100 Day Challenge | Contortion Flexibility | Days 18-37

Amanda Nicole Smith100 Day Contortion Challenge 1, Fitness, Flexibility 1 Comment

Wintertime training is brutal but I never quit!

I can’t stress enough how hard this has been during the freezing weather, my muscles freeze up and it takes about an hour just to warm up. Most of the time I don’t have 2 hours to dedicate to stretching until I made time! My friend from Chic Physique, Dee,  and I decided to make a tradition every saturday at noon to stretch together. It is always nice to have a partner that can help you, give you tips and support you.

Tea has also been a major supporter for my immune system and keeps me nice and warm. I have been mixing 3 amazing herbs that I buy from MOM’s organic market in Maryland. I love experimenting with herbs and learning about all of their benefits. It always amazes me at what these herbs can do for all our body systems. I’m using echinacea, yarrow, ginkgo biloba, ginger and ceylon cinnamon for one brew and dandelion root, dandelion leaf, raspberry leaf,  and ginger in another brew. I’m currently writing a post all about it so check back soon! Here is my immunity boosting winter stretching tea!

These upcoming weeks I’m also going to focus on the names of all the moves. I may need to make myself a guide or something to help me remember which I will certainly share with all of you. Most of these poses are yoga poses but some of them are contortion moves and some may not even have a name, this should be a fun little project.

Progress

100 Day Challenge | Contortion Flexibility | Days 1-5

100 Day Challenge | Contortion Flexibility | Day 7-15

100 Day Challenge | Controtion Flexibility | Day 38-69

100 Day Challenge | Contortion Flexibility | Days 100

 Day 18

This is what I would call a maintenance day. All I did were some basic stretches from the new Fit and Bendy dvd Get Bent- Circus Style Flexibility Training with Kristina Nekyia. I only did the warm ups because I didn’t have more than an hour and it was really cold. I did however like the warm-up routine! It was nice to just focus on the basics, get a little warm, stregthen and stretch at the same time and overall just take it easy. That’s the biggest thing I learned in this challenge, you don’t have to intensely stretch everyday just keep moving, use your full range of motion and you won’t go backwards.

It’s okay to take a day or 2 off if you’re feeling achy, we all heal a different pace, so I recommend finding yours. There are many ways to speed up recovery time, like eat a balanced diet incorporating as many greens, herbs, spices and raw veggies as possible. Try to buy produce that is fresh, directly from the farmer so you know you are getting the most nutrients out of your food. Also make sure your food is grown without synthetic fertilizers and chemical baths. Foods that are rich in nutrients gives us energy and give your cells the building blocks they need to regenerate new muscle cells. Essential oil lavender also helps for aches, and bruises. It has a calming soothing effect that can really help you relax. The last thing that is absolutely necessary for a fast recovery is sleep and rest, just chill. 🙂

 Day 30

Day 30 was a pretty good day to look back on. I’m not sure I see any major improvements, except for my middle split but at least the moves are getting easier every time I try them. Also looking back I kept thinking slow down, I don’t think I embraced the pain or pushed myself as much today. Even though the clips are in fast motion you can still tell I wasn’t going deep into the stretches before coming out.

Middle Split

 

 Day 37

Day 37 was the best day ever for my handstands! I couldn’t believe how close I was to touching my head with my feet in a handstand! I know that with force and pulling I can touch my feet to my head but now I can use specific muscles to pull my legs in closer and raise my neck farther. This is all done by dynamic stretching, specifically what I think helped most was the trying to kick the back of my head with my foot while on all fours. This  exercise strengthens your back muscles and the muscles in your legs.  That’s not the only dynamic stretch, there are tons!

Not only was day 37 a great handstand day it was also a on the verge of a sick day. I am human and so I ate a bunch of wheat, sugar and drank some local beer. The wheat may have been organic ,sprouted and stoneground but it still converts to sugar in the digestion process. All this sugar causes problems for me every time. You’d be amazed at how easily it is to throw your system off balance when you closely monitor your food intake. So to be able to keep my saturday stretching tradition with Dee I needed to take extra good care of myself. I drank my nettle infusion, immune boosting tea,  ate a lot of grapefruit and pineapple and off I went to the studio. I had been sneezing an blowing my nose constantly the day before and was a bit skeptical as to how I was going to stretch. But after all that amazing tea and food I felt 50% better. The key to the day was I had to be very careful with my breathing. I breathed extra deep and extra long and to my surprise my nose cleared up and I had one of the best stretching days ever! When I got home I ate a huge salad with my fermented pak dong,  a bunch of greens, sprouts, ginger and garlic. For dessert I made my 5 minute sugar-mess cookies and On day 38 I was completely healed. I continued to eat my more alkalized diet and the sniffles never returned!

Contortion Handstand

Forearm stand

Happy Stretching,

Comments 1

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