There may be many people who don't even understand why it's a victory, but.... I managed downward dog with "heels on the floor" and "straight knees" for the first time in my life. Those two just have never been compatible to me. I have long considered downward dog as my nemesis.
Seriously, I have never seen anyone around me who is less flexible than me! I didn't feel anything particularly bad about it and took it as what it is, but it made me dislike stretching and yoga. Until quite recently, I couldn't even properly do the "sit" part in a "sit and reach" position lol. (Now I can reach my toes, though not always!) I also have short achilles tendons.
My battle with the downward dog is loooooong. More or less 10 years ago, I took yoga classes during summer vacations. I was the only person there who couldn't do it without knees bent and I was even the youngest! (My instructor at that time taught me to rather bend knees than have heels off the floor.) A few years later I was told by a massage therapist to do the downward dog regularly because my body was so so stiff. So I started practicing a minute-long downward dog a few times a week but didn't see much improvement.
And last night, doing cooldown in Kelli's UB workout, I suddenly found my knees straight with my heels touching the floor! It was the shock of the year to me, if not more. I was feeling my form improving since I started working out with FB last summer, but still was thinking it would took years (if ever possible) to reach that status. I still think it's odd that FB workouts have managed to do what yoga classes couldn't, because my workout routine doesn't focus on flexibility. Of course all my past effort must have contributed but the improvement felt much faster in the last few months... how???
I do feel motivated to care more about flexibility so that it doesn't become a just one-time success!
As a starting point, I'm gonna stop complaining about Kelli's workouts almost always having downward dog.....
And my next goal is... maybe.... having my butt touch my heels while doing child's pose?😂 Lol so many problematic poses for me.
NSV
There may be many people who don't even understand why it's a victory, but.... I managed downward dog with "heels on the floor" and "straight knees" for the first time in my life. Those two just have never been compatible to me. I have long considered downward dog as my nemesis.
Seriously, I have never seen anyone around me who is less flexible than me! I didn't feel anything particularly bad about it and took it as what it is, but it made me dislike stretching and yoga. Until quite recently, I couldn't even properly do the "sit" part in a "sit and reach" position lol. (Now I can reach my toes, though not always!) I also have short achilles tendons.
My battle with the downward dog is loooooong. More or less 10 years ago, I took yoga classes during summer vacations. I was the only person there who couldn't do it without knees bent and I was even the youngest! (My instructor at that time taught me to rather bend knees than have heels off the floor.) A few years later I was told by a massage therapist to do the downward dog regularly because my body was so so stiff. So I started practicing a minute-long downward dog a few times a week but didn't see much improvement.
And last night, doing cooldown in Kelli's UB workout, I suddenly found my knees straight with my heels touching the floor! It was the shock of the year to me, if not more. I was feeling my form improving since I started working out with FB last summer, but still was thinking it would took years (if ever possible) to reach that status. I still think it's odd that FB workouts have managed to do what yoga classes couldn't, because my workout routine doesn't focus on flexibility. Of course all my past effort must have contributed but the improvement felt much faster in the last few months... how???
I do feel motivated to care more about flexibility so that it doesn't become a just one-time success!
As a starting point, I'm gonna stop complaining about Kelli's workouts almost always having downward dog.....
And my next goal is... maybe.... having my butt touch my heels while doing child's pose?😂 Lol so many problematic poses for me.