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Monday, January 8, 2018

Getting Flexible with the Valentino Brothers: Day 1

I am not a flexible person.  I can touch my toes but I can't do the splits to save my life.  I am even worse at back bends.  Over the last six or seven years, I have noticed I am losing what little flexibility I do have.  I have been in the pole world for eight years.  Many polers are crazy flexible.  Even the ones who swear up and down that they aren't flexible look like Gumby next to me.  Although I envy them on some level, I haven't been motivated enough to want to follow them.  The splits have never been a pole goal.  However, as I'm getting older and things are tightening down (especially my hips and lower back), suddenly staying out of pain IS a goal.  I have seen many talk about the Valentino Brothers on Facebook, so I decided to download their basic package.

The beginner series includes three videos.  I did my very first one on Saturday (two days ago).  It was a seven minute yoga sun salutation to warm-up, then it was a series of static stretches, each held for one minute.  They were pretty basic stretches but I definitely had a little bit of an issue holding some of them.  I was fairly sore the rest of the day and the next day.  I am scheduled to do my second video Monday night.

My take on the videos is that they are fairly simply made.  They come with little to no instruction, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I kind of wish they had a list of things you'd need to get started.  For example, that I'd need some clear wall space in the middle of the video for one stretch.  Or a list of the photos you may want to take to track your progress.  Otherwise, they got the job done.  

So, here's a video I took to help track my progress.  Basically, I'm so inflexible that it should take minimal effort to make progress.  I am shooting to do the three videos over a week, one every other day.  Day 1:  Side Split and Joints Stretching System.  Day 3:  Front Split and Spine Stretching System.  Day 5: General Anti-Stress Stretching System.  I am going to do them for one month, then I will decide whether it is time to get the intermediate videos (I am going to guess I'll be able to continue with the beginner series for another month or two).  

I will come back and share my progress in a month!  Until then, please share your tips and tricks below.  Thanks!



Friday, January 5, 2018

Get upside down with a yoga inversion chair!

So last night I missed pole class.  I had to get my door handle replaced and would have had to rush out to class.  I decided instead to set up my yoga inversion chair, which was recommended by someone in my plus sized poler group on Facebook.  It was AWESOME!  So easy to put together and use.  I am going to get a ton of use out of it.  Now everyone is asking me where to get it, so I figured it was easiest to put out a blog.  I got it on Amazon.  Link below!  I also did a little video for my friend, Keri, so you can check that out as well. 

As most of you know, I am six months into Operation Upside Down.  You can check out my latest blog on that HERE.



Want one for yourself?

Get it on Amazon!


 
Try it out, then let me know what you think!  Happy inversions!

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Operation Upside Down: MONTH SIX!

I can't believe we are already six months into this project.  Although I still struggle lifting into a chopper, I can definitely throw myself into an invert.  Now, whatever happens next still leaves much to be desired, but I CAN get upside down.  If you want to see my month five update, click HERE.  December was another light month for me.  I was in Vegas and I missed another class because I was on a date.  I also only made it to lyra once.  I haven't been to yoga much in the last two weeks either.  Basically, I've been a lazy butt.

Here's how the month went!

I celebrated my 8th twirliversary on December 2nd!

Bad side first:



The slowest shoulder roll ever:



Lyra: