ST for Performance Review, splits progress etc

[the_libbster]

Hi All,

I thought I'd just introduce myself and post a review of my experience at the ST for Performance workshop in Sydney, I've been up in QLD for work so am finally getting around to it! 

I've been doing pole for the past year and a half or so and was sick of being the least flexible person in the class as I progressed to the higher levels. When I was small I was able to do middle splits easily (never had to stretch for them) but nowadays I sit at a desk for 12+ hrs a day and move very little. I began researching on youtube, forums and the internet about how to get splits the quickest way and came across the Van Zandt isometric splits progression as well as other articles mentioning how getting your front splits first can make getting the middle splits easier so I thought that I should try for front splits first. 

I started doing the isometric front splits program and got (ugly) right leg front splits in about 6 weeks, which I've lost a few times last year as I gave up stretching during winter as it was too cold then got lazy over Xmas, so really only got back into it in February this year- it took me about a month to regain front splits and I am now working on a 2 block oversplit and being able to drop into them cold. On my left leg I was nowhere near to touching down compared to the right and I've been working on it thru the isometric progressions by holding it 30 sec longer than my right leg which is definitely working, I'm about an inch away from the ground and I feel like the inihibition is now just my right hip flexor rather than both it and my hamstring. 

With middle splits, I had actually tripped on a gutter and tore ligaments in my ankle so couldn't bend it out to the side for about 6 months and consequently couldn't stretch how I wanted to for middle splits, as the pain in my ankle was just too intense. I made the stupid decision to try 'chinese power stretching' where someone basically rips your legs apart see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_d6WsenCvc&t=505s unsurprisingly this almost immediately resulted in an adductor tear so that was another 3 months of doing nothing while I recovered  I also found the van zandt progression for middle splits way too intense (started at  5x1 min) and found my adductor spasming after about a week of doing it so gave up on that.

After all this I'd seen some of Kit's videos on youtube and read through the forums where he recommends to start w the Master the Squat program, so purchased that and made up a program for myself which is as follows if anyone is interested, 2 mins per side (I stretch my gimpy left leg twice in these lol)

Calves

- Standing calf stretch on a block 

- Downward dog calf stretch

Hamstrings

- Bent leg cossack balancing for hamstring (from youtube) 

- Kneeling lunge hamstring 

- Pancake for 2-4 mins

Hip Flexors

- Boxing the compass

- Lunge hip flexor stretch

- Wall hip flexor/quad 

Adductors

- Horse stance 2 mins

- Squashed frog, I put my left leg up on 2 blocks to get a deeper stretch in my tighter side

- Butterfly sitting on a block so I can push my knees past horizontal 

- Sometimes cossack but I don't feel much stretch in it, I find squashed frog with someone pushing on my back alot better

Piriformis

- Wall piriformis but replacing this with the bolster leaning forward piriformis stretch I learnt in the workshop

 

I'm also adding in external hip rotator stretching, as my left hip was completely jammed in the glute medius area and it was preventing me from touching down in the middle splits alot earlier imo as my hip felt 'stuck' when I was about 2-3 inches off the ground. Surprisingly however I was at pole the other night and I felt it spasm hard and it seems to have put itself back into position as I'm no longer feeling any restriction there haha.

I began doing these stretches in February 2018 along with 5x10 secs contractions in middle splits position, initially holding onto a chair and then blocks as I got lower and after 3 months I managed to touch down for the first time in about 25 yrs with Mum pushing me into position! My goals are to keep working at middle splits so I can eventually get them cold as well. 

After finding Kit's work so effective I really want to attend a workshop to help with flexibility in my back  and my terrible hunchback of Notre Dame posture. Everything on youtube is about strengthening your back but mine is already very strong from pole anyway and I definitely find it difficult to back bend or get any sort of slight curve in the thoracic region so I really feel like it's a flexibility issue. 

For me this workshop was absolutely life changing, I learned so much and went away with the most intense DOMs I'd felt in a while haha. Partner stretching takes things to a whole new level and I wish I could do it all the time! Although Stretch Therapy's approach is described as Contract-Relax, I'd completely forgotten about the relax part of my stretch work and was of the opinion the harder, longer and more intense you stretch the better it must be, but this is certainly not the case as Kit mentioned. I must mention I had stretching anxiety too, i.e what if I'm not stretching enough, stretching for long enough etc! In general I'm usually stressed out from work, I wish I was as relaxed as Kit haha. 

The biggest lesson for me was the importance of your body 'feeling safe' and with Kit I managed to relax into middle splits for the first time ever rather than being pushed down or pushing myself down through immense pain. It was amazing to feel my adductors just completely loosen and relax and I was able to go straight down which was a complete revelation. I've now been using this safety concept to help with front oversplits on my right leg, where I'll put a foam block under my bottom and I find it allows me to go from a few inches up in the air to bottom on the floor in about a min or so. Kit also helped me with getting my back to bend for possibly the first time in my life, I used to high jump and would go over like a stiff log instead of the beautiful arch you usually see haha. 

Kit and Olivia are absolutely fantastic instructors and if there was one word I could use to describe Kit it would be JOYFUL! He was so positive, happy and encouraging - I have been raving about this workshop to everyone and can't wait to attend another one. I've come away with a heap of great back and shoulder stretches to work on my posture  and I'm looking forward to seeing how much it can improve. As the workshop was performance, I also learnt a great toe point exercise which I will be implementing as I had no idea how to stretch for this other than unsafe suggestions of jamming your feet under the lounge ballet style! 

 

 

Just to finish my current goals are:

- Get down on my left front splits (it's been 4 months, can this hurry up already please!)

- Work on right front splits to get them cold

- Cold middle splits 

- Reduce my hunch back and slumped shoulders as much as possible through bridge work! 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kit_L]

@the_libbster: Welcome to the Forums! Sorry to take so long to respond to your excellent post; been busy on 10,000 other things and only this evening have had the opportunity to review "Unread Content".

Your routine in the post looks excellent, but (a general comment) 12 hours sitting daily for work is TOO LONG (1), and (2) beware of routines: get down on the floor whenever you can, and find out what the body wants. What a concept! We (the mind in the equation) wants X, Y, and Z, and the faster the better—but what does the body want? Most people have no idea. By getting down on the floor, and feeling your way around, the body will tell you. 

Re. the Hunchback of Notre Dame: if he had only done passive back bends, he would have had to find a new name—they work. Search my YT channel. For the Full Monty, get the Master the back bend program (Vimeo on Demand). I look forward to catching up with you at another workshop, soon.