Chest circles in any direction are difficult for me. In my defense, I have a LOT more to lift and circle around than does Rachel Brice who makes it look so effortless. I have been practicing tightening upper back to push forward, lifts, contracting upper abs to move back, the "down" is the hardest. Collapsing looks sloppy, but I have not been able to "feel" the right muscles. I put away the other DVDs and grabbed the Shimmy TV DVDs today and found a couple of drills for that and my upper back hurts a lot. I am hoping that means that I have found those elusive back muscles.
Years ago, while recovering from shoulder surgery ( twice in a year on the same shoulder), physical therapists worked so hard to try to get me to contract muscles between my shoulders-but I had NO idea how to access those muscles. It took those electrical muscle stimulators, poking, and lots of tears before I could barely flicker them with a lot of effort. So, this is not easy for me. It is painful to get just the smallest chest movements.
I am going to keep practicing in short bursts rather than any extended sessions. I seem to learn that way better- small moments of practice with more time to process the feelings between. So the added move to slow to medium 3/4 shimmy is chest circles..side to side and front to back. In between "roll up" or reverse undulations. Practice, practice, practice....
