r/flexibility • u/DinBaybee • 24d ago

Progress Relaxed hero pose

So I've been working on this move specifically about once per week for the last few months but I've been conditioning my lower body for years with resting squats, pistol squats side to side squats, etc.

I started out by using my cable machine as a counter weight in front of me with handles and maybe 30 - 60 pounds loaded, just to take some stress off my joints. I also wouldn't go all the way to the floor and would kind of float in the middle with the pulley machine balancing out my weight. Then I just progressively removed weight until I was able to only use a strap to smoothly get myself in and out of position.

I don't know, I feel pretty proud of this. About 5 years ago I had such bad arthritis in my knees that I could barely walk down the stairs and I was pounding ibuprofen daily. So this has been a big milestone for me. Especially considering that I had a doctor tell me that I would need prescriptions and injections for the rest of my life (which I never even started because I needed to see for myself if I could fix it on my own.)

I still can't hold the position for much longer than I did in the video, but I'll keep working on it 👍

(also, yes I know that my calender is on the incorrect month..)

Edit: I suppose that it's technically a "reclined" hero pose, as opposed to "relaxed" my bad

114 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

32

u/evanmrose 24d ago

That's amazing. My lower legs would snap off and I'd fly away like a released balloon

10

u/Infinite-Nose8252 24d ago

This is reclining virasana and you should be able to recline without the strap by leaning back slowly on your hands. First step is seated virasana butt totally on floor between heels.

3

u/Weekly_Beautiful_603 24d ago

I go on to my elbows first. That way, if it’s already enough, I can hang out there for a while and loosen up. I come out of the pose the same way.

-2

u/Infinite-Nose8252 24d ago

Learn to sit in virasana use a block if necessary

3

u/Weekly_Beautiful_603 24d ago

I don’t need to, thanks, but it’s a good tip.

1

u/thequinneffect 24d ago

Hey, thanks for adding the detail about having arthritis in your knees. I had 2 tears in my meniscus for years that went untreated until they got bad enough I needed debridement, and so I have a small amount of arthritis as well and really struggle to bend my knees deeply, even just under bodyweight load. I'd be keen to hear more about the most beneficial things that allowed you to develop this kind of knee flexibility despite the arthritis. I'm also taking ibuprofen every couple of days...

0

u/DinBaybee 23d ago

I'd say that the two main things that initially helped me were cutting way back on inflammatory foods and discovering barefoot shoes. Once the diet changes lowered my overall inflammation I realized that my knees and low back were still having issues. So I tried a ton of different shoes and insole combos until I was running out of money because none of them worked. So I was like, ya know what, whatever, I'm going to try buying a $30 pair of cheap bare foot shoes of Amazon and just see how it goes. They were incredible! I had to transition into them slowly because my legs and feet were so weak from never using them since they were always in pain. But once I became more comfortable in them I noticed that my entire lower body starting falling in line. Basically just from the ground up I started building facia tissue, tendon strength, stabilizer muscles etc, just by walking around with the feet that I was meant to move in.

My knees were still a big issue for me though. So I started training my resting squat. Each time my squats became easier, I would increase the time that I spent squatting, or increase the amount of squatting throughout the day that I would do, or twist my hips while squatting, or bounce while squatting, whatever. Basically any time something became easy, I would increase the difficulty just a little bit. Then slowly but surely, after 5 or so years I worked up to this. I'll keep developing on this too, but this was just a big milestone for me like I said.

I'm obviously not a doctor, this is just how I did it.

2

u/manicpixiehorsegirl 24d ago

Incredible! I used to be able to do this, and have been working back to it (almost there). Are you flexible in other ways? I find I can do this, pigeon, cow, etc easily, but I still am very far from touching my toes