Bendy Body - A Flex-stability Workout - Stretch and Strengthen for Peak Performance with Kristina Nekyia DVD by Kristina Nekyia

I am a yoga instructor, and my yoga practice has certainly made me more flexible over time, but I am NOT someone with much pre-existing natural flexibility. I am always looking for alternative methods of stretching that will enhance my yoga practice.I had tried a previous DVD by instructor Kristina Nekyia that I liked,  Shoulder School , although as the title of that DVD would suggest, it specifically addressed the shoulders. I have had Bendy Body on my wish list for some time, and I finally purchased it. In her introduction, Nekyia talks about how this DVD goes through three different types of flexibility: 1) passive stretching, 2) resistance stretching through contracting and releasing (also called PNF by others), and 3) active stretching via using your own antagonist muscles. She states that the third method is the main focus of the DVD.The DVD Main Menu includes the following segments: Play Bendy Body - Introduction - Stretching the Legs and Hips - Releasing the Lower Back - Opening the Shoulders - Backbends. I have described each of these segments (and given approximate times in parentheses) below.STRETCHING THE LEGS AND HIPS (41.5 minutes)As I moved through this segment, I was surprised that it went on for so long (it would have been nice to break up into an additional 2-3 chapters)! In terms of the exercises, that was fine, as Neykia includes some great moves here. She begins with reclined hamstring work using a strap. These moves will be familiar from both athletic stretching and yoga, but she adds many little twists such as pulses, contract/release, and internal/external rotation. Next comes a variation on Figure 4 stretch with the top leg in the air, taking this leg through a series of dynamic movements. Continuing on the back, Nekyia performs various lying straddle stretches. Seated calf work is follows. Neykia then moves to a kneeling position for a very thorough and unique series of hip stretches, addressing the external hip and hip flexor. She starts with work designed to address the external rotators and help move towards middle splits, then moves towards rear leg lifts, focusing on what she calls the "downstairs butt" to release the hip flexors. From a seated mermaid position, she works on the hips/quads, and then she finishes with more hip flexor work in a kneeling lunge position. At the end of this segment, my entire hip and pelvic area felt WORKED.RELEASING THE LOWER BACK (6 minutes)This was a nice segment that I would have loved to be a bit longer. Here Nekyia is seated in a butterfly position, and she adds forward bending and twisting to this position to release the low back.OPENING THE SHOULDERS (12 minutes)My right (dominant) shoulder tends to get particularly tight, and the work here felt good! Nekyia starts standing with some neck stretches. She then works to attain range of motion in the shoulders in ALL directions. At the end of this segment, she uses a strap with the arms over head, continuing to stretch the shoulders while also getting in a side oblique stretch.BACKBENDS (8 minutes)This segment also begins standing. Nekyia works on opening the upper back, eventually moving towards a back extension in cobra pose. The final work in this section is done kneeling (similar to camel pose in yoga) and working on the upper backbend in this position; this is supposed to be a preparation for a standing drop-back.Overall, I really liked this DVD! It gave me exactly what I wanted--i.e., an effective, thorough, intense full-body stretching program that would enhance my yoga practice and other activities. My only (small) complaint is that the first section is not broken up into smaller chapters, as I know I personally would use the shorter segments more often. Otherwise, I would highly recommend this DVD.

About me: I was once told that the first thing you lose as you age is not your aerobic endurance or your muscle strength. It's your range of motion and flexibility. So, I decided that now that I'm over 30, I should work to make my body more limber. As a bonus, doing a stretch workout makes me feel good about myself without the work of a "real" workout. There are plenty of yoga workouts that serve to increase flexibility, but I find them to be too easy / boring / too much pressure on wrists / or too repetitive. It's surprising that there aren't a ton of non-yoga stretch workout DVD options out there. I wound up getting Bendy Body and Lastics, but I find that, a month or two into it, I prefer Bendy Body and rarely do Lastics.Here are a few of the reasons why:1. Time Commitment: Lastics doesn't have chapters. Lots of people complain about this, but I thought it wouldn't be a big deal because I could fast forward, etc. In the end, I don't have the patience for that, and I rarely have the time to do the entire video, so I pretty much always reach for Bendy Body.2. Repetitiveness: I find Lastics to be really repetitive -- tons of standing, bending over, straightening knees. Tons of time spent on hamstrings. Bendy Body does a good job of pacing - loosening a muscle well and then moving on.3. Inspiration: When I do the Bendy Body video, my husband will see the stretch Kristina has and exclaim "That's insane." I definitely can't get anywhere near Kristina's backbends and won't be able to any day soon (if ever), but seeing her do something truly amazing on screen while explaining how to get there is really inspirational. Lastics feels much less "wow" in comparison.4. Personality: Neither instructor has an annoying personality. However, Kristina has this sultry-secret-seductress but down-to-earth-approachable thing going on that is mesmerizing.

This is a good stretch workout routine for dancers, aerialists, gymnasts, or people who just want to build their flexibility. Good exercises to improve active flexibility as well as range of motion, which is great. The backbends portion is my favorite. I’ve never had backbends feel so good before, and I feel very safe doing them, unlike other backbend exercises I’ve tried. I’m extremely inflexible, but the exercises are easy to adapt to your level.Biggest downsides imo: there’s no warmup, and I don’t like the order of the exercises. After rearranging the order, my body is responding much better than before, and I always do a proper warmup by working out or dancing first.I do recommend you try out this routine, but also encourage you to customize it to get the best results, and most importantly, stick with it!

Brilliant Dvd.Have a 20+ year background in the physical arts and arrogantly thought I knew all there was to know about stretching.Kristinas' dvd has proved me wrong.There is nothing here that is completely new to me but the sequencing and the brilliant explanations have been game changers to me.At the end of the dvd i felt more flexible than i have for ages.Most surprising of all is that the stretches are all presented in a very safe and mechanically sound way.I have incorporated Kristinas' methods into my daily training regime.One of the best instructional videos i've seen, highly recommended.

Very good we'll explain and well demonstrated

Zur DVD kann ich noch nichts sagen, da ich sie erst seit wenigen Minuten in Händen halte aber großes lob an den Versand. Schnell und liebevoll verpackt. Habe mich eben riesig gefreut.