Arabesque with a neutral spine
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Is it possible to perform an Arabesque with a neutral spine?
Meaning that the hyperextension of the hip will take place from the hip only and there will be no hyper extension of the spine? Is this possible? The answer depends on what tissues you are trying to stretch. Are you looking at the limit of muscular flexibility? Or are you willing to stretch the ligaments?

Scroll down to try a special FREE exercise below which will improve your Arabesque & Attitude Derriere in minutes!
It is accepted that the ligaments resist the hyperextension of the hip between 15 and 30 degrees, with individual variations taken into the account. Of course, there are people with less than 15 degrees of hip hyperextension limited by the ligaments, this can be due to posture, occupational habits, injury, infection, and other reasons. There are also people with naturally laxed ligaments, or specific structure of the hip where the ligaments will restrict in a range past 30 degrees hip hyperextension. In majority of individuals external rotation of the hip will allow for more hyperextension then if the hip was to be kept parallel.

For the sake of this example, let’s assume that your normal turned-out hip hyperextension would be at 30 degrees, that means that to lift a leg parallel to the floor you need another 60 degrees for a total of 90 degrees.
If the spine was to be kept neutral and not hyper extended those extra 60 degrees must come from the flexibility of the hip flexors and adductors, on top of the fact that now the ligaments must be stretched. This is compared to first 30 degrees of hyperextension where ligaments are not stretched, and all that flexibility is dependent on how much you can lengthen your adductors and hip flexor muscles.

Scroll down to try a special FREE exercise below which will improve your Arabesque & Attitude Derriere in minutes!
In theory, it is possible to stretch the ligament to bring the leg to 90 degrees hyperextension. There are ballet dancers and rhythmic gymnast with deep hip hyperextension coming from the flexibility of both the ligaments and the muscles. The safety of such range of motion coming from the stretched ligaments have been debated for a very long time.
The opponents of this type of stretching say that the hip joint becomes very mobile, hyper mobile, and thus, the chance of injury highly increases. The defenders of this type of stretching, point out to the fact that although the ligaments do not hold the joints as tight as if they were shorter, the muscles and tendons do hold the joint in place. It is up to a specific coach, trainer, teacher, or therapist to decide how much flexibility should come from stretching of the ligaments, if any at all, and a proper strength awareness combination to protect the joints, especially in deep ranges of motion.

Now, assuming that the decision was made not to hyperextend the hip through stretching of the ligaments the lacking 60 degrees must now come from the spine and the supporting leg. When there is an anterior pelvic tilt the torso will be inclined forward if the spine were to remain neutral. To prevent that and lift the body up the spine must hyperextend additional 60 degrees. If done correctly, those 60 degrees are spread out through multiple
joints in the back. And of course, because of the anterior tilt there will be a stretch in the supporting leg and the flexion of the supporting hip joint.
So, in short, it is possible to hyperextend the hip without hyperextending the spine. However, there are risks involved and for that reason most Arabesque and Attitude Derriere techniques involve a combination of hip hyperextension and spinal hyperextension.
Want to improve your Arabesque Instantly? Try this Zaichik Stretching Technique called ~Discernment~
SIGN UP BELOW TO GET 2 MORE PROGRESSIONS OF THIS EXERCISE FREE – TO HELP IMPROVE YOUR ARABESQUE!
Arabesque with a neutral spine
Perform an Arabesque on both sides and remember the height of your leg. Take pictures if you like.
- Now do the ~Discernment~ ZST for 3 sets of 3 repetitions.
- Each repetition has two parts as demonstrated in the video.
- The first part is called the Leverage and the second part is called the Target.
- Come up to a cobra position as Leverage, contract your lower back and lift your hips slightly off the floor with a tailbone aiming toward the ceiling, as you drop the hips back down use your hands to press up higher.
- Do this 3 times pressing up a little bit higher each time.
- Do 3 sets of 3 repetitions resting for 10 to 30 seconds between each set.
When done try your Arabesque one more time on each side and see the difference!
This exercise has progressions to two more levels, Intermediate and Advanced. Sign up to get two more levels by email.


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Arabesque with a neutral spine
Attitude Derrière or Back Attitude and Arabesque are Ballet/Dance positions usually strength trained via bar assisted leg lifts into the technique. The flexibility is attained via relaxed stretches.

This program takes a different approach.The flexibility resistance to these elements comes from medial hip rotators, hip flexors of the lifted leg and flexors of the core. Posterior tilters of the pelvis also offer resistance through the standing leg.
Arabesque with a neutral spine

Watch The Anatomical Muscle Animation of The Arabesque and The Attitude Derriere
Unlike the standard time consuming passive stretch method, this routine employs Kinesiological Stretching techniques. Each of the muscles that prevent the successful Attitude Derriere and Arabesque is separated out and quickly lengthened, using one of its own actions against the other. Because no action is held for long, the stretch reflex is avoided and results are seen right away.

Since in Arabesque and Back Attitude it’s the opposite muscles that hold the pose to the one’s being stretched, reciprocal inhibition techniques are intervened with kinesiological stretches to master the skill even faster. You’ll be surprised how fast easy results come using this method.
Read more: https://easyflexibilityblog.com/2022/01/24/developpe-a-la-seconde-muscle-anatomy/

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