u/Frosty_Solid_7328

I’ve been doing the figure 4 stretch for decades, but only learned today that it’s a glute stretch! I always feel it in the front of the hip (a strong, sore, localised sensation) and never in the glutes.

I also feel the stretch only in the front of the hip in other glute stretches as well: pigeon, double pigeon (firelog), shoelace (cowface), etc. Is this normal?

I unfortunately have a very protruding lower belly, large thighs, and a large butt. I understand what proper pelvic alignment should look like on an average person but I have difficulty finding it on myself especially because of the protrusion of my lower belly and butt. It always looks like I'm in an anterior pelvic tilt no matter how much I try to "tuck under."

Does anyone have any tips for finding neutral pelvic alignment on a fat person like me? Thanks heaps!

I know I should go to the doctor but I absolutely cannot afford any doctor visits or physical therapy at the moment on woolies wages. I’d appreciate any advice on things I could do while I save up for a visit.

I’ve been working online for over half a year now. About two months in I started developing wrist pain and lower back pain and they have never gone away. I feel the most pain when lifting water and stacking or lifting totes onto shelves.

I’ve searched online and have been doing the following for at least 4 months consistently but they haven’t helped:

• not rounding my back when bending down, keeping my back straight and bending at the knees
• wear max cushioned shoes, cushioned insoles and compression socks, alternate shoes daily and replace insoles regularly
• wear wrist braces and lower back brace
• take hot baths with epsom salt and oral magnesium supplements
• do pilates and yoga, massage with a foam roller and lacrosse balls
• stretch regularly

I’d appreciate any advice on what else I could do, or what I might be doing wrong. Thanks in advance!

Couldn’t find a better picture, but I mean with the top leg straight and the hips neutral, instead of the top leg bent and the hip flexed like in the picture.

https://preview.redd.it/ej66i75e581h1.png?width=415&format=png&auto=webp&s=a25f4a2bd328944072ba7e85d6bd58d268c61626

In my understanding, the two drills are the same, just one is done lying on the side and the other lying on the stomach (for the first picture, I mean top leg straight and hip neutral, resting the foot on a block. I couldn’t find an appropriate picture).

However, I can externally rotate my leg a lot (more than 45 degrees) when I lie on my side, but I can barely rotate my leg (around 10 degrees) when I lie on my stomach.

Are they different? Is lying on the stomach a lot more difficult?

https://preview.redd.it/0pi68qze4h0h1.jpg?width=367&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f821d4eeb88a382f35cc0e64007c58163091dcb9

(picture is not me. I took a screenshot in the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq3RczgS2iI)

My standing turnout in fifth is terrible and it looks exactly like the picture above.

I already learned that I should tendu and dégagé diagonally in the direction my foot is pointing instead of directly to the side.

However, I’ve also found that my lack of turnout creates a lot of other problems that teachers never really explained how to work around. For example:

1. I can’t lower directly from sous sus because I’ll step on my other foot.
2. I can’t lower directly from passé or retiré because I’ll step on my other foot.
3. Glissades and balancés travel diagonally. If I try to travel directly sideward, it looks awful because my leg isn’t turned out enough.
4. When I tendu or dégagé to the side, the movement becomes triangular because my working leg has to move quite far forward to close front and quite far back to close back. It ends up looking more like a rond de jambe than a side tendu/dégagé.
5. I feel like my weight is positioned between my legs because of how far apart they are in fifth, instead of being centred over two legs that are glued together.
6. I’m prone to landing one foot on top of the other in petit allegro (for example changements). To avoid it, I have to deliberately leave a gap between my legs when landing.

If it’s relevant, I’ve been doing ballet on and off for around 5 to 7 years as cross training for rhythmic gymnastics (only 1-2 class per week). My standing turnout sadly never improved even though my flexibility in other areas keeps improving. In addition to gymnastic techniques, I do stretching, conditioning, strength training, Pilates, and yoga every day.

My lack of standing turnout is not a glaring issue in rhythmic gymnastics because my turnout in retiré is good so my fouettes and pirouettes look ok (with standing leg turned in - which is not a problem in RG) and other techniques don't use standing turnout much.

However, it certainly is a huge problem in ballet and it goes in the way in everything I do.

Has anyone dealt with this kind of turnout limitation before? How were you taught to modify technique? Can anyone advise what I should do? Thanks in advance.

I’ve seen a few comments on this sub saying that backbends aren’t really stretching the back but more the front body, which makes sense to me.

But when I practice backbends, I mainly feel it in my back, especially around the shoulder blades and along the spine. It feels more like I’m compressing or “squeezing” the bones (shoulders, back of the ribcage, spine) rather than stretching the front body muscles. I also feel it more like a "bone stretch" rather than a muscle stretch compared to something like a hamstring stretch.

Is this normal, or am I doing something off? Should I be adjusting my technique to “activate” the front body?

Many thanks!