Stuck on hip slide technique

[lilya]

I've searched the forum a couple of times trying to see if this particular issue was discussed before but I haven't found anything specific for very basics of the hip slide. (I am linking below a few things I did find very helpful; apologies if I've missed an earlier topic...) I hadn't noticed before this year that my slides are anything but horizontal, but it came up in three different instances, one while I was trying to polish up my mayas and once yesterday, trying a different approach to get the slide. I never thought this could be why the top semicircles of my mayas are so much ampler than the bottom ones - there's no clear "out" without "up" for me.

My instructors have talked about the obliques and I know mine are weak (according to physiotherapist and to them never ever feeling sore), but there seems to be a more fundamental problem in my head: I don't quite get the intended mechanics of the motion. If I wanted to do a hip slide to the right, should I try to focus on (1) "lengthening" the right obliques, on (2) contracting the left ones (sort of like a side crunch) or (3) both? If the obliques on both sides are supposed to contribute, are they working simultaneously or should I start crunching as the slide starts to lift away from the horizontal?

Also, I found that I can keep it closer to horizontal if I (4) recruit the glutes, but these are my other very weak muscle group and the contraction needs to be so forceful that I am unable to use them for anything else on either side. Something is happening in the (5) lower abs, too, but they are not so fine-tuned as to drive the motion; I also wonder, since this is beginner technique, how often are the lower abs the source of the slide for beginners who do it successfully. I am trying to not think about any (6) muscles on the front side of the legs, although my quads have this habit of promptly contracting pretty much at all times for some reason.

I think that further strengthening of the culprits (obliques and glutes) may bring a lot of improvement, but I feel that since they are there, however weak, I should still be able to achieve half a decently-looking slide, even if the range is nothing to write home about. I did find a discussion that encouraged me, as well as a great way to work on it in a figure 8-related topic (#12, Aziyade's advice on how to keep working on the slide). I might be a tad too anxious about working on it the wrong way, e.g., with too many muscles...

Oh, dear, this post is looong! Sorry! This is the level of "stuck" I find myself at: "struck" by how a seemingly simple element has eluded me for so long. Thanks for any suggestions or ideas!

[Zorba]

Oh dear. I had a heck of a time learning how to do flat slides - and Maias for that matter, but I'm a male which means I had to "break my hips free" before I could do side-to-side movements worth a darn because I had the typical "locked up" male hips.

[Shanazel]

Oh, lord, if I'd had to think in technical terms of anatomy and kinesiology, I'd never have learned to dance. Try this: tape a piece of bright colored yarn horizontally across your mirror at hipbone level. Tape another piece of yarn vertically on the mirror. Stand back until your hips line up with the horizontal yarn and your body lines up with the vertical yarn. Starting with a very narrow range of movement, slide your hips from side to side, keeping your hipbones level with the yarn. If to begin with you can only slide an inch without tilting your hips or throwing your body off center- well, that's good. As you practice, you'll build up strength and flexibility to extend the slide further.

Be sure your posture is correct. Bad posture (can anyone say "duck butt?") makes a hip slide all but impossible to do.

[lilya]

Thank you, thank you both! I'm so sorry I've had the energy level of a sleeping sloth after the full supermoon of the New Year (tht must have been it!) made me pull an involuntary all-nighter. I was hoping to report back an iota of progress, but with age it's becoming more evident that all-nighters are no good on my physical and mental functions well into the next days. With the help of melatonin tonight (this is a first for me, seems to have worked on insomniac partner) I am hoping to finally get back on track tomorrow and start working on it like you suggested, Shanazel. Zorba, you gave me the idea to try more hip-opening exercises in the warm up. Live class starts next week and that iota of improvement would be great!

[Greek Bonfire]

Mayas were never my strong point either but I finally mastered it. And as for hip slides, just don't push your body any farther than it can go. Not all bodies can do all things.

[Zorba]

Zorba, you gave me the idea to try more hip-opening exercises in the warm up. Live class starts next week and that iota of improvement would be great!

Warm ups are good, esp. when you've reached - *ahem* - a certain age like I have!

[lilya]

You are all so right! Especially after reaching a certain age myself, I've decided that my body cannot (and/or should not try to) do all things and it's alright to modify or even - horribile dictu! - skip a few things (I have kneeling in mind - I won't do it for a while or maybe ever again, but that's fine!)

I "got" the idea of the slide somehow between practice sessions - for a few days I couldn't take it further (I was still going through muscle checklists, side-crunching after the weight transfer to flatten the slide and so on), then one day it was happening - still tiny but the mechanics seemed to have "clicked" overnight with the muscles working all at once - I am not sure which ones are doing the work but it doesn't feel like I'm fighting against my body anymore. I'm also not quite sure how that worked out in my brain. Maybe it realized I meant business?

Speaking of the brain: I'm trying to override the need to deconstruct movement down to muscle fibers in my head and it really helps. I would speculate it's somehow related to allowing myself to fail (or redefining failure?). I can even do a little bit more layering - as far as a few weeks ago said brain would always go something like: "Hey! Remember you can't layer! What are you doing? Lifting your arms! Ha! Ha! Right! Watch that shimmy, you're going to lose it! You'll be in beginner class for ever and ever!" (Even if I do lose the shimmy, I'm training a wide smile as the base layer/fallback...)

[Shanazel]

You don't let on that you've lost the shimmy: you learn the art of letting the shimmy go before you lose it!

Glad to hear you're hanging in there, Lilya. Congratulations on the progress.

I can kneel with the best of them. The problem comes when I try to unkneel.

[Zorba]

I "got" the idea of the slide somehow between practice sessions - for a few days I couldn't take it further (I was still going through muscle checklists, side-crunching after the weight transfer to flatten the slide and so on), then one day it was happening - still tiny but the mechanics seemed to have "clicked" overnight with the muscles working all at once - I am not sure which ones are doing the work but it doesn't feel like I'm fighting against my body anymore. I'm also not quite sure how that worked out in my brain. Maybe it realized I meant business?

That's how it usually works out - you try and try and try and try - then suddenly, you've got it! Way to go!

[lilya]

Thank you, thank you!