![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
guslDear LJ Genie,
I would like to play with a 3D model of the human body. You have probably seen kinetic sculptures of a human skeleton, in which rigid bones are connected by swiveling joints. What I want is a digital version of this, but with more constraints on flexibility. Namely:
* joints should not be hypermobile, but rather they should have a normal range of motion.
* a muscle layer would further constrain their motions, in such a way that you'd want to stretch the character in order to increase their range.
If we can furthermore model muscle strength, energy, etc, you can imagine simulating workouts, etc; and figure out the optimal workout for a given body state.
Gustavo
---
Layers of human flexibility
* muscle flexibility: temporarily increased by stretching, >1 minute to stretch fully, half-life of ~4 hours; breaking the adhesions between neighboring muscles (myofascial release)
* joint flexibility: temporarily increased by cracking, one swift motion, half-life of ~15 minutes
* skin flexibility
---
So 2 months after my first yoga lesson with Joseph, I've decided to start again. He often works by having me attempt a difficult goal (e.g. do a headstand), observing the limiting factors (e.g. weakness/tightness of back muscles, pains, etc), and then working on these more basic goals. The fact that he is willing to dispense a bit of professional massage is a big help when there is pain.
There is something very very satisfying about opening up areas of the body that have been closed for a long time. The only bad thing is that after the lesson, I'm tempted to crack my back for the next day or two. One theory is that most of the time, the muscles restrict my motion so that I don't feel the temptation to crack; but if we loosen that restriction, I'm just one delicious step away from increasing my flexibility. Another theory is that the yoga itself cracks my joints, providing immediate rewards, and thus restarting the addiction.
I suspect that strengthening my back muscles would go a long way towards curing my temptation to crack. For one, strong muscles would support good posture, making it harder for my vertebrae to fall out of alignment (I guess that most of my temptation to crack comes from perceived misalignment).
I would like to play with a 3D model of the human body. You have probably seen kinetic sculptures of a human skeleton, in which rigid bones are connected by swiveling joints. What I want is a digital version of this, but with more constraints on flexibility. Namely:
* joints should not be hypermobile, but rather they should have a normal range of motion.
* a muscle layer would further constrain their motions, in such a way that you'd want to stretch the character in order to increase their range.
If we can furthermore model muscle strength, energy, etc, you can imagine simulating workouts, etc; and figure out the optimal workout for a given body state.
Gustavo
---
Layers of human flexibility
* muscle flexibility: temporarily increased by stretching, >1 minute to stretch fully, half-life of ~4 hours; breaking the adhesions between neighboring muscles (myofascial release)
* joint flexibility: temporarily increased by cracking, one swift motion, half-life of ~15 minutes
* skin flexibility
---
So 2 months after my first yoga lesson with Joseph, I've decided to start again. He often works by having me attempt a difficult goal (e.g. do a headstand), observing the limiting factors (e.g. weakness/tightness of back muscles, pains, etc), and then working on these more basic goals. The fact that he is willing to dispense a bit of professional massage is a big help when there is pain.
There is something very very satisfying about opening up areas of the body that have been closed for a long time. The only bad thing is that after the lesson, I'm tempted to crack my back for the next day or two. One theory is that most of the time, the muscles restrict my motion so that I don't feel the temptation to crack; but if we loosen that restriction, I'm just one delicious step away from increasing my flexibility. Another theory is that the yoga itself cracks my joints, providing immediate rewards, and thus restarting the addiction.
I suspect that strengthening my back muscles would go a long way towards curing my temptation to crack. For one, strong muscles would support good posture, making it harder for my vertebrae to fall out of alignment (I guess that most of my temptation to crack comes from perceived misalignment).