Johnnie Lieske Posted June 2, 2016 Share Posted June 2, 2016 Newbie here after hearing coach Sommers on Paleo Solution podcast. I'm 51, 6/1" about 160 and touching my toes has been a life long no-go for me. Ever since being a kid. So when I watched the first assessment video and saw that the forward bend was the first step it immediately triggered "hmm, maybe this isn't right for me" symptoms. It's been a constant frustration in yoga classes say, when the instructor who since birth has been able to fold completely in half yet doesn't seem to understand that some people aren't built like that out of the chute. I've never been evaluated on this and have just felt that "hey, I'm long and sinewy" Will I be able to compensate for this issue doing the Foundation courses? Can I look to improve this mobility going forward? Are the manuals/videos/instructors/people on the forums sympathetic to this plight? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Easton Posted June 2, 2016 Share Posted June 2, 2016 I started off 2016 about 7" away from touching my toes doing a standing pike. Now with a bit of warm up I can touch my fingers to the floor. I have done middle split and front split series each once per week since January. I know this isn't record breaking, but over 7" is a huge change in just a few months. The only reason I got there is from taking 45 minutes twice per week stretching. My guess is I am a couple years away from a full pancake, or a pike with my nose to my knees, but I am in it for the long haul and so far I am happy with my progress. It's not impossible, it just take time and committment. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eva Pelegrin Posted June 2, 2016 Share Posted June 2, 2016 We are sympathetic because we all have "mobility issues." Some people are born more gumby or gifted than others, but in my experience, all the people I've worked with who could not touch their toes is not because they were born that way. They never trained mobility, seriously. Period. Plain and simple. If you cannot touch your toes, the more reason to start a mobility program ASAP! We all need mobility training whether we enjoy it or not, just like we all need food. You could say mobility is nutrition for your joints. Not a "nice to have." 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnie Lieske Posted June 2, 2016 Author Share Posted June 2, 2016 I guess what I was looking for was understanding that some people just don't have that mobility and that adjustments need to be made. In yoga me bending over, legs locked was never going to get me to the ground. However one time I had a teacher who was also a tall guy and he told me to go ahead and bend my legs, how to alter the position to get benefit from it because just going over leg locked wasn't going to give me benefit no matter how often I did it. Altered pose, gives me a deeper stretch and then I can bend deeper with locked legs. But it took an alteration to get there and not every bendy 5' yoga instructor seems to get that. Just making sure of that consideration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenEagle Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Just putting the information out there... The initial assessment videos are there to help you find out where you have issues to work on. Rather than serve as a minimal requirement before using the course information in the pursuit of bettering ourselves. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikkel Ravn Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 8 hours ago, Johnnie Lieske said: I guess what I was looking for was understanding that some people just don't have that mobility and that adjustments need to be made. In yoga me bending over, legs locked was never going to get me to the ground. However one time I had a teacher who was also a tall guy and he told me to go ahead and bend my legs, how to alter the position to get benefit from it because just going over leg locked wasn't going to give me benefit no matter how often I did it. Altered pose, gives me a deeper stretch and then I can bend deeper with locked legs. But it took an alteration to get there and not every bendy 5' yoga instructor seems to get that. Just making sure of that consideration. I definitely sympathize. Been at Foundation for ~3 years, and was completely stiff, finger tips at mid shin. Now I can put my palms flat on the floor behind the heels cold. One thing you need to understand about Foundation is that there is no 'bend forward and see if you can reach the floor - Do it again next week and see if you have improved' style of adaptation. This approach is futile in stiff adults, IME. The mobility work in Foundation is almost always loaded, occasionally brutal, and you CAN damage yourself if you go at it hard out of the gate. It is a potent tool that needs to be handled with care, but if treated properly will literally change you. You are stretching your tissue and training your CNS under load, and this will most likely be a complete paradigm shift to you. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petra Dvorak Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Some people are "born" more flexible than others, some are blessed with more muscle mass than others, that IS mostly a matter of genetics, yes! BUT: most people love to train their strong points all life long (because the applause comes more easily), neglecting to train their weaknesses with the excuse that their body is "not made for this or that". Men do weightlifting, women do Yoga. Sure, it's gonna take more effort for a women to get to the same strenght as a man in his twenties... And yes, it's gonna take much more time for a man in his fifties to adapt his connective tissues to more stretch.... Once you understand that everything is trainable - FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION - and that you benefit from training your weaknesses, you might really enjoy the process! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Majerle Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 There is almost certainly nothing about your body that prevents a good pike, and height doesn't matter either. I'm just about your height and can forward bend just fine. You just need to put in the work consistently for long enough to see results, measured in months and years, not days and weeks. Also touching your toes may seem like great flexibility but it's not really that much of a forward bend compared to a full pike. Don't think of it like some insurmountable goal but instead just an incremental step above where you are now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Collins Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 Every human on the the planet has the potential to be able to bend and put there hands on the floor. Simple stretching has obviously not worked for you so you need a different approach. Foundation, Handstand and stretch series is a completely different approach. It has taken many stiff adults and made them mobile. I would also recommend finding a good physio who can work with you. You most likely have many issues with joints, muscles and nerves that will benefit from specific treatment. If you really want to be mobile you will find a way to get there. It will take a lot of effort, discipline and persistence. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Douglas Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 That weighted mobility Ravn mentioned is so fundamentally different to 'bend over and hope for the best' that it's incomparable. Passive unloaded stretching for adults, on its own, is inefficient for improving mobility. I have always been fairly flexible in the back; to the point that have caused myself frustration and stagnation in training as my back has been so flexible as to compensate for tight hamstrings. No amount of passively relaxing through it ever made the flexibility 'stick' and become accessible even without a long warmup. Weighted mobility does it, does it fast and can develop a surprising amount of strength along the way. So yes, we understand that not everyone can currently achieve a pike position We then give you the tools and guidance to start fixing that. Same as I refuse to say 'some people aren't meant to get a maltese,' however, there's not a lot of sense saying people aren't meant to achieve a nice pike. Your road there might be a little longer than others, or not so smooth. It might not even be pleasant, because working on our weaknesses is hard to swallow But yes, we can fix that. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eva Pelegrin Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 On June 2, 2016 at 6:27 PM, Johnnie Lieske said: I guess what I was looking for was understanding that some people just don't have that mobility and that adjustments need to be made. In yoga me bending over, legs locked was never going to get me to the ground. However one time I had a teacher who was also a tall guy and he told me to go ahead and bend my legs, how to alter the position to get benefit from it because just going over leg locked wasn't going to give me benefit no matter how often I did it. Altered pose, gives me a deeper stretch and then I can bend deeper with locked legs. But it took an alteration to get there and not every bendy 5' yoga instructor seems to get that. Just making sure of that consideration. Let go of your "old" thinking and get to work with a "new" and proven system. Results will come. The stiffer you are, the more you need loaded mobility. Cells don't respond to sweet talk, complainis or cursing! To quote one of my teachers, Dr Spina: "Force is the language of the cells." Approaching GST (or anything else in life) by saying "I'm not good at this or this has never worked for me" self talk is the quickest recipe for NOT doing, not achieving. Empty your mind and give GST a chance to teach you what's possible for you and you can thank us later. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kiggundu Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 For whatever reason, it's always a difficult decision to join a new exercise program, particularly once one is past 35 yrs of age. I guess people just don't like venturing into unfamiliar territory past a certain age, so congratulations on your decision to ACT on your vision for a better you in the future. That said, I'd strongly encourage you to view GST more as a program to improve your mobility (not to be confused with flexibility) more so than your strength. Or, to put it another way, without progress in mobility forget about doing proper handstands, press handstands, single leg squats, and many other skills. So, rather than exploring reasons why you don't think you can do something, wouldn't it be more appealing to you to explore ways of how you can do something that you previously thought was impossible? Mobility work is a pain in the a** and the connective tissue is most susceptible to injury because we want to "get there" a lot quicker than our body says we can. Still, none of us has any tendons, joints, or ligaments that are made of sheet metal. The trick in all this is to think of it as a long, tough, slog, rather than a sprint to the finish line. Enroll in the stretch series, where we now have a lot of updated videos to guide the "less flexible" among us a little bit better. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnie Lieske Posted April 18, 2017 Author Share Posted April 18, 2017 Hey folks I'm finally getting back to this. The above poster mentioned enrolling in the stretch series. Looking on the site I don't see anything that jumps out as that. Do I still want to start with Fundamentals? Or is there a more beginner stiff guy place to start? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pauline Taube Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 Hi Johnnie, Thanks for reaching out again. The link below will take you directly to the Stretch series: https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/gb-courses/stretch-series/ Our most beginner friendly course is the Fundamentals. This is a gentle introductory course to GST and it lasts for four weeks (you'll still have lifetime access to the material). This is a great way to assess your body and discover weaknesses and imbalances before moving onto the other courses. In this course you will receive a short lesson every day to follow. You can also begin the Stretch series along with this course. We have a bundle which includes all Stretch series, Fundamentals and Foundation One. Please see the link below: https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/shop/stretch-series/fundamentals-f1-pro-stretch-bundle/ Let us know if you have any more questions 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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