Hip Flexors Strength and Fan Kicks ?

CatsEyes started this discussion · 7/29/2014

Hello everyone, My fan kicks are really bad and I was wondering it has anything to do with a lack of hip flexors strength. I know I have very flexible hip flexors (my entire legs and knees touch the floor when I am doing that butterfly exercices for hip flexors), I have both my right and left split but how do you know if you have strong hip flexors ? I can aerial V quite easily as well so fortunately I can cheat a little bit and make my fan kicks look bigger, but otherwise... for some reason, my fan kicks are pretty ugly and my legs feel so heavy ! How can I improve them ?

5 replies

Rachel Osborne · 7/29/2014
I practice doing them really slowly (see 2:02 min in vid https://www.studioveena.com/videos/view/53b75b60-2904-4591-ab52-310d0a9aa0eb) and I use my dominant hand highest whichever direction I'm going, plus use my lower core/abs a lot. Slow straddle elbow stands up against pole helps with ab training and hip flexor strength for this and many other moves. Also doing ballet developee.
Veena · 7/29/2014
If you have the lessons here, the Hip Flexor Lift lesson is helpful https://www.studioveena.com/lessons/view/4e1af31f-dc20-4e77-bd07-301c0ac37250 Also the Lower Body Routine will help. https://www.studioveena.com/lessons/view/52e9d171-5724-43b2-8784-47960a9aa0eb
Rachel Osborne · 7/29/2014
Those lessons are awesome Veena!
CatsEyes · 7/30/2014
Alright ! Thank you Tropical Pole and Veena. I don't have any trouble with my straddle elbow stands up, I can even do them without the pole behind me so I think it's really not a problem with my core but I will work on that as well, I hope I'll wee some improvements !
PolarGirl · 7/31/2014
Hmmm. I feel like I totally understand what you are saying here. I can aerial invert with straight legs so I don't think it's a "core" issue -- but for some reason aerial fan kicks don't feel super graceful to me, especially on one side. (Fan kicks from the floor are no problem at all, even though I feel like I'm not actually pushing off the floor but working to lift the legs instead...though I obviously I must be pushing off the floor a bit.) It's like that first leg doesn't want to lift. The second leg has no issue. So I'm wondering if it could be a hip abductor weakness? Since it's the lifting up AND to the lateral side that gives me trouble (as opposed to just lifting up), while the lifting up medially is not a problem. Just brainstorming here...