ballet stretching

Somehow stretches are useful for fitness and split .Way back when I would have considered myself to be a contortionist. I was super flexible and loved to freak people out by putting my legs over my shoulders. I would do the splits with my legs sideways and then lie down for the longest time. I stayed like that for ages it seemed.

I loved to do the Olga Korbut mount on the beam. Jump up onto the beam with an immediate side split. Put your hands out to the side. Couldn't do a whole lot more than that, but for that one minute,  I impressed everyone.

I had scoliosis . When I went to the doctors they were going to do a massive surgery and put rods in my spine. One of the docs came up to me and lifted me up by my head and apparently my spine straightened out. Because of my flexibility, my spine straightened enough and I avoided surgery. Yeah! I got a Milwaukee brace instead that I had to wear for a year or so.

I figured out how to do back walkovers in that brace. Looked pretty weird, but I did it. I was quite proud of myself. Kids looked at me weird for having this neck to hip brace and it was depressing to be looked at as a weirdo.

Today I cannot do squat. I have health issues up the kazoo.

ballet stretching

I get my thrill vicariously by going to Cirque du Soleil and thinking how one day long ago, I was able to do most of that stuff. I imagine those performers will have health problems when they get older.

https://www.easyflexibility.com/collections/ballet