Got called on my suggestion in the previous post that you could work on dropbacks with little or no warm-up. I wouldn't have thought so either but I'm pretty sure that it was Susan who told me it was something you could do anytime, anyplace, anywhere. I do tend to warm up for five minutes or so but thought that seeing as I was defending the anytime, anyplace any......well you get the idea, then I should get up and prove it.
The video below then is without any warm-up other than just popping up the shops and laying out the Manduka.
So what does this mean? I'm no Susan, nowhere near as flexible, so it's not about flexibility. I didn't feel any strain anywhere, probably because the backbend is spread out. I'm not just bending my back. it begins with dropping my shoulder down my back , dropping back my head, my shoulders. Then quite a bit of a bend in the Thoracic, though not too much because I'm aware that I haven't warmed up. A little bit of bend no doubt in the Lumbar region then it's pushing the hips forward, sliding my hands down below my backside and pushing there and even down at my thighs. All this before I raise my hands to my chest and give it the last little bit, oh and note too that my knees are quite far forward bending at the ankle.
My point is that if the bend is really spread out throughout the whole length of the body then i think you can do it with out the warm up. If you focus on any one area and try to over stretch it, then you probably will strain yourself. Of course at the end of a practice when I am warmed up, then I can of course make it all a little deeper and drop back from even closer to the ground.
Standing where I do I make sure that I can see quite a bit of the mat before I drop back. As long as I can see it then I'm confident to drop. In the end it seems it's more about technique, spreading out the bend, and confidence rather than JUST flexibility.
5 comments:
Wow, just like on "The Ultimate Fighter"! The Brits are kicking the Americans' asses. Liz, are you going to take that?! Go do a dropback, girl!
Seriously, though, Grimmly, you are my hero.
Now for a little story. I am weirdly obsessed with the idea of doing backbends cold. I have HUGE superstitions/fears about actually doing it, though. Last summer, when I did a workshop with Matthew Sweeney, I found myself standing next to him at the end of a practice session as everyone kind of milled about and wandered off. Here was my moment to speak to him privately, about anything I wanted! Did I ask him about the relationship of asana and meditation? Did I ask for tips on a particular pose? Did I quiz him on some fine points of Chandra Krama? Nope. I asked him if he could do a dropback without warming up.
He said he could. Then he looked abashed and said it wouldn't be as good as one when he was warmed up. And then he looked kind of perplexed that he was even answering my weirdo question.
Your post totally made my day.
"You are my hero"
well you don't hear that everyday, THAT made my morning, thank you fair lady.
Love the bemused MS story, sure I would have asked him about something just as random (to him though not to me)about the Jump through.
Oh, notice I don't try to come back up again without warming up....no need to be silly.
Karen, though I love a challenge, I cannot participate in the Ultimate Drop Back Challenge! I might do it, but then be bed ridden for days!
Other stuff I can do cold- legs behind head and handstands (but fear the drop over to backbend because of the intense superstition of the cold back!).
Grimmly, you are definitely one of a kind.
You can get your legs behind your head Cold. Now that's something I would worry about. I think I tweaked a hamstring about a tear ago and only just noticed this week that I don't feel it anymore.
So is it your back your worried about Liz or landing on your head?
ha! I don't normally whip my legs behind my head cold- I just know I can do it!
Dropping over from a handstand into a backbend (if I were cold or super stiff) only worries me because I tend to land like a coffee table out of fear of tweaking a cold lower back. I never worry about landing on my head, that just doesn't happen. It's more the pounding of the legs so hard into the floor. When I'm warm, I land with minimal thudding because I'm able to curl into a mini scorpion. -so, yes, I'm more worried about my back!
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