HI! Thank you for such a sweet message. It’s really nice to get these kinds of messages 🙂
I want to mention I’m not a health professional by any means. I’m not a fitness professional. I’m just a robot that loves rope and pushing myself. That being said…
…The first thing I like to tell people when it comes to flexibility is that, it is NOT A COMPETITION with other people. I used to really get down on myself because I would look at picture after picture of armbinder/strappado and be so upset that my elbows don’t touch. It took me long time to ever get out of that mindset and it really robbed me of the joy of bondage for a long time. I get that sometimes a little healthy competition is good, but be mindful of it. The only person you are looking to become more flexible is yourself and the best thing to do is monitor your own progress, not compare to anyone else’s!
I noticed that most people tend to have more flexibility in one around than another. My back and lower body are more flexible than my upper body. I decided to take advantage of that and work on even more lower body flexibility. I think that it’s a great self esteem booster. Some people want to work on something that’s super difficult right away, and that’s okay, too. You can choose whatever makes you happiest 🙂
A great deal of flexibility comes down to being patient. I used to want things to happen overnight and be upset when I didn’t notice a difference after 2 weeks and stop. and viola! I never got any better. The trick is to work on it 4-5 times a week, with sufficient break and rest in between. I take pictures of progress. Maybe once a week. Maybe once a month. Maybe only when I notice a big change, but photographic evidence is super helpful.
Yoga is a great source for a lot of rope-related things: learning to breathe and process weird positions, and increasing flexibility. I usually recommend the un-fun, long, boring yoga if you want to increase flexibility. If you are new to yoga, youtube.com has tons of free yoga clips.
Lots of kink events nowadays even feature a yoga for rope/yoga for all body types/yoga for kinksters classes. I highly recommend this option! Not only will you have an instructor to help, you’ll be with tons of like minded friends 🙂
I also like to do a lot of rope assisted stretches. Sometimes I tie a single column around my ankle and use that to stretch my hamstrings, or I might grab both ends of the rope and pull it behind my head to stretch my back and shoulders. I never go straight into these stretches- I usually warm up with some pole work (I have a pole at my house) or some other form of exercise. Stretching cold muscles via static stretches can be really hard on the body.
Hydration is key for me. If I’m not well hydrated, I ain’t bending. Period.
I’m sure there are millions of other things to help, but I can’t think of anything at the moment. If anyone out there would like to add anything, please do!
