I've gathered quite the collection of DVDs so I can improve my strength and flexibility at home and I thought now would be a great time to tell you what I think of them and whether I'd recommend them for different levels of fitness and flexibility. So let's get started!
First up: Cleo the Hurricane's Rockin' Legs and Abs
Cleo is well known for having some of the longest and flexiest legs in pole dancing. She's won Miss Pole Dance Australia 2012 and 2014 with insane splits, earth-shattering heel bangs that look absolutely impossible and a rockin' soundtrack. So how does her DVD hold up?
Rockin' Legs and Abs is intense, there's no other word for it. The warm up alone will have you sweating before Cleo takes you into strengthening exercises for your abs and legs that will make you feel a bit like crying. Leg circles, kicks and raises on both of your legs (you'll learn to dread the phrases "and 8 again!" and "Other way!" before long) will have them feeling like jelly, but there's a great sense of accomplishment when you get through all this craziness and make it through to the definitely more relaxing splits sections.
The Rockin' Abs section is a lot shorter than I would like, although it does feel quite intense when you're doing it. The majority of the DVD is dedicated to your legs and it would be nice to see some more exercises focused on the abs to really get that strength up. Although you won't hear me complaining about the lack of plank.
Lunges, High Kicks and Holds in particular requires quite a bit of room to avoid kicking everything around you and it can be difficult to correctly do these moves and really feel the benefit from them in a small space like mine. As a result, this is my least favorite section even though it's the one I want to see the most improvement in because I just don't have the space.
The final sections dedicated to getting down into your splits offer a number of different ways to stretch, including just holding the position, squeezing your muscles for PNF stretching and other related stretches to help open up different areas of your legs. This is really helpful and I've found my splits improving a lot from doing this on a regular basis.
Cleo is very enthusiastic throughout the DVD and is always encouraging safe stretching, particularly in positions that can be pretty strenuous like straddles and middle splits. She also offers lots of direction including giving you specific instructions on what positions to be in, counting seconds or reps and giving you lots of encouragement, which is definitely needed for such an intense DVD! This is really helpful when you're in positions where you can't always be looking at the screen and when you sometimes forget to breathe during some especially intense stretching.
Rockin' Legs and Abs also has a supportive Facebook community where you can find progress pictures, motivation from Cleo herself and 30 day challenges to really push yourself into seeing a difference in your splits. Cleo also offers some additional stretching and pole tutorials on her website.
Bottom Line: This DVD is a little intimidating for those new to stretching and you might find it difficult to finish the DVD at first. It also focuses very specifically on your legs, so if you're looking to stretch any other areas of your body you won't find it here. I also wouldn't recommend it if you're working through any injuries as it may be too intense.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Next up: Get Bent - Circus Style Flexibility Training by Fit and Bendy
Fit and Bendy provide a series of contortion classes based in West Hollywood and fronted by Kristina Nekyia. They also have a DVD available to buy focusing on all areas of the body that you might want to stretch, from your legs to your shoulders and back for dance, pole fitness, gymnastics or circus training.
This DVD is a yoga-style stretch with Kristina, which right from the off is a lot more friendly and approachable than Rockin' Legs and Abs particularly if, like me, you're rehabilitating any kind of injury and want to keep up with your stretching regime.
The warm up takes you through every part of your body to warm up the muscles and get yourself ready for stretching. It's very gentle and very easy, and Kristina herself says it shouldn't be painful and shouldn't have you feeling anything but warm by the time it's over. This is great for making sure you feel confident that you've warmed up enough to start stretching as by the end of it you're warm all over and feel like you've worked your body from top to toe.
Kristina then takes you through deep stretches for your legs to prepare you to train your splits. Some of these can be a little tough at first and they do feel quite intense, however Kristina offers some alternatives and suggests what you can do if you can't quite reach certain positions. The stretches feel good and they really get you ready for splits, however you only need to push yourself as far as you can and it's a very relaxing way to stretch.
The section for splits does assume that you either have them or you're well on your way to working towards them, which is a bit of a shame. I would like to see some more alternatives for people who are a little further from the ground and some extra attention paid to getting you closer to the floor rather than just getting down into your splits and holding them. This section is also quite quick, but you can repeat it if you'd like.
Shoulder stretches and back stretches are my favorite sections of this DVD as it's an area I really want to improve it and don't usually train. Kristina gives you lots of direction for these stretches and there's a lot of them to stretch different areas of your shoulder and pectoral muscles, which really feels great. She also specifies what you can do to increase or decrease the intensity of the stretch and where you should be feeling it to know you've got it right, which is very helpful.
Training my back flexibility is something that I've always hated because I find it so intense and just don't feel safe doing it on my own. Kristina takes you through a long series of warm ups and working up to a full bridge to make sure you feel confident enough to attempt it, which is fantastic for me. The back stretches are varied and feel excellent. Kristina also gives a lot of direction when you're in a full back bend to keep you calm and ensuring you're in the right position and stretching safely. The cool down also feels great after a lot of back bending.
Bottom Line: This series of stretches feels like an excellent way to train if you've already made some progress towards your splits, however it may not be suitable for people who are a bit further away. The back and shoulder stretches are fantastic in building confidence and training your flexibility in this area.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Finally: Felix Cane Pole Dance Mastery Series. Disc 5: Flexibility
Felix Cane is a two time World Champion pole dancer as well as winning Miss Pole Dance Australia. She is an idol to many pole dancers and has even performed in Cirque du Soleil, so to have the chance to learn from her is fantastic.
First of all, the DVD does not give a lot of direction at all. Felix is almost completely silent for the warm up which can make it dificult to follow, especially when you'll spend a lot of time in positions where you can't necessarily see the screen to know she's switched positions. The warm up does its job though, by the end you do feel warm and ready for a stretch.
This DVD is unique in that Felix offers a lot of stretches that I hadn't done before, from different areas of your legs to your shoulders, back and wrists. This opens up a lot of areas of your muscles and it really does feel like a good stretch however, again, there's not a lot of direction. Felix might instruct you on one stretch for example, but then say nothing when you do the same thing on your other leg, such as when to change positions or even sometimes when to come up out of it.
Felix is exceptionally flexible which can be a bit intimidating to follow along with, but she does offer three versions of her more intense stretches, particularly when it comes to splits. She has a normal version which she'll have as the main point on the screen, an easier version in a little box, and a more difficult version in another box, which gives you some variation and the freedom to stretch at your level.
When it came to the back stretching, I didn't feel nearly as confident going into a full bridge as I do when I'm following along with the Fit and Bendy DVD. There are much fewer stretches for your back than there are for your legs and Felix moves into a bridge quite quickly, whereas I feel like I need to work up to it. The lack of direction is also a problem here, particularly when you're concentrating on your bridge and can't see the screen to know when Felix is finished with the stretch.
The shoulder and wrist stretches are good, especially because not many other DVDs focus specifically on your wrists and I find mine to be incredibly weak, so having the chance to build these up is really great.
The DVD also includes some additional stretches in their own section but Felix doesn't really run through these. She shows them off but doesn't hold them, meaning that if you actually want to follow along with these stretches you'll need to pause the DVD, hold the stretch and move on to the next stretch, which is very annoying to do when you're stretching on the floor and away from the remote.
Bottom Line: This DVD offers a lot of interesting stretches but it isn't executed all that well. Felix doesn't have much to say throughout the DVD and it's massively lacking in instructions for how you should feel during the move, a counter for how long you're in it and when to come out, so Felix can sometimes move on before you've realized. Again, it focuses a lot on your legs and skims over other areas. It does cater for all levels of flexibility, though.
Rating: 3 out of 5
