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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!



2 comments:

  1. I feel like I could have written the first bit. I chortle everytime I hear a fellow aerial student talk about how inflexible they are. Yup, they all look like gumby compared to me. I've recently started taking silks in addition to lyra, and our skills sheet, like half the moves have the word "splits" in it. ugh. I told my lyra teacher that my splits are just a stupid V. She giggled. "Not just a V, but a stupid V?" yup. hehe.

    I might have to give these videos a looksee. Since July, I've been using a fitandbendy video, called stretch and strengthen. The only real progress I've seen is the stretches no longer hurt! It's a tough video, I started doing it once a week and am now up to three times/week. But it gets old after awhile. I almost have her cues memorized.

    Definitely keep us posted. Flexibility is not one of my talents.

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    1. Oh man, I want to start smacking people when they talk about how inflexible they are...as they are sitting in some version of a split. Insert HUGE eye roll here. My splits are also a stupid V. hahaha... I'll keep you updated. Video 2 was much like video 1. Basic stretches held for a minute each. The video I did above was completely cold so I look even worse than normal, but I don't foresee me being ready to move past this beginner series within a month. So I imagine I will do an update video in a month but will stick with this series a little longer. Then I'll buy their intermediate three pack. Each pack is like $45 for digital downloads. Seems reasonable to me!

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