Welcome to Flexy Fridays! As another way to prepare my body for Pole Expo, I’ve decided to follow a strict flexibility training schedule for the month of August, and I will be checking my progress every Friday.

I figured that stretching by myself is not enough of a motivator, so I will be following the Get Bent Circus Style Flexibility Training DVD that was just released today by Fit & Bendy. I’ve always found their flexibility/strength tips that they post on Facebook to be very helpful, so when I found out they were releasing a DVD, I knew I had to give it a try.

Just arrived today!

Here’s a quick summary of my flexibility strengths, weaknesses and goals:

Strengths

1. I have extremely flexible hips. This means that I can do a full middle split as well as a pancake split, so I’m currently working on my oversplits.
2. I also have a very bendy back. I can do back bends easily and I can touch my feet to my head in a cobra position.

Weaknesses

1. My hamstrings. My hamstrings are SO incredibly tight that it really knocks down my flexibility level as a whole. For example, although I can touch down on my front splits (both left and right), my hips are not square at all, which makes it technically “wrong.”
2. Having a bendy back has its downsides too. Because my back is so naturally flexible, it’s not as strong as it should be. This means that I have to be extra careful when I try certain bendy moves so I don’t injure my back. I also need to work on strengthening my back (and my core in general) to “match” the level of flexibility.
3. I also have tight calves. Never knew until I tried downward dog in yoga.

Goals

1. My main goal this month is to focus on my hamstrings. I feel that my flexibility level of my hamstrings is so far below my hip and back flexibility that unless I make it more even, I won’t be able to make progress in my flexibility in other areas.
2. I also want to work on stretching my back along with doing core strengthening exercises. I’ve never had to stretch to get my back to where it’s at today and since it’s definitely not at its maximum flexiness level, I want to push myself to see how much more flexible I can become.
3. Did I mention my hamstrings? I want to be able to do my front splits with my hips squared!!!

Here are some visuals of where I am at with my flexibility right now:

Right splits

Right splits

Left splits

Left splits

Middle splits

Middle oversplits

Bridge

Right and left needle scale

I’m going to start the Fit & Bendy DVD tomorrow and do it every 2 days for the month of August. I hope to see some progress! Happy stretching everyone 🙂