alethea austin pure splits- felix leg stretch

Phoenix Hunter started this discussion · 2/15/2014

for any of you who are familiar with this dvd I have a question for you. after she does the felix leg stretch, she does another stretch where you flex your feet. lift your heels off the floor then point your toes while your heels are still off the ground. Ummmm, this doesn't happen for me. as soon as I point my toes my heels touch the ground again. is due to a lack of flexibility? what do I do to be able to do this stretch? it seems useless to just point my toes with my heels on the ground. should I just keep flexing my feet until my heels are lifted and hold that position. then maybe after doing this for a while I will be able to point my toes with heels off the ground? it really aggravates me that there is NO kind of explanation in the dvd. Good thing I don't rely on her teaching skills, the rest of the dvd has been quite helpful in gaining my splits though.

22 replies

Runemist34 · 2/15/2014
Umm... it's REALLY difficult for me to tell what you're asking, but... are you saying that you hover your heels off the ground while flexing and pointing your toes? Because it just sounds like you might have your heels a little too close to the ground. I mean, your heel is going to move when you flex and point your feet! So, perhaps lifting a little higher? I have the DVD, but... I'm having a super hard time figuring out what you're talking about :/
chemgoddess1 · 2/15/2014
It is less a lack of flexibility as it is a lack of strength. Be sure that your knees are pointing up when you do this and not to the side. You can also work on this with your legs straight in front of you instead of straddled.
Phoenix Hunter · 2/15/2014
Thanks chem! that makes a lot of sense. runemist, it is the stretch she does right after the felix leg stretch.
Lina Spiralyne · 2/15/2014
Ok, I've not seen the video, but from your descriptions it sounds to me that it could depend on if you can hyperextend your knees or not. I guess you're not supposed to lift your legs off the ground?
Phoenix Hunter · 2/15/2014
Exactly Lina!! it looks like she is hyperextending her knees not lifting her legs. she is sitting in a straddle position. legs are not lifted just heels while pointing her toes. feels pretty impossible.
CrazyKosters · 2/15/2014
I have all of her dvd's and I think it is a lack of strength for the move your talking about. Keep practicing, I notice it gets easier the more you do it for obvious reasons. Some of the stuff is pretty hard to do for me anyways.. The one were you sit on your heels and lift your knees up...That one is a doozy for me lol!
StellarMotion · 2/15/2014
Lilredrobinhood, unfortunately many great performers are forced into the industry of instruction even though they have no skill in pedagogy and little understanding of why certain exercises work in their own experience but work poorly for their students. Veena's strength and flexibility exercises are far more useful to a regular pole dance enthusiast than most professional competitors. For more practical and helpful flexibility training try the Veena lessons if you're not already subscribed.
Phoenix Hunter · 2/15/2014
Yep, I use veena's lessons too.
Phoenix Hunter · 2/15/2014
I love veena's lessons, they are very well explained and helpful. I love the alethea dvd and it has really helped and I just accept the lack of explanation for what it is. I have been fortunate that I have a great instructor that taught me some great stretches at my studio too :)
chemgoddess1 · 2/16/2014
Stellar!!! It seems like FOREVER since I have seen you here!
Lina Spiralyne · 2/16/2014
It seems that I had understood the set-up of this exercise correctly then. Still I think that even if it will depend on strength to some extent, it will for many anyway come down to how much/if the knees hyperextend. If the the joint doesn't allow further movement then it just doesn't. See the picture, not many of us will ever do this no matter how strong we'll be: I think Stellarmotion is in principle right in what he says. Most will pick exercises that works for themselves, and may not always realize that not all of them will work so well for others. In the same way as for example professional body builders' advice may not work for ordinary people because most don't have the same advantageous prerequisites as a pro body builder. If the purpose with the exercise is to practice and getting used to keeping legs really straight and feet pointed at the same time, then I like the idea. That is what will give good lines so often in pole. So if it doesn't work out so well for you on the floor, then you can perhaps sit on a chair or something and do the same thing (with the legs in front of you).
Veena · 2/16/2014
I would have to agree with Lina, I also have not see the video, but to me it just sounds like she is contracting her quadriceps and hyperextending her knees. Lifting the legs up while in straddle would be amazingly difficult, so I'm guessing that's not what the exercise is about.
Phoenix Hunter · 2/16/2014
yes! that's what I think she is doing. hyperextending the knees. the camera only really shows her heels/feet , there is no wide camera shot of the rest of her legs. that's why it's so difficult to say what is going on. haha! but yes, I don't think she is just lifting her legs in a straddle. and I think the purpose of the exercise is as Lina says, to get straighter legs while doing splits in the air. thank you everybody for your advice! :) this one has confused me for quite some while. was wondering if I was understanding it correctly.
chemgoddess1 · 2/16/2014
No, she is not hyper extending to this extent. It is more of a stretch/strengthening exercise to train your legs to stay straight. I have been in numerous classes that do this exact same stretch. I want to say it is more of a gymnastics or martial arts type conditioning move as my husband has also done them in his martial arts classes, just not in straddle. If you are sitting in pike and flex your feet bring your heels just off the ground. Most people have no issue doing this. Now with your heels still off the ground point your toes. This is the part that is difficult because it is forcing you to not bend at the knee which is what we typically want to do when we point. This is all that the move is, except she has you doing it in straddle.
Phoenix Hunter · 2/16/2014
I cant do it in pike position either. oh well...
Lina Spiralyne · 2/16/2014
The picture was an example of a hyperextension, how much Alethea Austin hyperextends I don't know. I take ballet lessons since 2-3 years back and am quite used to keeping straight legs and toes pointed at the same time, but I can't do it either, in a pike or whatever.
Phoenix Hunter · 2/16/2014
yes Lina, I think she is doing the same motion but not quite as exaggerated as the picture above. You are pretty darn flexy Lina and not being able to do this exercise hasn't held you back. so that's good news. Ive been told in class recently to straighten my legs more in certain tricks and my legs are really as straight as I can get them. that's one reason why I was wondering about this particular stretch.
Lina Spiralyne · 2/17/2014
Robin, it usually takes years (unless you're already a dancer or gymnast) to get everything to cooperate for good looking lines, so it will probably work out fine for you with time! Don't worry about that particular exercise, because like you said, not being able to do it is not a show stopper. I'm often being complemented exactly for my lines as a matter of fact. You can find other ways to practise this (I still like the idea behind it). Then on the pole you'll just need to get into the routine of always engaging the quads hard when straightening the legs. I guess it fails because there's so much other things to keep in mind at the same time. And something else that I've been thinking of is that when doing aerial front splits, we want to engage the back side of the back leg to pull the legs apart into a split AND the front side (quad) of the same leg (or both legs of course) to get that full extension of the knee. Aren't quads and hamstrings antagonists? It seems that we want to access both simulataneously which leads to conflicts. What do you think?
Krista Bocko · 2/17/2014
^ that pic is creeping me out! :P If I'm understanding this stretch correctly, I can do it and think it's great training for a straight leg and toe point. I don't have any hyperextension anywhere on my body. lol
Lina Spiralyne · 2/17/2014
It's very creepy, agree totally ;)
Jule · 2/17/2014
For me, it was mostly a strength issue. When I first started the DVD, I also wasn't able to get my heely of the ground. Have you tried rotating your legs out? So your knees aren't pointing up to the ceiling but sightly to the side. This helped me a lot to get my heels off the ground :)
Phoenix Hunter · 2/17/2014
haven't tried that Jule, but I will next time. :)