I started my flexibility training as an adult

I realized that in order to pull off exercises like headstand leg raises, bent-arm press to handstands and bridge back flips, I really needed to start working on my flexibility.

I started my mobility training at age 25, but to be honest, I wasn’t really consistent with it. From age 28-29, I took my flexibility routine more seriously and since then, I’ve been stretching almost daily.

I might be pretty strong for a woman but my flexibility was almost non-existent. There was at least 20 cm gap between my hands and the floor when I tried to bend forward. I had absolutely no shoulder flexibility, as when I tried an overhead reach, my arms would be 30 degree forward instead of next to my ears.

To top that, thanks to my muscle issues as a newborn, my muscles were kind of stuck down. As a result, I needed almost a decade to progress in my flexibility, even though I was pretty consistent with it.

It took me 7 years to get my full front splits on both sides

I was practicing my front splits almost every day for years and years, but my progression was hardly noticeable. In 2020 came the breakthrough because I went to a massage therapist (who had years of proper anatomy training, so not a person who went to a 3-day massage course), and she told me that my muscles were extremely stuck down. Well, I knew that, but I didn’t realize the severity of it.

She literally scraped my muscles off of my bones, so much so, that when I came home, I had blue and lilac lines on my back, calves and thighs. Just to see how much muscle she managed to lift off from my bones, I tried my front splits right after I came home from the massage.

Before the massage therapy I had about 5 cm missing from my right, and about 15 cm missing from my left fronts splits. After massage, my right front splits reached the floor, and my left front splits needed only about 5 cm to reach the floor.

Next time I visited her, I told her my success story and she said no matter how hard I was practicing my front splits, without these massage sessions I would have never been able to progress further, as this kind of muscle issue needed external help.

I kept going to her for a whole year and she definitely helped me to loosen my muscles more, so that I could progress further in my flexibility journey.

My standing splits were the same

I literally remember how painful it was to even attempt to hold onto my foot. It was a huge effort not to make faces, so that it wouldn’t be so obvious that I was really struggling.

My hips, hamstrings and glutes were in pain, but I kept practicing it, because it is a nice active stretch that I really needed to get better at my normal front splits. It’s good to see the progress through these images. When I practice it, I feel like I’m going nowhere. More reasons to take progression pictures 🙂

The bridge pose is so unfair

In 2017 I had hardly any basic back, shoulder, upper and mid back and thigh flexibility to even get into the bridge position. It absolutely felt like pure torture. Basically every bone, muscle, tendon, ligament plus my consciousness was fighting this position. It felt like the human body is not supposed to bend like that. At that time it felt absolutely impossible.

But I kept going, and in one year I was able to finally hold my elbows (almost) straight, though they kept bending. It felt like I was a spiral that had to be straightened every time I tried to do the position.

As you can see, there is not much progress between 2018 and 2024, which is 6 years. Though I feel the progress, it’s just not visible. The position feels less alien, still wouldn’t categorize it as second nature, but at least that is the level I can reach without any warm up.

I want my arms to be perpendicular to the floor, but I’m literally stuck in this position, and no matter how many times I practice this position on an elevated surface (under my legs), I just don’t progress any further.

To help my shoulders gain more mobility, my husband uses suction cups on my upper and mid back, because these are still critical areas when it comes to the stuck-down muscles. It helps way better than the foam roller, because I literally need a “muscle-lift” to help separate the muscles from the bones.

I do use the foam roller when I have a specific issue, but for stuck-down muscles, the suction cups are far superior in my specific case.

My Kapotasana was a surprise

I was never able to reach my feet in this medieval torture position, Kapotasana. Every time I tried it, I would feel that my body is being torn in half. And the worst thing about this pose is that as soon as I get into it, I immediately want to get out of it, but at the same time I need to be slow and careful not to hurt myself. It’s like a double torture. It is bad when I enter it, and it is also bad when I exit it.

This image actually gave me a little hope about my upper and mid back issue. It is quite clear that I gained some shoulder and upper back flexibility. I mean, look at my hands and arms. They are at a totally different angle now. I’m absolutely proud of myself 🙂

My pancake stretch was also hard to reach

I was stuck with my pancake stretch progression for years as I couldn’t reach the floor with my chin. Then after the massage therapy, I reached the floor with my chin and 4 years later I can touch the ground with my chest. My goal is to touch the floor with my belly button, and I’m pretty close to reach it, but I still need more time to do it.

It’s a bit daunting to feel that I’m almost there, and then one or two years need to pass so that I can reach it. But looking at these progression images I’m quite optimistic about this stretch.

Giving up has never been an option for me

Even though I am literally stuck in certain flexibility exercises and can’t really progress further on my own, I keep on practicing almost every day. Whatever amount of flexibility I managed to reach, I really want to keep, so I need to stay consistent, otherwise I’ll lose my flexibility gains.

I want to be able to do a bridge flip (standing –> bridge –> flip back to standing) but without upper back mobility I can’t really lift off the floor with my leg, unless my leg is elevated. Right now I’m practicing it on a box, so hopefully in the next couple of years I’ll get this cool trick.

I also want to do the straight arm press to handstand, but even though I have my pancake stretch and front splits, my upper and mid back is missing from the equation and I keep bending my elbows because I just can’t get my hips above my shoulders for the initial lift-off.

Because every flexibility exercise takes me a lot of time to reach, I never really had a quitter mindset. After all, some people need a couple of months to get flexible, and other need years. I’m obviously the latter, so giving up has never been an option for me. Looking back on these images makes me want to spend even more time with my flexibility routine 🙂

In a later post, I’ll write about each flexibility exercise in more detail my Dear Imaginary Readers, so you can understand better the true struggle behind these progress images.