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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by alexandra_k on September 23, 2013, at 23:31:37
so, apparently the series of ads were very controversial. some people loved them, thought they were beautiful and inspiring. other people hated them, and thought they were almost pornographic.
ye be the judge:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiVYFX-wu-Q
i do get the tension. i think that is why i think of exercise as a private thing, really. because... well, i just think that it is.
i wonder if olympic athletes like to be watched or if (at least some of them) just suck it up as the price they have to pay in order to get to properly practice their sport (to have access to proper facility and coaching)
especially the volleyball girls.
i'm working on my handstand. mostly because i have been inspired by the handstand to downdog transition. i would love to have that kind of control over my body (that is what 'core strength' really is, people, not the ability to do a bajillion crunches). i can do quite a lot from headstand... but not anywhere near so much from handstand. don't have the core strength to lift my hips up to get them stacked up on top of my shoulders without kicking them up fairly hard with a deep bend in my legs. and i can't stay balanced in a handstand for particularly long either. and no hope of lowering my legs keeping my hips stacked like that.
still... it was only... 9 months ago that i learned to do a headstand at all. so i guess that is not too bad... sometimes i see progress. mostly i don't. but it is kind of fun. and i don't fear falling from a handstand anywhere near as much as i used to. i'm working on doing an L sit, too. holding my legs out at 90 degrees from the dip station. struggling a lot with a tuck hold at present - especially when you push your hips forward. i think my hips are a bit too wide... this is probably why female gymnasts don't do parallel bars (since girls don't typically have shoulders wider than their hips). would like to work to holding my legs up off the ground and balancing on my hands on the floor. then... transitions to handstand, of course.
my legs are f*ck*d. so... i should be able to balance on my hands, i think. perhaps one day.
something to do, anyway. keeps me entertained ha.
Posted by Partlycloudy on September 24, 2013, at 20:18:21
In reply to self control, posted by alexandra_k on September 23, 2013, at 23:31:37
For me, exercise is intensely personal. I have always thought of myself as klutzy and ungainly. Did poorly at school with all skills of gym.
So I tend to stay the heck out of gyms!!but there are some forms of exercise that I quite love to do. One is belly dancing, because it's all about isometrics, slower is better, always, and concealing is the point. It's not about burlesque (or shouldn't be).
The other exercise I have embraced is yoga, because it is so very good at settling my monkey mind, yet it requires a lot of endurance, and form is precise and important (thinking of your head stands). I don't hesitate using props like chairs, straps, blocks, my mat, and a good empty wall for some inversions.
The main thing about these exercises is that they need never be competitive, which is important to me. And I am much stronger than I give myself credit for.
Posted by alexandra_k on September 25, 2013, at 20:02:49
In reply to Re: self control, posted by Partlycloudy on September 24, 2013, at 20:18:21
I did poorly at PE in school, too. Mostly because it was competitive, I think. And because they were more interested in watching us and picking the 'naturally best' than in giving us any kind of formal instruction and picking those with 'most potential' (if there is such a distinction to be made). E.g., I couldn't throw. Nobody bothered to teach me. I was naturally good at High Jump. But then all of a sudden the kids started with the back flip technique instead of the split jump. And I wasn't competitive anymore. Again. Nobody bothered to teach me. I didn't get picked for school gymnastics because I couldn't do a handstand. Again. Nobody bothered to teach me.
Bellydancing sounds great. Control, again. I fractured my spine... I remember my Mexican friend trying to teach me to Salsa. Western people are all 'up and down' and can't move their hips, he was saying. He was right... Even Zumba... Freeing the pelvis from the lumbar spine...
Yoga is good, yeah. That is where I got this from... Part of a sun salutation sequence (I love sun salutations but I've never got up at the crack of dawn to do them, admittedly). I saw the handstand as part of a down-dog to forward fold transition. Down-dog to handstand to forward fold. That is what inspired me. Of course... It is gymnastics inspired, too. I suspect the yoga person who did it was gymnastics trained... But there are similarities in physical activity (proper movement) perhaps like there are similarities in the worlds major religions if you dig deep enough...
> The main thing about these exercises is that they need never be competitive, which is important to me. And I am much stronger than I give myself credit for.Yeah. I found... Competing with others mostly left me feeling inferior. Or... That is got me outside myself in some way that wasn't useful. I compete against myself... Being inspired by seeing myself make progress... But mostly... I've had to learn to go easy on that one, too.
For a while there... I really did just focus on training every day. And eating for training. I did that for quite a while, actually. Most of last year. And even before that... I was never close to elite level. But I got confused about strength standards (intended to be inspiring for division one 18 year old college level athletes who were new to *strength training* (and where female standards weren't particularly adapted from male)) and berated myself on why I wasn't progressing faster towards those (as a very beat up new to exercise 30 year old) ahahahahaha. Like why 1 chin up was so f*ck*ng hard when I should be able to belt out 4 or 5 of them. Or why I couldn't squat my bodyweight (around 70kg) for reps (all the way down). I don't push myself as hard as I once did. And I don't sleep for 13 hours of every day as I once needed to, either.
There is a middle ground to be sure.
I'm trying to enjoy playing more now. Less heavy (for me) weights... More movements... Like the handstand, thing. I can walk my hands forwards so I won't fall over backwards. And I can transition to cartwheel if I start to fall to the side. So I... Can't hurt myself practicing handstand anymore. I am invulnerable mwahahahaha.
Posted by Partlycloudy on September 25, 2013, at 22:33:32
In reply to Re: self control, posted by alexandra_k on September 25, 2013, at 20:02:49
Just so you know, everybody - or every body - can belly dance. If you have trouble mastering hip or waist gestures, then the expression can transfer to your arms. Or veil work. I guess that's one of the things I thought was so empowering. That no matter our body shape or limitations, we could still perform glorious dance.
I must return to it. It did a lot for my self esteem, my nimbleness, and I found I could adapt many musical forms to the dance. Great freedom of expression, if you're not dancing in a troupe.
Posted by baseball55 on September 26, 2013, at 19:26:45
In reply to Re: self control, posted by alexandra_k on September 25, 2013, at 20:02:49
I'm amazed that you can even almost do a handstand. And a cartwheel? Never could do that. Even at that 6-7 year age where all kids do cartwheels.
I am a physical coward. I won't ride bikes on streets with lots of cars. I don't like going fast downhill in any kind of device. I stopped hiking after a bad accident while I was hiking alone.
I sometimes accompany my daughter to a yoga class when she is visiting and the teacher just says do what you can, so while others are doing headstands and handstands, I practice just standing on one leg without falling over.
On the other hand, I have lifted weights for decades. I've had to cut back recently because of a bad injury, but I was very strong. Could lift more weight in some exercises than most of the men at the gym. And I was, for a long, long time, the only female in the weight room.
I like lifting weights because it's not competitive (for me anyway), there's no danger of getting killed or badly injured and it doesn't just plain scare me the way handstands do.
So cheers to you that you're attempting handstands. I feel like some idiot, out-of-shape old lady in yoga classes. Which, in fact, I am.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 15, 2013, at 20:20:41
In reply to Re: self control, posted by Partlycloudy on September 25, 2013, at 22:33:32
that is cool. i particularly like it for the spinal rotation, though. i get some clicks out of it... i think it is good for it. figure 8's on the gym ball, too.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 15, 2013, at 21:13:56
In reply to Re: self control, posted by baseball55 on September 26, 2013, at 19:26:45
i couldn't do handstands or cartwheels as a kid, either. more than 10 years ago i seriously smashed up my feet. was told i'd probably never walk again without crutches. i managed to walk without crutches, but my balance was pretty sucky. and my posture was pretty bad from computer work etc. then i joined the gym in the hope that i wouldn't get seriously fat when i quit smoking (2 weeks later). also in the hope i might be able to fix up my posture a bit. and just generally be fitter and healthier and in less pain.
i then... grew obsessed with it. with figuring out what movements really were 'functional' for the human body. and figuring out how they would look different as a function of different lever lengths etc. i have a big rant on how most coaching cues are unsuitable for most women's bodies etc etc etc but i will spare you.
my biggest fear... was falling. that i would fall onto one or other of my feet funny and smash it properly this time. so i thought... what i most needed to do was to learn to fall safely. part of why i'm so determined to balance properly on my hands is that i still have a lot of trouble balancing properly on my feet. i've learned... that most people do... it is hard. i find balancing on my hands about as hard as balancing on one leg. and it isn't just about my feet / ankles because if i kneel... then lift one leg up so i'm balancing on one leg / knee... well... that is pretty hard, too.
(so it isn't just about the ankle, it is also about the hip)
it is hard when people are uptight about it... but i reckon the key is to see it as play. this horse has the idea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emxI-nRGWBE
with the getting hurt thing... for anything... there is a series of progressions such that each can be failed safely given current level of skill. it is like with olympic weightlifting... you need to learn to fail so you can give yourself permission to try.
i learned cartwheels because they are a safe way of coping with loss of balance sideways on handstand. i'm learning to walk with my hands to cope with loss of balance backwards on handstand. i ... i don't think i can hurt myself on them anymore.
i started out with headstand. because you can practice raising one foot just a little up off the ground... then two feet just a little... then raise them higher as things feel safe... then how you can slam your feet down or tuck to roll if you lose balance the other way... spent a long time on them and that helped a lot...
i do know what you mean about feeling out of place, though. i can do quite a lot now. but i remember when i first started... that daunted feeling... and i see that a lot in the gym. on other peoples faces. i try and smile nicely to the people who are new and who are obviously scared. especially to the ones who feel they don't fit. i have a harder time around the ones who are there to be seen... mostly because they tend to be nasty to me since i'm not there to make friends with them.
i used to have a video of me learning to fall safely... i got all inspired by this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2qwQgBt_A
they taught me to headstand :-)
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