Look Mom, I broke Jenny!

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PHYSIOLOGY AND TRAINING

* Alexander, Marion J.L. "A comparison of physiological characteristics of elite and subelite rhythmic gymnasts." Journal of Human Movement Studies, vol. 20 (1991), pp. 49-69. [The average flexibility of elite gymnasts is compared to the average of subelite gymnasts.]
* Alexander, Marion J.L. "The physiological characteristics of elite rhythmic sportive gymnasts." Journal of Human Movement Studies, vol. 17 (1989), pp. 49-69. [The maximum range of motion of ten Canadian rhythmic gymnasts for seven flexibility tests.]
* Allen, Laura. "The body elastic." Science World, vol. 53, no. 9 (February 7, 1997), pp. 9-11. 5 color photos. [Ulzii and Nomin from the Cirque du Soleil help illustrate how muscles work, and Tige Young gives stretching tips.]
* Alter, Michael. Science of Flexibility and Stretching 2nd ed., 1997?
* Beighton, Peter, Rodney Grahame, Howard Bird. Hypermobility of Joints. London; New York: Springer-Verlag, 1983, c1989. 182 p. photos. [A comprehensive survey of medical research on hypermobility in both healthy and deformed patients.]
* > Beighton, Peter, F.T. Horan. "Dominant inheritance in familial generalised articular hypermobility." The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. Vol. 52B, no. 1 (Feb. 1970), p. 145-7. A brief study of the families of two hypermobile women, one with stable joints (Diane Ward), the other suffering from dislocations and arthritis, showing that both types of hypermobility are inherited traits. 1 photo.]
* Cholerton, Judy. The Acrobat. Association of American Dancing, 193-? (2d ed.) "This book of acrobatic poses ... is issued with a view to helping teachers and acrobatic trainees. By studying these poses acrobats will, it is hoped, be inspired to apply their technique even more assiduously." 30 p.?, mainly photos. Photos from the book.
* Delano, D. H. Teachers Acrobatic and Adagio Manual. [50-leaf pamphlet with some hand drawings of contortion poses. Pamphlet also has section dedicated to teaching contortion stunts.]
* Dwight, Thomas. Anatomy Of The Contortionist . Scribner's magazine, Vol. 5, Issue 4 (April 1889). Full text is available at the Library of Congress' American Memory web site, and scanned pages are at the Cornell University web site.
* Fire eating; magic bandolin; the magnetic girl; the human pin cushion; how to become a contortionist; snake charming; secret of sword swallowing; dancing on broken glass; the secret of educating the pig and goose. United States: s.n., ca. 1900. [9]+p.
* Goudard, P. and P.M. Boura. "Les arts du cirque: histoire et specificites d'une activite physique artistique." Cinesiologie (Paris), vol. 30, no. 140 (Nov./Dec. 1991), p. 301-309.
* Gould, George M. and Walter L. Pyle. Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine. New York: Bell, c1896. 968 p.
* Griffin, Charles Eldridge. How to be a contortionist! or, Bending make easy: a practical self instructor by a well known professional. Suffern, Rockland Co., N.Y.: Chas E. Griffin, c1896. One sheet folded into 8 p. : ill.
* Hall, Nelson. Stage tricks and Hollywood exercises : how to develop skill in suppleness and acrobatics. New York, Exposition Press, 1957. 128 p. 543 ill. [Training exercises for acrobats and contortionists, including tips on health and stage presentation; illustrated with line drawings by the author.] Scanned pictures of the whole book!
* Hewitt, James. Complete yoga book: yoga of breathing, yoga of posture, and yoga of meditation. Schocken Books: New York, 1978. [Has drawn illustrations of several advanced yoga postures.]
* Issurin, V.B., D.G. Liebermann and G. Tenenbaum. "Effect of vibratory stimulation training on maximal force and flexibility." Journal of Sports Sciences. v. 12, no. 6 (Dec. 1994), pp. 561-6. [Claims the benefits of applying a mechanical vibrator to the muscle for increasing flexibility.]
* Janda, Vladimir. Vysetrovani hybnosti: svalovy test, vysetreni zkracenych svalu, vysetreni hypermobility. Praha: Avicenum, 1974- . v.
Laughlin, Kit. Stretching and Flexibility. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. 280 p., photos. ["This is by far the best book on flexibility training that I have ever come across. Every aspect of each exercise is discussed. Very precise information is also given on how to go into and out of stretches, and how every muscle involved is to be used. It finishes with stretching recommendations for different sports. It doesnt deal with extreme stretching - the most flexible positions dealt with are complete side and forward splits, and a bridge. However it is outstanding on the precision and level of detail that it gives on all issues - including the psychological effects of stretching." -- Jim Pickles]
* Moyer, J. "Teaching contortion stunts." Physical Education Newsletter, vol. 136 (Apr. 1982), pp. 2-4. [Getting children started in very simple contortion; 8 photos.]
* Nelson, Jack K., Barry L. Johnson, and G. Con Smith. "Physical characteristics, hip flexibility and arm strength of female gymnasts classified by intensity of training across age." The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, vol. 23, no. 1 (March 1983), pp. 95-101. [A comparison of girls in physical education, recreational and competitive gymnastics.]
* La pathologie du yoga. [Text which claims that Europeans are not suited for extreme frontward bending due to evolutionary changes in their skeleton.]
Oki, Masahiro. Practical Yoga: A Pictorial Approach. Tokyo: Japan Publications, 1970. 160 p., photos. [A guide to yoga with a few exercises that border on contortion.]
* Scaravelli, Vanda. Awakening the spine. San Francisco, Calif.: Harper San Francisco, 1991. 191 p. [Yoga manual by a very flexible 88-year-old woman. She is also featured in: Yoga Journal, June 1996, p. 128.]
* Snaith, Michael L. "On the one hand and on the other." The Lancet. v. 348, no. 9032 (5 October 1996), pp. 907-908. [Research shows that osteoarthritis is less common in lax joints.]
* Steinbruek, K. and H.W. Springorum. "Kontortionisten und Wettkampfgymnasten - erworbene Hypermobilitaet" Zeitschrift Orthop. vol. 118 (1980), pp. 751-760. [X-rays of the spine of a female Spanish contortionist.]
* Zimmer, Carl. "Circus Science" Discover. vol. 17, no. 2 (Feb. 1996), pp. 6, 56-63. [Finding the principles of physics in acrobatics, mathematics in juggling and biology in contortion, featuring color photos of Cirque du Soliel performers.] To read the full text of the article, type 'Circus Science' into the search engine at http://www.discover.com/archive/index.html

Comments

[saintswife.livejournal.com]

Wow. It hurts to even look at that picture.

I keep thinking her spine must be broken.

[crasch.livejournal.com]

Were she not trained from a young age, her spine would be broken.

[troyworks.livejournal.com]

Wow! This image is about 2.5 on the "equivalent cups of fully caffinated coffee" wakeup index. The first image I parsed through bleary eyes was one girl with EXTREMELY LONG legs (the foots on the knees kinda blended together).

[crasch.livejournal.com]

Glad I could help.