier. This may work! But it is also miserably frustrating and has a high potential for burnout or injury. As an alternative attack, try modifying your exercises to make them easier so that you can manage them and control them. A strategic approach with the right
What to do When Stretching Doesn’t Help
Sometimes Tight Muscles Need Strength Instead Muscles are tight for a reason. They are not tight because they hate you and want you to fail, or because they want you to be in pain. Your body is your devoted partner in this life and everything it does, it does because it believes that it’s helping you. So why do muscles get tight, since it is so clearly unpleasant and painful? Why do some muscles seem to be impervious to stretching? Even if they relax for a few blissful moments, not long after
The Tensor Fasciae Latae (TFL) Can Cause Hip and Back Pain: Here are Some Ways to Help
WTFL???? What is the Tensor Fasciae Latae (TFL) The Tensor Fasciae Latae, or TFL to its friends, is a small muscle in the outside front of the hips that works very, very hard. The TFL is a multi-tasker. It does hip flexion, hip abduction, internal rotation, and it even internally rotates the lower leg through its attachment to the IT band. Because the TFL has so many abilities, it is often overworked. It’s just so easy for other muscles to lay back and let the TFL take over. The TFL is also
You Can Be a Bendy Badass with Any Body Type
“A cultural fixation on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty but an obsession about female obedience.” ― Naomi Wolf Sometimes I get my body type shamed. At the time of this writing I am just shy of 5’2”, 43 years old, and 138 lbs, which is on the upper side of what is considered a “normal” body type for my height. I have a lot of muscle—I can load up the leg press with 700 lbs and still get a good range of motion for 10 reps. I also have some
Ask Fit & Bendy 11: Backbend Flexibility Q&A
We just finished up another action-packed Q&A on back flexibility for the Worldwide Splitters' Network January Backbend Challenge. This one is jam packed with juicy tidbits on alignment, control, and how to backbend safely in various common poses.