00:00:06.493 --> 00:00:11.953
Every movement can be described in, I guess, three dimensions.
00:00:12.393 --> 00:00:16.213
The dimensions are strength, range of motion, and skill.
00:00:17.013 --> 00:00:22.833
And this is a really, really useful concept for both layering within a class
00:00:22.833 --> 00:00:25.993
and also for longer term programming and progressing your clients.
00:00:27.313 --> 00:00:33.033
And it's one of those things that once you get it, it's so blindingly obvious.
00:00:33.033 --> 00:00:36.953
It's like, oh, of course, you know, it couldn't be any other way.
00:00:37.053 --> 00:00:39.713
But before you get it, it's not at all obvious.
00:00:40.013 --> 00:00:42.393
In fact, it's quite unobvious.
00:00:44.593 --> 00:00:50.533
So Heath, you know, how do you think about this concept, these three dimensions
00:00:50.533 --> 00:00:55.213
of strength, range of motion and skill that, you know, that we can describe
00:00:55.213 --> 00:00:58.193
every exercise along those three axes?
00:00:58.193 --> 00:01:05.313
You know, how do you use that both, you know, both as a tool in your everyday
00:01:05.313 --> 00:01:09.413
teaching and in your, you know, thoughts about long-term programming?
00:01:12.408 --> 00:01:18.268
All right, so any movement that we're going to teach can be thought about as
00:01:18.268 --> 00:01:21.908
what's the requisite strength, and that's going to require you to think about
00:01:21.908 --> 00:01:26.348
where that strength is generated. So what muscle groups are working to create the force necessary?
00:01:27.188 --> 00:01:32.768
What joints slash muscles need what range of motion in order to complete the movement?
00:01:33.188 --> 00:01:36.348
And then what is the coordination you need to do the movement?
00:01:36.348 --> 00:01:46.648
And then, so thinking that through as a practice will translate to when you
00:01:46.648 --> 00:01:48.188
see someone struggle with a movement,
00:01:48.508 --> 00:01:51.748
you know which dimension they're struggling with.
00:01:51.808 --> 00:01:58.008
And where it can be complicated is that it's very hard to make these three things
00:01:58.008 --> 00:02:00.348
discrete from one another. So they're overlapping.
00:02:00.928 --> 00:02:03.828
And so it's not that one is usually it's
00:02:03.828 --> 00:02:06.928
not that it's one thing only but it's the relationship
00:02:06.928 --> 00:02:10.008
between not enough flexibility
00:02:10.008 --> 00:02:12.908
or understand and understanding but plenty of strength
00:02:12.908 --> 00:02:19.248
but so it but what i found useful is to try and make it as discrete from one
00:02:19.248 --> 00:02:22.068
another what would it look like if you didn't have the strength what would it
00:02:22.068 --> 00:02:24.148
look like if you didn't have the wrong what would it look like if you didn't
00:02:24.148 --> 00:02:29.308
understand the movement and with the sense of that then you can start to spot
00:02:29.308 --> 00:02:30.648
what people are struggling with.
00:02:31.268 --> 00:02:34.608
Okay. So let's think of an example of each of those things.
00:02:34.768 --> 00:02:38.688
So if you didn't have the strength, say we were doing, I don't know,
00:02:38.848 --> 00:02:41.748
like a long stretch kneeling, for example.
00:02:42.348 --> 00:02:47.388
And if you didn't have the strength, it would look like you couldn't pull the carriage back in.
00:02:48.228 --> 00:02:50.728
Maybe if you're doing it on a light spring or if you're doing it on a heavy
00:02:50.728 --> 00:02:52.468
spring, it would look like you couldn't push the carriage out.
00:02:55.052 --> 00:03:02.132
Correct. So just a quick sidebar, some movements lend themselves more to one
00:03:02.132 --> 00:03:02.932
dimension than another.
00:03:03.052 --> 00:03:09.552
So elephant or a forward fold is not a great way to think about strength because
00:03:09.552 --> 00:03:11.372
it doesn't take much, but it does take flexibility.
00:03:11.732 --> 00:03:16.392
Well, no, I'm going to contest that and say, you know, thinking about when I
00:03:16.392 --> 00:03:19.352
was recovering from shoulder surgery a couple of years back,
00:03:20.092 --> 00:03:22.732
that you think like something like, you know, long stretch kneeling is a pretty
00:03:22.732 --> 00:03:26.772
basic exercise, elephant's pretty basic exercise in terms of strength until
00:03:26.772 --> 00:03:30.652
you've had shoulder surgery or hip surgery or spine surgery or knee surgery.
00:03:30.752 --> 00:03:32.152
And then you're like, oh no, this is really fucking hard.
00:03:33.612 --> 00:03:38.252
And, you know, like putting on a shirt is challenging or doing up your shoes is challenging.
00:03:38.472 --> 00:03:40.952
Then yeah, elephant's going to be really hard. And somebody's going to find,
00:03:41.172 --> 00:03:43.472
so if you're rehabbing somebody or you've got somebody who's just got some kind
00:03:43.472 --> 00:03:45.932
of chronic condition, like arthritis or whatever it might be,
00:03:46.092 --> 00:03:48.532
that has trouble with a movement.
00:03:48.672 --> 00:03:51.312
And I can think, you know, if I put my mum on a reformer, she'd probably really
00:03:51.312 --> 00:03:51.952
struggle with elephant.
00:03:52.832 --> 00:03:58.172
Um absolutely and but but what's but what's the struggle with elephant well i think.
00:03:59.652 --> 00:04:02.492
If i think about my mom and probably probably all three dimensions like
00:04:02.492 --> 00:04:05.692
you probably have a lot of trouble understanding what you're supposed to do
00:04:05.692 --> 00:04:09.892
so the skill aspect would be difficult for her but but hold on let me just catch
00:04:09.892 --> 00:04:13.252
you there as i take i totally take your point but if we say elephant what's
00:04:13.252 --> 00:04:16.212
the first thing we've got to do in any movement we're going to teach is first
00:04:16.212 --> 00:04:21.032
equipment settings and then start position and so the first thing you're checking an elephant is,
00:04:21.112 --> 00:04:23.052
do they have the hamstring length to put their hands on the footbar?
00:04:23.172 --> 00:04:24.732
I think she'd be okay there probably.
00:04:25.992 --> 00:04:29.912
Okay, great. So she's got the ROM to do it. And then the next question is,
00:04:29.972 --> 00:04:31.492
do you have the strength to do the next bit?
00:04:31.632 --> 00:04:36.152
She might not have the range of motion in her shoulders to get in something
00:04:36.152 --> 00:04:39.152
even vaguely resembling the right start position.
00:04:40.531 --> 00:04:43.211
You know so so this is the worm wormhole that i
00:04:43.211 --> 00:04:46.991
love so catch me if i go too quick or too deep but long stretch
00:04:46.991 --> 00:04:50.751
knees down high foot bar one spring is your
00:04:50.751 --> 00:04:53.651
assessment for down stretch up stretch long stretch
00:04:53.651 --> 00:04:56.811
elephant arabesque tiger stretch right
00:04:56.811 --> 00:04:59.531
because if you
00:04:59.531 --> 00:05:02.371
want to think about the things you need for any of
00:05:02.371 --> 00:05:05.331
those big movements where i've
00:05:05.331 --> 00:05:08.251
landed with this is you want to see the absolute fundamentals at kind
00:05:08.251 --> 00:05:11.671
of the baseline right and so you know in terms
00:05:11.671 --> 00:05:14.411
of the strength the range of motion and the control well if
00:05:14.411 --> 00:05:17.431
somebody doesn't have let's say the range of motion in their shoulder to
00:05:17.431 --> 00:05:20.371
push the carriage all the way out on a long stretch even on a moderate spring
00:05:20.371 --> 00:05:24.471
well then they're probably not going to be able to do elephant you know get
00:05:24.471 --> 00:05:26.991
into the start position for elephant right so we're thinking about that in terms
00:05:26.991 --> 00:05:32.771
of range of motion and so something in terms of like in terms of a control uh
00:05:32.771 --> 00:05:36.591
issue or challenge control skill you know coordination,
00:05:36.811 --> 00:05:40.271
I think skill is probably the best word because it encompasses coordination,
00:05:40.691 --> 00:05:42.771
agility, balance, you know, all of the above.
00:05:43.991 --> 00:05:46.831
Uh, and just an understanding of the movement and how it's meant to flow.
00:05:47.391 --> 00:05:51.611
Um, and so an example of that would be, you know, when you pop a new client
00:05:51.611 --> 00:05:54.751
into knee stretches for the first time and like, you know, nine times out of 10,
00:05:55.071 --> 00:05:59.051
they just hold their legs still and push with their arms, you know,
00:05:59.171 --> 00:06:02.631
and it's not because they don't have the strength to push with their legs.
00:06:02.771 --> 00:06:04.511
And it's not because they don't have the range of motion. It's just because
00:06:04.511 --> 00:06:05.891
they don't really get it yet.
00:06:06.271 --> 00:06:09.451
So that's a skill issue and you can fix that with a cue.
00:06:11.913 --> 00:06:15.113
Well, you can fix that with a cue, and if we were thinking elephant,
00:06:16.093 --> 00:06:23.093
then, so a lot of people try to cue knee stretches from the hardest place to
00:06:23.093 --> 00:06:26.873
cue it, which would be bed on the stopper, hands on the foot bar.
00:06:28.053 --> 00:06:30.433
Yeah, if you push someone out into a long stretch and then just get them to
00:06:30.433 --> 00:06:31.773
bring their knees in, it's much easier.
00:06:31.933 --> 00:06:34.613
Right, so press out a long stretch, stay there, your head stays where it is,
00:06:34.673 --> 00:06:36.833
look at the floor, nothing changes, knees in underneath you.
00:06:36.973 --> 00:06:38.193
That's the easiest way I've found
00:06:38.193 --> 00:06:41.373
to teach knee stretches, and that's fundamentally the skill of elephant.
00:06:41.913 --> 00:06:44.613
Elephant is keep your head in the same place and move the bed with your legs,
00:06:44.773 --> 00:06:47.453
but knees down makes your body lighter and less range of motion.
00:06:47.753 --> 00:06:51.073
Right. So it's like the steps to an elephant are long stretch,
00:06:51.193 --> 00:06:52.593
knee stretch, maybe you go to elephant.
00:06:52.913 --> 00:06:58.453
Right. And so here's the thing is that in each of those or in every instance,
00:06:58.653 --> 00:07:03.573
really, in order to really unlock the skill or even start to practice the skill,
00:07:03.813 --> 00:07:10.093
you need to have the requisite level of strength and flexibility to get into the position, right?
00:07:10.093 --> 00:07:12.613
So, I mean, if you can't get into the start position of elephant,
00:07:12.833 --> 00:07:15.393
like you can't practice the skill of elephant, right?
00:07:15.413 --> 00:07:18.993
If you don't have the shoulder strength to support yourself in a long stretch
00:07:18.993 --> 00:07:22.513
with your knees down, you can't become good at long stretch,
00:07:22.593 --> 00:07:24.113
like until you develop that strength.
00:07:26.553 --> 00:07:35.093
So the strength and the range of motion are kind of prerequisites for the skill.
00:07:35.213 --> 00:07:40.733
And so you can only cue someone into knee stretches like you just did if they
00:07:40.733 --> 00:07:42.453
have the strength and range of motion to do that.
00:07:45.753 --> 00:07:46.153
Correct.
00:07:48.713 --> 00:07:49.113
So...
00:07:53.054 --> 00:07:55.934
Happened again yeah we just had a little microphone malfunction that's all right
00:07:55.934 --> 00:08:02.674
we'll just persevere on okay so just to catch that like you said that really
00:08:02.674 --> 00:08:05.494
really well and one thing,
00:08:06.014 --> 00:08:10.114
i would say to that is so if we say that long stretch knees down one spring
00:08:10.114 --> 00:08:15.654
maybe one and a half depending on the innate in the tension of the springs high
00:08:15.654 --> 00:08:22.354
foot bar then knee stretches is the steps to elephant that's that's the other
00:08:22.354 --> 00:08:23.674
way i think about that is okay,
00:08:24.214 --> 00:08:27.154
now when i've got raf's mom or my mom or raf or whoever
00:08:27.154 --> 00:08:31.054
i want to make you stronger in
00:08:31.054 --> 00:08:33.814
the simple version than you need to
00:08:33.814 --> 00:08:36.654
be in the more complicated version so i would
00:08:36.654 --> 00:08:39.974
say i want to see you do long stretch knees down blue spring
00:08:39.974 --> 00:08:42.774
maybe low foot bar for x
00:08:42.774 --> 00:08:45.654
number of reps with good control and then
00:08:45.654 --> 00:08:49.194
i know that you've got more in the tank than necessary to
00:08:49.194 --> 00:08:52.034
go and stand up on one to one and a half and keep the
00:08:52.034 --> 00:08:55.134
shape and control the bed right that says i'm the
00:08:55.134 --> 00:08:58.174
key concept is capacity it's not just did you
00:08:58.174 --> 00:09:02.534
do the previous layer it's did you make the previous layer look easy look easy
00:09:02.534 --> 00:09:05.954
enough that i know you can do the next layer and in fact i'm going to test that
00:09:05.954 --> 00:09:11.194
by by scaling up one dimension the strength dimension in a simple smaller movement
00:09:11.194 --> 00:09:15.814
so then i can scale down the load and make it bigger and more complicated. Yeah.
00:09:16.854 --> 00:09:21.754
Bigger meaning more flexibility demand. So we're, you know, because when we
00:09:21.754 --> 00:09:25.214
teach this to people, to instructors and trainee instructors,
00:09:25.394 --> 00:09:27.874
often they, like it takes a while for it to click for them.
00:09:28.014 --> 00:09:31.734
So what are the bits that people kind of struggle to comprehend around this, do you think?
00:09:33.492 --> 00:09:37.972
Um, well, I think that's the one I just said is a really big one.
00:09:38.352 --> 00:09:41.012
Uh, and I know that I often get people sort of feeding back to me.
00:09:41.132 --> 00:09:43.012
You lost me at that point. And I think, what was that point?
00:09:43.112 --> 00:09:47.652
Oh, that was the point that where I lost you was where I dialed up one dimension.
00:09:47.932 --> 00:09:50.832
I'm sure I could come back and challenge other dimensions more.
00:09:51.972 --> 00:09:55.312
Um, and yeah, understandably when you're learning something,
00:09:55.332 --> 00:09:58.312
you want it to be black and white and you're looking for just step by step by step.
00:09:58.312 --> 00:10:04.752
And that's slightly more algorithmic than that and the other one i would say is just,
00:10:05.692 --> 00:10:08.312
again as a beginner when you go okay strength range of
00:10:08.312 --> 00:10:11.392
motion and skill that's more nuanced than
00:10:11.392 --> 00:10:14.612
just saying easier and harder yes it's not just so
00:10:14.612 --> 00:10:17.612
then okay now i've got to make sense of that and i'm trying to
00:10:17.612 --> 00:10:20.352
i start to try and understand a movement
00:10:20.352 --> 00:10:23.332
as a strength movement it's like well very few
00:10:23.332 --> 00:10:26.112
things in reformer land are pure strength yes and
00:10:26.112 --> 00:10:28.952
you know is this a wrong movement well very few things are just
00:10:28.952 --> 00:10:31.692
wrong movements i think that's the wrong question yeah i agree
00:10:31.692 --> 00:10:35.072
with you there that that you can't
00:10:35.072 --> 00:10:37.912
every movement requires some amount of strength some amount
00:10:37.912 --> 00:10:40.632
of range of motion some amount of skill right i mean you think about like
00:10:40.632 --> 00:10:43.752
the most basic you know strength movement like
00:10:43.752 --> 00:10:46.432
a really heavy deadlift right well you need
00:10:46.432 --> 00:10:49.612
range of motion in your shoulders and your knees and your hips and your spine you
00:10:49.612 --> 00:10:52.392
need control of the bar like yeah sure it's it's a
00:10:52.392 --> 00:10:56.312
lot more strength than it is range of motion right but
00:10:56.312 --> 00:11:00.332
you there is still a level of range of motion that's required and so everything
00:11:00.332 --> 00:11:04.992
so nothing is like a strength move or a range of motion move like it i mean
00:11:04.992 --> 00:11:09.152
if you've had knee surgery and you or if you had super stiff hips or whatever
00:11:09.152 --> 00:11:13.932
it's like deadlift could be a flexibility move you know um and so.
00:11:15.308 --> 00:11:21.448
I think that's the wrong question and trying to collapse any exercise into a
00:11:21.448 --> 00:11:26.828
single dimension kind of misses the point that every exercise is just like you've got,
00:11:26.968 --> 00:11:29.528
if you're playing a video game, you've got these three health bars,
00:11:29.648 --> 00:11:32.508
you know, and if any one of them gets to zero,
00:11:32.688 --> 00:11:35.328
you die, right? You got to have all three of them in every move.
00:11:35.428 --> 00:11:39.768
Like there's no such thing as a move that's just got range of motion and no strength, really.
00:11:39.908 --> 00:11:42.608
I mean, unless you're talking about even a passive stretch, you know,
00:11:42.668 --> 00:11:44.888
but I mean, something that we do in Pilates as an active movement,
00:11:45.088 --> 00:11:48.028
like they've all got a skill and a strength and a range of motion component.
00:11:48.348 --> 00:11:54.568
So I think you can't act, I think they're like atoms or like they're like cells in the human body.
00:11:55.028 --> 00:11:58.328
You can't reduce it down any further than that.
00:11:58.528 --> 00:12:03.188
Like a cell is the smallest unit of you that is alive, right?
00:12:03.188 --> 00:12:06.388
If you pull apart a cell, the bits inside a cell are just molecules,
00:12:06.808 --> 00:12:10.508
just atoms, right? They're not alive, right but a cell is alive and so i think
00:12:10.508 --> 00:12:13.748
an exercise has strength range of motion and control but you can't you can't
00:12:13.748 --> 00:12:16.548
separate those things out because when you pull them out it's like they're just
00:12:16.548 --> 00:12:17.448
molecules they're not alive,
00:12:18.251 --> 00:12:22.631
Yeah. Some of the ways that, so the way I've thought about it,
00:12:22.711 --> 00:12:25.811
that's been helpful for me is like a graphic equalizer.
00:12:26.671 --> 00:12:31.291
Um, you know, so you slide one thing up and you've got like sliders up and down.
00:12:31.371 --> 00:12:34.251
And so it's like, how high is the strength slider? How high is the ROM slider?
00:12:34.331 --> 00:12:35.891
How high is the skills slider?
00:12:36.151 --> 00:12:39.831
And I've found that really useful. Uh, students have reflected back,
00:12:40.191 --> 00:12:45.591
um, one student talked about having three vases and how full was each vase of water.
00:12:45.591 --> 00:12:48.471
Um you know one bars is
00:12:48.471 --> 00:12:52.131
strength one bars is wrong one bars is skill um and
00:12:52.131 --> 00:12:56.471
yeah so anything that gives you the ability to have different levels of the
00:12:56.471 --> 00:13:00.911
things at the same time in your mind is a good way to start thinking about it
00:13:00.911 --> 00:13:05.051
right and you know what you alluded to before you know that the concept of kind
00:13:05.051 --> 00:13:11.711
of layering these different uh dimensions and you progress one to regress the other or vice versa,
00:13:12.051 --> 00:13:15.011
that is a classic thing that you do in rehab.
00:13:15.691 --> 00:13:19.311
And that when you do, you know, and I think rehab is a really good place to
00:13:19.311 --> 00:13:24.271
think about this because in rehab, in early rehab, so just to remind you,
00:13:24.351 --> 00:13:27.031
dear listener, if you didn't listen to the previous, you know,
00:13:27.271 --> 00:13:28.711
dozen episodes where I've mentioned this,
00:13:29.931 --> 00:13:34.651
which is a real possibility because we're up to episode 348, I think now this is 348.
00:13:35.471 --> 00:13:38.831
So I'm not sure if there's anyone in the world that's listened to all 348 of
00:13:38.831 --> 00:13:41.231
them, But if that's you, I salute you.
00:13:42.171 --> 00:13:47.391
So anyway, back to rehab. So rehab is just graded exercise, which means it just
00:13:47.391 --> 00:13:51.951
starts easing, gradually gets harder, to restore strength, range of motion,
00:13:51.951 --> 00:13:53.871
and control to the injured body part.
00:13:55.296 --> 00:13:58.476
And because when you're injured, you lose some amount of strength,
00:13:58.676 --> 00:14:01.356
you lose some amount of range of motion, you lose some amount of skill to that
00:14:01.356 --> 00:14:02.156
body part, you know, control.
00:14:02.556 --> 00:14:04.676
And so you have to restore all those things. That's a process of rehab.
00:14:04.896 --> 00:14:09.336
And so in rehab, at the early stage of rehab, what you do is you try to,
00:14:09.456 --> 00:14:14.696
as much as possible, separate those elements and work on each one individually.
00:14:14.936 --> 00:14:18.656
And so the way you would do that would be you would work on strength isometrically.
00:14:18.836 --> 00:14:22.196
So you might do, you know, stand in a doorway and push against the sides of
00:14:22.196 --> 00:14:23.636
the doorway so you're not actually moving.
00:14:23.636 --> 00:14:26.716
So there's almost no skill there's almost
00:14:26.716 --> 00:14:29.956
no range of motion it's just strength right and
00:14:29.956 --> 00:14:32.876
then you might separately work on flexibility by doing
00:14:32.876 --> 00:14:35.736
a gentle passive stretch right where there's
00:14:35.736 --> 00:14:41.356
no strength there's no control required you're just lying still but it's you
00:14:41.356 --> 00:14:46.976
know almost purely range of motion and likewise with the control you might do
00:14:46.976 --> 00:14:52.916
a very small range of motion with a very light load and practice your coordination
00:14:52.916 --> 00:14:55.136
and a body awareness with that body part.
00:14:55.436 --> 00:15:00.836
So it's never fully possible to completely separate those things because even
00:15:00.836 --> 00:15:04.996
in a passive stretch, there's some degree of tension on the structures.
00:15:04.996 --> 00:15:09.696
And so you need to not apply too much load in your passive stretch.
00:15:09.776 --> 00:15:14.296
So you can never eliminate the strength or the range of motion components,
00:15:14.356 --> 00:15:18.296
but you can minimize them. And so at the start of rehab, we work on each of
00:15:18.296 --> 00:15:21.156
those elements separately as much as possible.
00:15:21.396 --> 00:15:26.476
And then as rehab progresses, we gradually integrate those movements so we do
00:15:26.476 --> 00:15:29.036
strength through range with control.
00:15:29.196 --> 00:15:33.616
And that is the process of restoring full function to that injured body part.
00:15:33.876 --> 00:15:36.496
And so I think that's a pretty good, you know, technique.
00:15:37.283 --> 00:15:42.863
Illustration of the principle, but we can apply that exact same principle in more advanced moves.
00:15:43.043 --> 00:15:45.443
And when I say more advanced, I don't necessarily mean like what you would think
00:15:45.443 --> 00:15:49.083
of as advanced Pilates moves, but like, I mean, just like not rehab stuff that
00:15:49.083 --> 00:15:52.063
you would teach in a regular Pilates class, like long stretch or footwork or
00:15:52.063 --> 00:15:55.403
legs in straps or lunges or teaser or hundreds and all of that.
00:15:55.563 --> 00:15:58.683
You can apply these exact same principles to this.
00:15:58.763 --> 00:16:03.283
And if somebody's struggling with an exercise or if, conversely,
00:16:03.303 --> 00:16:05.663
if somebody looks like they're ready to progress onto a harder version,
00:16:05.823 --> 00:16:07.503
it's like, well, harder how?
00:16:07.803 --> 00:16:11.023
You know, do they need more strength challenge? Do they need more range of motion
00:16:11.023 --> 00:16:12.323
challenge or do they need more control challenge?
00:16:12.563 --> 00:16:16.383
And so just to kind of illustrate that last point that you made about kind of
00:16:16.383 --> 00:16:20.443
the layering and how you regress one element to increase the other element,
00:16:20.723 --> 00:16:23.903
well, you might build up, you know, if you're thinking about rehab and we're
00:16:23.903 --> 00:16:26.223
thinking about rehabbing a shoulder and you might like stand in the doorway
00:16:26.223 --> 00:16:29.243
and press your arm against the doorway in an isometric contraction, okay?
00:16:29.463 --> 00:16:32.463
And you might, you know, you might start out doing a super gentle three out
00:16:32.463 --> 00:16:36.543
of 10 effort and you might progress over time to doing like an 8 out of 10 effort
00:16:36.543 --> 00:16:38.103
and holding that for 10 seconds,
00:16:38.923 --> 00:16:43.843
and then you might progress to doing some kind of more dynamic strength work,
00:16:44.303 --> 00:16:48.943
with that shoulder but when you did something more dynamic by which I just mean moving,
00:16:49.803 --> 00:16:54.403
you would substantially reduce the load so you might go from an 8 out of 10
00:16:54.403 --> 00:16:58.563
effort pushing against the door in an isometric contraction to like okay now
00:16:58.563 --> 00:17:02.343
we're going to do a biceps curl with a really 3 out of 10 load.
00:17:03.483 --> 00:17:09.603
Right so we've regressed the strength element made it easier at the same time
00:17:09.603 --> 00:17:14.243
as making the range of motion and the skill elements harder and you generally
00:17:14.243 --> 00:17:17.263
you wouldn't want to make all three harder at the same time.
00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:23.880
Well said and you know
00:17:23.880 --> 00:17:28.520
this this idea was unlocked for me through rehabilitation work through sort
00:17:28.520 --> 00:17:34.940
of looking at somewhat someone what do i do for this person who can't just jump
00:17:34.940 --> 00:17:43.360
in and do x i want to give them their version of that at the right level and,
00:17:45.420 --> 00:17:48.920
uh even this this what
00:17:48.920 --> 00:17:52.040
we're doing now like the activity of breaking a movement down
00:17:52.040 --> 00:17:54.760
and thinking so thinking so in in
00:17:54.760 --> 00:17:59.900
our teaching system we do layered clusters so the layers which are progressively
00:17:59.900 --> 00:18:05.840
more challenging versions of the same thing brackets in strength and or rom
00:18:05.840 --> 00:18:11.380
and or skill and rom just stands for range of motion sorry yeah they they roll
00:18:11.380 --> 00:18:13.100
through the class and And then at a certain point,
00:18:13.180 --> 00:18:15.620
you switch muscle groups because you can't work the same muscle group for the
00:18:15.620 --> 00:18:18.540
whole class, even though that's not the topic for today.
00:18:21.106 --> 00:18:27.126
But looking at a movement in this filter of strength, room, and skill.
00:18:29.886 --> 00:18:37.786
Without the imperative of making it work in a class, is probably the activity
00:18:37.786 --> 00:18:43.346
in the workshops and our courses that has had the highest rate of,
00:18:43.546 --> 00:18:47.906
could we please just fucking do that for like a year from students.
00:18:47.906 --> 00:18:53.486
So when you free yourself from having to make it work in a class and just think,
00:18:53.566 --> 00:18:59.286
okay, so what is Flamingo in strength, rom, and skill, and what are all the
00:18:59.286 --> 00:19:01.966
component bits, and how could you train those component bits?
00:19:02.086 --> 00:19:05.746
It doesn't necessarily make for a good class plan, but it's a really,
00:19:05.846 --> 00:19:09.166
really powerful thought experiment for an instructor who wants to understand.
00:19:10.066 --> 00:19:14.486
But that's quite different to how would you build the Flamingo in a class,
00:19:14.506 --> 00:19:15.606
except that they overlap.
00:19:16.166 --> 00:19:20.506
So one of the things is how to understand what Raf just described and really
00:19:20.506 --> 00:19:25.526
exploring that might not look like a good class plan, but it will inform your
00:19:25.526 --> 00:19:27.466
ability to build a fucking awesome class plan.
00:19:27.626 --> 00:19:30.946
Right. And so, you know, one of the ways that we started to think about this, you and I,
00:19:31.146 --> 00:19:39.666
you know, several years ago was really that, you know, Pilates essentially breaks
00:19:39.666 --> 00:19:44.086
down into a handful of, of key movement patterns.
00:19:44.086 --> 00:19:48.026
You know, there's a back bend, forward bend, twist, side bend,
00:19:48.386 --> 00:19:50.406
plank. I mean, that's pretty much it.
00:19:51.426 --> 00:19:55.186
And, you know, we could probably turn some of those into subcategories and whatever,
00:19:55.266 --> 00:19:58.606
but basically, you know, those are your basic movements.
00:19:59.978 --> 00:20:05.838
And you could, and then basically we started to, we realized that basically every other,
00:20:06.738 --> 00:20:10.838
exercise, you know, that is not like the most advanced version of a backbend
00:20:10.838 --> 00:20:15.038
layers up to that backbend. Like they're just easier versions.
00:20:15.198 --> 00:20:18.638
And how are they easier? Well, some of them have the same range of motion,
00:20:18.738 --> 00:20:19.718
but a lot less strength required.
00:20:19.818 --> 00:20:21.398
Like if you think about something like, you know, swan dive,
00:20:21.718 --> 00:20:24.778
right? Or high bridge, I think, which is like the ultimate expression of a backbend
00:20:24.778 --> 00:20:29.178
because it requires not just range of motion, but also massive strength and skill to do it.
00:20:29.178 --> 00:20:31.998
On the reformer so if we
00:20:31.998 --> 00:20:34.898
think about high bridge well you know swan dive
00:20:34.898 --> 00:20:37.738
has a somewhat similar range of motion in most of
00:20:37.738 --> 00:20:41.078
the body but not the same strength requirement in the shoulders you
00:20:41.078 --> 00:20:46.758
know so it's easier in that regard right um and something like you know rocking
00:20:46.758 --> 00:20:52.758
has possibly even a more extreme range of motion in in the low back and and
00:20:52.758 --> 00:20:57.918
but less requirement for strength in the back itself to get you into the position,
00:20:58.198 --> 00:21:00.038
and less requirement for range in the shoulder.
00:21:00.218 --> 00:21:07.338
So, you know, there are lots of levels of that same exercise within the whole
00:21:07.338 --> 00:21:13.118
Pilates system, and each of them is easier in one or more of those dimensions.
00:21:13.558 --> 00:21:17.858
And if you look at somebody's, you know, where they struggle with high bridge, for example.
00:21:18.378 --> 00:21:21.518
Right, you can say, huh, well, you've got the range of motion in your spine,
00:21:21.578 --> 00:21:24.438
but you don't have the range of motion in your shoulders so therefore we
00:21:24.438 --> 00:21:27.738
need to work on that in one of the exercises that
00:21:27.738 --> 00:21:30.518
works so for example something like semicircle might be a really good place
00:21:30.518 --> 00:21:34.998
to work on the range of motion you need in your shoulders for high bridge or
00:21:34.998 --> 00:21:37.538
you could say you know you don't have the range of motion in your spine okay
00:21:37.538 --> 00:21:42.018
well we could work on that in you know swan dive or rocking or one of the easier
00:21:42.018 --> 00:21:46.058
versions of those and so we can we can trace that all the way back to cat stretch.
00:21:47.537 --> 00:21:51.037
That if you can't do high bridge yet and you can't do swan dive yet,
00:21:51.097 --> 00:21:54.097
you can't do rocking yet and you can't do grasshopper yet. Oh,
00:21:54.417 --> 00:21:55.537
you can't do breaststroke.
00:21:56.557 --> 00:21:59.017
But can you do cat stretch? Yes, I can do cat stretch. Okay,
00:21:59.057 --> 00:22:00.277
great. Well, we'll start you there.
00:22:01.237 --> 00:22:04.737
Right. And then you can just say cat stretch essentially is high bridge.
00:22:05.897 --> 00:22:09.617
It is swan dive. It is rocking. It is grasshopper.
00:22:10.237 --> 00:22:13.697
It's all of that. I mean, it's also teaser, right? It's also roll over.
00:22:13.897 --> 00:22:17.897
It's also teaser horseback. And then just quickly back to yesterday,
00:22:18.197 --> 00:22:21.417
if you're just teaching neutral, you don't get to do any of those things.
00:22:22.537 --> 00:22:27.797
And so thinking about these elements of strength or engine control and then
00:22:27.797 --> 00:22:33.037
sidestepping from there into recognizing that all of these exercises in the
00:22:33.037 --> 00:22:41.017
system of Pilates ladder up or layer up to one of a handful of super advanced moves.
00:22:42.730 --> 00:22:46.550
And that each of those super advanced moves has a strength requirement,
00:22:46.750 --> 00:22:48.850
a range of motion requirement, and a skill requirement.
00:22:49.190 --> 00:22:52.570
And there's an overall skill, but there's also like the range of motion required
00:22:52.570 --> 00:22:54.610
in your shoulders. And there's a range of motion required in your hips,
00:22:54.730 --> 00:22:56.830
and there's a range of motion required in your low back, and et cetera.
00:22:57.070 --> 00:23:00.050
And so you can look at that as an experienced instructor and go,
00:23:00.150 --> 00:23:04.090
oh, this person has the range of motion in this body part, but not in that body part.
00:23:04.430 --> 00:23:09.430
So therefore, what they need to work on is this earlier exercise in the system
00:23:09.430 --> 00:23:13.750
that is going to help them build that range of motion in that body part, right?
00:23:13.810 --> 00:23:17.590
Or that strength or that skill or whatever it might be that is missing in that
00:23:17.590 --> 00:23:18.970
full expression of the move.
00:23:19.990 --> 00:23:23.850
Yeah. As an illustration of this in application,
00:23:24.150 --> 00:23:30.390
I was talking in one of our Q&As the other week and I had a question from one
00:23:30.390 --> 00:23:32.290
of our mentorship students,
00:23:32.330 --> 00:23:35.090
a qualified instructor doing a
00:23:35.090 --> 00:23:39.490
mentorship program but also has done the reformer pack and which
00:23:39.490 --> 00:23:42.570
is your advanced basically learn to do cool shit
00:23:42.570 --> 00:23:45.790
on the reformer learn to do cool shit right uh like
00:23:45.790 --> 00:23:49.430
high bridge and snake and all that teaser and all that yeah and
00:23:49.430 --> 00:23:52.330
in the in the reformer pack there's a movement i teach frequently which
00:23:52.330 --> 00:23:55.490
is uh you're lying on your back with your butt to the shoulder pads
00:23:55.490 --> 00:23:58.150
and your hands on the uprights of
00:23:58.150 --> 00:24:01.450
your foot bone i'm talking about a roughly standard commercial
00:24:01.450 --> 00:24:04.630
bed with a roughly 45 degree angle foot bar that you can get your hands around
00:24:04.630 --> 00:24:09.090
so your palms are facing in your hands are holding the uprights of the foot
00:24:09.090 --> 00:24:12.830
bar and your feet are on the rails or the bed depending how long you are and
00:24:12.830 --> 00:24:18.530
we peel up and we push to a high bridge and it's it's it's a great,
00:24:19.090 --> 00:24:23.890
progression towards high bridge because the position of your hands makes your
00:24:23.890 --> 00:24:26.950
wrists neutral it takes out a lot of the shoulder range of motion yeah when
00:24:26.950 --> 00:24:30.210
i when i used to do it in when And I was learning that in yoga is basically
00:24:30.210 --> 00:24:32.750
the life hack was start with your hands against the wall.
00:24:33.539 --> 00:24:36.239
You know right exactly so so if the
00:24:36.239 --> 00:24:39.039
wrist the gateway to your shoulders anything that takes you out of having to
00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:42.439
do you know lots of wrist extension with the external
00:24:42.439 --> 00:24:45.279
rotation of your shoulder opens up your shoulders to lift up
00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:48.079
and the foot bar is wider than your own shoulders so it's like
00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:52.039
it unlocks shoulders for people and lifting
00:24:52.039 --> 00:24:55.139
up because your hands are above your head and
00:24:55.139 --> 00:24:57.759
when i say above your head further off the ground than your
00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:00.979
head and also further above your head than your shoulders you've
00:25:00.979 --> 00:25:03.759
got to work really hard in the shoulders to lift up right so if
00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:06.679
you can do that you've got the strength to
00:25:06.679 --> 00:25:09.699
get to high bridge but you might not have the shoulder wrong and this
00:25:09.699 --> 00:25:12.639
student said to me you know look I've got these people
00:25:12.639 --> 00:25:15.499
they've been working with me I think I want to take them
00:25:15.499 --> 00:25:18.179
to that move and I but I don't know I don't feel
00:25:18.179 --> 00:25:22.039
confident and I said okay you've got 10 clients how
00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:24.739
confident are you that seven to eight of those clients are going
00:25:24.739 --> 00:25:27.739
to nail that lift if you call it and
00:25:27.739 --> 00:25:31.239
the student's answer was i'm not confident because i don't know how i would
00:25:31.239 --> 00:25:38.099
be confident and i said okay how many of that group can do 10 or 15 reps of
00:25:38.099 --> 00:25:43.579
a shoulder press off a bar in a long stretch so long stretch knees down low
00:25:43.579 --> 00:25:45.779
foot bar two and a half springs.
00:25:46.719 --> 00:25:50.359
Shoulder press in and out that so you just push the bed out bring the bed in
00:25:50.359 --> 00:25:51.859
with your body in the low position.
00:25:52.159 --> 00:25:56.299
And she said, I don't know, but I don't even know why you're asking me that.
00:25:56.419 --> 00:26:00.899
I said, because I wouldn't think, I wouldn't even dream of asking for the high
00:26:00.899 --> 00:26:04.199
bridge until I knew that everyone could give me 10 or so reps on two to two
00:26:04.199 --> 00:26:07.879
and a half springs of that shoulder press. And she clicked and she was like, oh, I see.
00:26:08.139 --> 00:26:11.619
So I'm testing the shoulder strength somewhere where to the untrained eye,
00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:14.499
it doesn't look anything like the high bridge press,
00:26:15.179 --> 00:26:19.299
but I'm testing for capacity so that I can go and make it more complicated upside
00:26:19.299 --> 00:26:23.419
down and more, you know, difficult in skill, difficult potentially in ROM,
00:26:23.739 --> 00:26:26.519
technically kind of not, depending on where you're going.
00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:31.819
And so that, you know, I'm trying to illustrate what you just said, Raf, and that it's, it's,
00:26:32.468 --> 00:26:35.328
it's it's like it's not you wouldn't say that the
00:26:35.328 --> 00:26:38.188
shoulder press is your layer to that high bridge because
00:26:38.188 --> 00:26:41.008
it means you've got to turn 180 degrees you've got around your back it's
00:26:41.008 --> 00:26:44.608
a completely different start position but what what you're looking for is oh
00:26:44.608 --> 00:26:48.668
cool you guys are looking really strong in that shoulder press maybe in a week
00:26:48.668 --> 00:26:52.808
or three we might try that high bridge lift right and so it's it's you know
00:26:52.808 --> 00:26:57.108
this is the unlock of understanding each exercise along the dimensions of strength
00:26:57.108 --> 00:27:00.868
range of motion and skill and you look at that you know lying prone on the long.
00:27:02.008 --> 00:27:05.988
Stretch with a foot bar low, two and a half springs, pressing out,
00:27:06.108 --> 00:27:11.528
and you're thinking, okay, this is the same action of the shoulder as lifting into a high bridge.
00:27:11.828 --> 00:27:14.148
Now, the spine position is different, the hip position is different,
00:27:14.268 --> 00:27:17.888
lots of stuff is different, but the shoulder is doing the same work here.
00:27:18.068 --> 00:27:21.668
So if you can do this, that means you've got the shoulder strength.
00:27:21.828 --> 00:27:24.848
Now, you might not have the spine mobility or the hip mobility or any of the
00:27:24.848 --> 00:27:27.948
other things, but you've got the shoulder strength to get into high bridge. Right?
00:27:30.136 --> 00:27:34.336
And so that way we can break each exercise into those three components.
00:27:34.516 --> 00:27:37.436
And when I say break, I don't mean there's not an exercise that's a strength move,
00:27:37.516 --> 00:27:41.236
an exercise that's a range of motion move, but we can evaluate each exercise
00:27:41.236 --> 00:27:48.816
along those three axes and then use that knowledge to choose exercises that
00:27:48.816 --> 00:27:51.256
will help our clients develop the strength,
00:27:51.396 --> 00:27:55.736
range of motion, and skill they need to progress to those harder moves.
00:27:55.856 --> 00:27:59.656
Whatever that harder move is that that client is working towards.
00:27:59.656 --> 00:28:02.376
And it doesn't have to be hybrid. They could be working towards long stretch kneeling.
00:28:03.696 --> 00:28:08.156
This goes all the way back to long stretch. Yeah, we often kind of get,
00:28:09.636 --> 00:28:13.736
we often talk to high bridge because it's such a great expression of all those things.
00:28:15.516 --> 00:28:18.696
I've got to jump off, but my sense is that we should probably just do like a
00:28:18.696 --> 00:28:23.256
little sub-series and just look through a bunch of movements and think about them in this way.
00:28:24.356 --> 00:28:28.196
Again, as I've said, when we do this in sessions, this is what students just
00:28:28.196 --> 00:28:32.816
say, I could just do this forever until I really, really own the idea. It takes a while.
00:28:33.636 --> 00:28:35.196
All right. Good talk.