Often people assume that whoever is flexible is either naturally gifted or has started training as a child. Well, I’m proud to belong to that category of people that actually started way later in life ( I was 27) with NO professional background of any kind. I was a curious girl, wanting to challenge myself. I always hated competitions with others, as I believe the biggest and ultimate competition was the one against myself and my demons: my fear, self doubt and sense of never being good enough.

When I started training flexibility, I was taking a group class at a popular studio in Vegas (Shine Fitness) once a week. I’d kill myself during the class, I wanted to go deeper in all exercises despite the pain. A few months later I was convinced by the teacher of that class to take privates with a contortionist, to learn and advance more. In my head Contortion was just a crazy discipline practiced by asian circus performers, never in my life I would have considered getting close to that. But… it was a rare time of my life, where I was in the right place at the right moment. I met the right coach. I was in the right environment and I had the right mindset to learn. I was excited and curious to see what I could do, even if it wasn’t Contortion, even if it was just learning a backbend. I had no expectations. It was 2012, I was still young, I lived in Las Vegas, I just got married and that was probably the best time of my life and I knew it.

When you start something under great circumstances, the challenges that come with it won’t stop you. If your mind is in a good place, you’re unstoppable. Once I started contortion, I was training about 3 times a week, I remember that I would focus mainly on backbends because my back and shoulders were really strong and stiff from years of bodybuilding (yes, totally the opposite of Contortion). I would get really sore, especially in my lower back because it was taking most of the bending, while mid and upper where still trying to catch up. Also, when you start and there is not much mobility, a lot of the training consists of passive flexibility, which is known to get you very sore. I’d go home so tired from those couple hours of training that I’d fall asleep instantly. At the time I worked nights, I missed so much work but nightlife and Contortion were such rivals, as I needed so much rest and sleep, so I juggled both for a while. I always prioritized training though, that’s a must especially the first couple years when you’re building the foundation, it has to become kind of an obsession, then it gives you real long lasting results, because you’re wired body and mind into it. I can’t tell you how to “obsess” about something, it definitely comes with the way it makes you feel. In the end, like all the things you like.

The other challenge was training on scheduled days no matter what. Having a routine was a must, you had to show up. When I trained there were other students at my coach’s house too, so it was great to be there all together. That was motivating. There were days I’d show up thinking I wouldn’t have been able to move at all, but I’d leave having accomplished something nevertheless. That was consistency and I learned it with having a coach. 

Contortion is so intense, especially when you’re introduced to it as an adult. Adult bodies differ from children’s for several reasons, mainly we have tighter ligaments and muscles, we have body history, compensations, unevenness, stress, life molded us sometimes for the worse if we weren’t training intelligently since the start, and many of us even if we did sports or activities, we made mistakes on the way. Also as adults we’re slow learners, we need a lot more attention to warm up, detailed breakdown of an exercise, prehabbing, conditioning and are more easily injured. Beside that, nothing can stop us from reaching a goal (beside our mindset).

Mindset is everything. I swear, nothing is impossible to a positive, resourceful, open mind. I feel as a coach I’m mostly a “facilitator”, I help my students believing in themselves. Yes I give directions, progression of exercises, warm ups, but mostly I believe in them first, so then they can believe in themselves too. I love this side of coaching the most, because that’s exactly what happened to me. If my coach told me “no, I don’t think you should do Contortion, you’re too old”, I would have never done it. Her saying, “let’s see what you can do” was the biggest door I walked through, that opened a whole new world of learnings to me.

When people ask me what I do, I hate how “personal training, coaching, flexibility instructor” sound. It’s so plain and small. I picture me counting down seconds or a trainer counting reps. It’s so much more than that. But to know that one must experience it.

Overall, the learnings and achievements I gained from this training were greater than the challenges I faced. It’s been 7 years now and I’m much stronger, flexible and body wise than I ever been, I know I still have so much to learn and experience but I’m thankful for not having backed up from this training, even the times I wanted to, the times I was hurting, I got injured or felt my body -or mind- gave up on me. I always got up and continued 🙂

At Shine Fitness, with David Owen, about Spring 2012

With my coach Otgo, about 2013

Me today, Nov 2019