00:00:06.241 --> 00:00:11.941

You're lying on a reformer carriage. Two red springs.

00:00:13.821 --> 00:00:20.481

Your headrest is all the way down. Arms are in straps. Fingers point to the ceiling.

00:00:22.101 --> 00:00:29.361

You're in a perfect neutral spine. There is one small to medium-sized grape

00:00:29.361 --> 00:00:36.541

under the small of your back. You're pressing it with extreme gentleness into the carriage.

00:00:37.441 --> 00:00:42.061

Your legs, perfect tabletop.

00:00:42.741 --> 00:00:51.341

Precisely 90 degrees at the hip, 90 degrees at the knee, ankles, plantar flexed.

00:00:53.041 --> 00:00:53.901

Inhale to prepare.

00:00:55.641 --> 00:01:01.641

Gently engage the pelvic floor. Draw the hip bones together.

00:01:04.341 --> 00:01:11.761

Exhale through pursed lips. Start by slightly flexing your cranium on your C1 and C2.

00:01:13.121 --> 00:01:18.801

Engaging the deep neck flexors, leaving the sternocleidomastoids relaxed.

00:01:20.641 --> 00:01:23.321

As you continue to exhale through pursed lips,

00:01:25.861 --> 00:01:31.361

Press your hands into the straps Keeping the shoulders wide,

00:01:31.561 --> 00:01:38.401

collarbones long Gently draw the straps down towards the carriage Congratulations,

00:01:38.921 --> 00:01:43.881

you are now doing mid-back series Heathlander.

00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:52.440

I'm just shivering in my little PTSD corner over there. Did I traumatize you too badly?

00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:55.780

Properly triggered. There should have been a trigger warning on that intro, dude.

00:01:58.200 --> 00:02:01.860

Fuck me. Did I forget any muscles?

00:02:03.020 --> 00:02:07.060

There was probably about another, what, 214 muscles you didn't mention?

00:02:09.440 --> 00:02:12.480

You've got the big ones, the important ones. I could have said something like,

00:02:12.720 --> 00:02:15.540

use your core to pull the straps down.

00:02:16.280 --> 00:02:20.060

Oh, yeah, yeah. It needs to come from your powerhouse, your core, yeah, yeah.

00:02:22.060 --> 00:02:26.580

So sorry, I could try that again from the core this time. Yeah,

00:02:26.660 --> 00:02:29.700

yeah, yeah. You wouldn't pass your test out on that one, dude.

00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:37.440

Yeah, so what was wrong with that picture that I just so carefully painted for you?

00:02:39.860 --> 00:02:46.540

Ah. Well, Joseph's turning in his grave to start, right?

00:02:46.700 --> 00:02:50.300

Like, mid-back is... Did he stabilise his core before he turned?

00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:52.800

Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

00:02:54.640 --> 00:02:57.380

Well, I mean, I think you're putting that on the table because...

00:02:59.814 --> 00:03:02.994

If you're a group reformer teacher, you teach that movement.

00:03:03.214 --> 00:03:08.194

You don't go very far or very long without being supine hands in straps,

00:03:08.354 --> 00:03:12.214

pressing the straps towards the bed or the foot bar and doing some variation

00:03:12.214 --> 00:03:14.034

of that movement. It's not a bad exercise.

00:03:15.674 --> 00:03:22.474

It's not a bad exercise, if you cue it properly. Yeah, I use it all the time.

00:03:23.294 --> 00:03:27.774

Let's be clear. What I mean is it's like if you're a group reformer teacher,

00:03:27.774 --> 00:03:30.934

you're going to teach that just like you're going to teach long stretch and

00:03:30.934 --> 00:03:31.734

you're going to teach lunges.

00:03:31.874 --> 00:03:34.734

Like this is going to be part of your repertoire day in, day out.

00:03:34.734 --> 00:03:41.074

It's one of the exercises on the reformer where you don't run out of resistance

00:03:41.074 --> 00:03:42.974

very quickly as you get stronger.

00:03:44.074 --> 00:03:49.634

Right. And depending what you do with the resistance, you can take it to some

00:03:49.634 --> 00:03:53.494

pretty interesting places, but not if you do it in neutral.

00:03:55.754 --> 00:04:02.794

All okay so we're we're not doing it in neutral i mean obviously still in tabletop though no.

00:04:07.014 --> 00:04:14.694

Um i said when i was at a class at a studio that shall remain nameless and i

00:04:14.694 --> 00:04:17.914

was waiting for the class to start and.

00:04:19.817 --> 00:04:24.457

I was warming myself up by lying in a supine tuck position. So I had my knees

00:04:24.457 --> 00:04:28.497

pulled to my chest and was pulling them apart and pulling them together.

00:04:28.737 --> 00:04:32.597

My knees, because I can, and it doesn't mean everyone should,

00:04:32.757 --> 00:04:39.477

but I can, when knees were properly at my armpits and that's where they warm up to.

00:04:39.677 --> 00:04:44.217

And the instructor came over and adjusted the, while I was in that position,

00:04:44.397 --> 00:04:46.517

which felt a little bit personal, so I released the position.

00:04:47.057 --> 00:04:53.337

She she adjusted the uh the stopper and the foot bar so that to ensure that

00:04:53.337 --> 00:04:57.057

my knee didn't come closer to me than my hip and then said okay now we've got

00:04:57.057 --> 00:04:58.197

the foot bar in the right place,

00:04:59.377 --> 00:05:02.497

you know that's where you'll do your work from and i said sorry what why are

00:05:02.497 --> 00:05:06.617

we setting it up there and she said i was just so that we don't go into too

00:05:06.617 --> 00:05:11.817

deep an angle of hip flexion i was like you walked up to me and i was like kissing

00:05:11.817 --> 00:05:16.097

my own kneecap and now you're anyway so all that to say,

00:05:16.617 --> 00:05:20.177

no, I don't teach tabletop and I don't advocate it and I think it's a total

00:05:20.177 --> 00:05:21.857

waste of time trying to teach people it.

00:05:21.977 --> 00:05:28.937

You should teach them a tuck position where you're in full flexion and it's

00:05:28.937 --> 00:05:31.717

a shape that actually scales into other movements.

00:05:32.257 --> 00:05:35.917

Well, I must be better at Pilates than you because I couldn't get my knees to

00:05:35.917 --> 00:05:37.497

my armpits unless I chopped my legs off.

00:05:39.337 --> 00:05:43.057

That's because I haven't got quads like this. I'm trying, still trying.

00:05:43.277 --> 00:05:47.277

20 years in, I'm still trying. Well, 20 years in, I'm still working on my splits.

00:05:50.017 --> 00:05:54.177

And you know how well I'm doing in inverted commas. I really will.

00:05:58.185 --> 00:06:01.005

Yeah. All right. So there's a lot to unpack in there.

00:06:01.125 --> 00:06:08.045

And so I think that really in a little bit of seriousness, there is a serious topic here.

00:06:08.405 --> 00:06:16.865

And so I guess in seriousness, what we're talking about today is really restrictive

00:06:16.865 --> 00:06:23.525

movement cues that really prevent people from actually getting the actual benefit from the movement.

00:06:24.645 --> 00:06:29.145

We're not only using useless cues that are just wasting time and effort and,

00:06:29.145 --> 00:06:34.045

you know, filling up the airspace, we're actually actively doing.

00:06:35.427 --> 00:06:42.007

Just decreasing the value people get from the movement by using just nonsensical ass-backwards cues.

00:06:42.247 --> 00:06:46.387

Now, dear listener, if you are using nonsensical ass-backwards cues,

00:06:47.147 --> 00:06:51.587

no disrespect, that was me for fucking years.

00:06:51.787 --> 00:06:55.147

Years, I did it. That's how come I can still do it after not doing it for a

00:06:55.147 --> 00:06:58.727

decade, because I'd said it so many thousands of times.

00:06:59.627 --> 00:07:02.967

The tape recording is still in my brain. I just press the button and out it comes.

00:07:03.347 --> 00:07:06.647

And so, Heath, I know you you did that also for years

00:07:06.647 --> 00:07:09.727

so no shade you know we look

00:07:09.727 --> 00:07:12.607

at the most the the the log in our own eye

00:07:12.607 --> 00:07:15.987

here as well so you

00:07:15.987 --> 00:07:22.167

know um you know now we're in a safe space uh you know what is what you know

00:07:22.167 --> 00:07:26.307

why why tuck you know let's break it down so there's there's the there's the

00:07:26.307 --> 00:07:31.387

there's so many things about the way that i cued that that exercise at the start

00:07:31.387 --> 00:07:34.747

of the show that both you and I have a problem with.

00:07:34.987 --> 00:07:39.767

One is the use of the tabletop position instead of tuck.

00:07:40.187 --> 00:07:45.027

The other one is neutral spine instead of just pressing your freaking back hard into the mat.

00:07:45.887 --> 00:07:50.447

Third one is just the over-queuing of muscles.

00:07:52.327 --> 00:07:57.607

There's probably more there. And then the other one is where you,

00:07:58.407 --> 00:08:03.787

when the straps go below the level of the shoulder, the question is what muscles are we working on?

00:08:04.847 --> 00:08:07.647

So then it's like, okay, is it mid-back or is it abs? And then,

00:08:07.747 --> 00:08:10.427

you know, I think that there's actually an interesting conversation.

00:08:10.627 --> 00:08:12.707

All right. So let's start with that. Let's start with that.

00:08:13.807 --> 00:08:18.947

So the thing is, and you and I haven't talked about this explicitly,

00:08:19.127 --> 00:08:22.847

but I think at this point I'd know exactly what you're thinking here.

00:08:23.027 --> 00:08:24.547

So correct me if I'm wrong. Okay.

00:08:26.209 --> 00:08:32.029

As your arms are lying on your back, your head's on the carriage,

00:08:32.169 --> 00:08:35.469

your head's on the headrest, your arms are vertical, your hands are in the straps.

00:08:35.629 --> 00:08:42.109

If there's a couple of springs on, the straps are pulling your arms into shoulder flexion.

00:08:43.009 --> 00:08:49.649

They're pulling your arms back past your head. You're working with your shoulder

00:08:49.649 --> 00:08:54.889

girdle muscles, your lats, your pecs, etc., etc., to extend your arms.

00:08:54.889 --> 00:08:58.649

So the shoulder extensors are working, right?

00:09:00.449 --> 00:09:06.429

And so as you pull down and down and down, at some point when your arms are

00:09:06.429 --> 00:09:12.249

parallel with the straps, right, the straps, the ropes are running right along your arms, right?

00:09:12.309 --> 00:09:16.129

So as your arms are vertical, the straps run back away from your arms.

00:09:16.249 --> 00:09:18.589

But as you bring your arms down and down and down, at some point,

00:09:18.729 --> 00:09:23.089

your arms and the straps are touching, okay? And at that point,

00:09:23.269 --> 00:09:25.949

the straps are no longer pulling you into flexion.

00:09:26.289 --> 00:09:30.069

They're also not pulling you into extension. They're pulling you to shoulder elevation.

00:09:31.149 --> 00:09:34.989

Right? They're actually just elevating your shoulder. They're pulling along the axis of your arm.

00:09:35.149 --> 00:09:39.289

Now, as you continue downwards from that point, the straps are actually now

00:09:39.289 --> 00:09:40.889

pulling you into shoulder flexion.

00:09:42.009 --> 00:09:45.489

Right? So you, into extension, my apologies.

00:09:45.889 --> 00:09:48.769

And so now you have to actually work your flexors a little bit.

00:09:48.849 --> 00:09:49.929

Now, it's not a lot of work.

00:09:50.089 --> 00:09:53.229

Right? But now you're working your deltoids, your front deltoids,

00:09:53.249 --> 00:09:55.249

et cetera, in order to slightly flex the shoulders.

00:09:55.449 --> 00:09:58.929

So actually, as the line of pull, the point is, dear listener,

00:09:59.309 --> 00:10:07.189

as you move your arms through the arc from vertical to horizontal in the mid-back

00:10:07.189 --> 00:10:11.109

series position, or the lying on your back, supine, arms and straps,

00:10:11.309 --> 00:10:13.649

however you want to call it, as you move your arms down,

00:10:13.869 --> 00:10:16.809

the line of pull changes such that.

00:10:18.359 --> 00:10:21.859

The exercise, the resistance actually disappears.

00:10:22.939 --> 00:10:25.939

You're no longer working your shoulder extensors. Like you just,

00:10:26.079 --> 00:10:27.159

they're not working at all.

00:10:27.419 --> 00:10:31.119

In fact, they're basically, you're working the opposite muscles by the bottom of the movement.

00:10:31.239 --> 00:10:35.839

So as you go to put your hands on the carriage, number one, the carriage is

00:10:35.839 --> 00:10:38.659

supporting the weight of your arms. So your flexors aren't working.

00:10:39.239 --> 00:10:44.299

And number two, the straps are lifting you up and supporting the weight of your arms as well.

00:10:44.439 --> 00:10:47.439

So your extensors are like nothing's working there, basically.

00:10:47.439 --> 00:10:51.859

It's like almost in equilibrium state, like you're floating in a flotation tank or something.

00:10:52.199 --> 00:10:56.559

So basically, when your arms go below the straps, it's all wasted effort,

00:10:56.799 --> 00:10:58.119

all wasted time from there on.

00:10:59.319 --> 00:11:02.999

There's no resistance, essentially. Is that what you were thinking, Heath?

00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:09.519

Well, that would be what I was thinking before we lift the head and shoulders.

00:11:09.799 --> 00:11:14.759

So if we're doing, like, say, a classical coordination where the head stays

00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:17.899

down, and And if we say that's for, you know,

00:11:18.119 --> 00:11:23.539

that Raf's just talked about the, you know, the paradox of what happens through

00:11:23.539 --> 00:11:25.479

the arc of the movement at the shoulder.

00:11:25.719 --> 00:11:29.999

And, you know, if you were taught about connecting into the shoulder girdle,

00:11:30.099 --> 00:11:33.579

that moment where you feel the push into the straps rather than the pull,

00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:34.919

blah, blah, blah, you know,

00:11:35.359 --> 00:11:38.579

Raf's just described that you, you essentially, you're going into the moment

00:11:38.579 --> 00:11:42.939

where your shoulder depressors become the major movement rather than the flexors extensors.

00:11:42.939 --> 00:11:48.799

If you're taught as I was, and Raf you can correct me if I misunderstood the

00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:49.979

teaching because you were my teacher,

00:11:50.359 --> 00:11:54.739

if you were taught that this is a movement when you raise your head and shoulders

00:11:54.739 --> 00:11:58.939

that's about the mid-back, now whether that's about using the,

00:11:59.119 --> 00:12:02.239

this was one of the answers I was given, it might have been Raf that gave me the answer,

00:12:02.479 --> 00:12:06.919

using the proprioception of the bed to get the scapula to move more correctly

00:12:06.919 --> 00:12:09.219

on the ribcage because of that,

00:12:09.499 --> 00:12:14.579

or that it's as you press into the bed, the muscles of your mid-back,

00:12:14.779 --> 00:12:19.099

your mid-traps, rhomboids, et cetera, start to be engaged if you were taught that,

00:12:19.879 --> 00:12:22.719

then that's one way to think about it.

00:12:24.265 --> 00:12:27.365

And I would say to that, if you want to work the muscles of your mid-back,

00:12:27.745 --> 00:12:31.825

go and do it in chest expansion or a movement like that, where they actually

00:12:31.825 --> 00:12:33.945

move against load through range of motion.

00:12:34.325 --> 00:12:38.565

But when I ask instructors in workshops...

00:12:40.469 --> 00:12:44.249

What this movement's for, once they've been teaching for a while,

00:12:44.409 --> 00:12:48.889

all of that stuff has evaporated. And they think that the answer is it's for your abs.

00:12:49.009 --> 00:12:52.609

Like when, when I say, okay, when you give this movement to a group,

00:12:52.729 --> 00:12:55.029

what do your clients experience and what is it?

00:12:55.129 --> 00:12:59.269

What do you tick off with the movement? The answer is always abs, maybe hip flexors.

00:13:00.589 --> 00:13:04.069

And in that context, then

00:13:04.069 --> 00:13:06.889

what's interesting about this

00:13:06.889 --> 00:13:10.229

movement the way I teach it now and advocate

00:13:10.229 --> 00:13:14.089

it and how we teach it in our courses is when

00:13:14.089 --> 00:13:17.689

you press the straps down they don't go below the level of your shoulder joint

00:13:17.689 --> 00:13:22.369

head and shoulders curl up and the cue is try and touch the foot bar if the

00:13:22.369 --> 00:13:26.789

foot bar's up so I leave my foot bar up I know that's heresy leave the foot

00:13:26.789 --> 00:13:29.809

bar up press the straps down try and touch the foot bar don't let the straps

00:13:29.809 --> 00:13:32.229

touch your wrists and curl up as high as possible.

00:13:32.909 --> 00:13:37.209

And now the line of resistance from the rope is pulling your shoulders back

00:13:37.209 --> 00:13:40.329

down. So your abdominals actually work against the line of pull.

00:13:40.469 --> 00:13:45.509

If your hands go below your shoulder, then it's actually easier to sit up. Yes.

00:13:46.209 --> 00:13:50.269

Right. So if you think this is for your abs and you cue hands to the bed,

00:13:50.429 --> 00:13:54.849

you're putting your foot on the accelerator and the brake at the same time and the clutch.

00:13:54.969 --> 00:13:57.329

So you've got fuck all, you've got exit, you've got nothing happening,

00:13:57.469 --> 00:13:59.909

brakes, accelerator, clutch. You're just sitting there going,

00:13:59.989 --> 00:14:01.229

I don't know, this is not happening.

00:14:01.689 --> 00:14:06.549

So try it in your own body. I mean, actually, you know, if you want to sort

00:14:06.549 --> 00:14:10.269

of extend that line of reasoning, if you, if you, as you curl up,

00:14:10.349 --> 00:14:13.189

right, if you're curling up and you're actually thinking of this as mainly an

00:14:13.189 --> 00:14:15.969

ab exercise, as opposed to mainly an arm exercise,

00:14:16.249 --> 00:14:19.029

because let's face it, the abs are way stronger than, sorry,

00:14:19.109 --> 00:14:21.169

the arms are way stronger than the abs for most people.

00:14:22.249 --> 00:14:25.009

And so when you, even though you're working your arms a bit,

00:14:25.249 --> 00:14:28.129

your abs are going to get tired way before your arms in this one.

00:14:28.129 --> 00:14:31.489

So if you actually keep your arms vertical, it's actually harder,

00:14:31.489 --> 00:14:37.329

you know, because you've got a longer lever there against the abs. So –,

00:14:39.767 --> 00:14:43.087

But, you know, just leaving that aside for a second, you know,

00:14:43.187 --> 00:14:47.147

going back to what you said about the mid-back, you know, the mid-traps,

00:14:47.247 --> 00:14:49.467

the lower traps, blah, blah, blah, the rhomboids.

00:14:50.387 --> 00:14:55.467

You know, I can't honestly remember teaching you this or, you know, that.

00:14:55.947 --> 00:15:00.427

But, you know, and I think it's just a stock Pilates thing that those exercises

00:15:00.427 --> 00:15:02.287

are called the mid-back series.

00:15:05.167 --> 00:15:08.687

I think most other people call them like arms in straps or something like that.

00:15:08.687 --> 00:15:10.967

And of course, there were specific exercises, like coordination,

00:15:11.367 --> 00:15:12.987

100, and overhead, and blah, blah, blah.

00:15:13.287 --> 00:15:16.427

But I'm just talking about lying on your back, pull the straps down,

00:15:16.507 --> 00:15:19.207

pull them up, pull the straps down, lift them up, triceps extension,

00:15:19.587 --> 00:15:21.447

straight arms, arm circles, blah, blah, blah.

00:15:22.207 --> 00:15:25.227

One leg long, two legs long, all the rest of it.

00:15:26.567 --> 00:15:30.707

Most people do think of it as an ab exercise, but I imagine a Pilates purist,

00:15:30.767 --> 00:15:33.567

of which I was one way back in the day,

00:15:33.787 --> 00:15:40.587

would say something along the lines of, it's not for strengthening meaning, you know, as such,

00:15:40.747 --> 00:15:47.007

it's for control of the, you know, for activation and correct stability of the

00:15:47.007 --> 00:15:51.187

scapulae to maintain your scapulae, you know,

00:15:51.787 --> 00:15:56.587

stabilized on your back as you curl up and bring your arms down.

00:15:59.867 --> 00:16:08.107

And so the challenge is more proprioceptive and stability rather than, you know,

00:16:08.807 --> 00:16:12.927

strength and then we shouldn't add too much load on because then we'll spoil

00:16:12.927 --> 00:16:17.887

we'll lose the benefit of the movement and it won't be about stability anymore

00:16:17.887 --> 00:16:21.247

it'll just be about you know quote,

00:16:21.947 --> 00:16:27.447

muscling through it with your quote global muscles and that's pretty much what i would have said,

00:16:28.707 --> 00:16:32.387

a decade and a half ago so what do you say to that,

00:16:36.310 --> 00:16:38.010

Oh, you're just hurting my feelings.

00:16:44.750 --> 00:16:49.070

All right. So if we're talking about, and you mean, correct me where I missed

00:16:49.070 --> 00:16:54.410

the biomechanical subtleties of this, but if we're talking about stability...

00:16:55.593 --> 00:17:01.813

It's the property of a system to return to its resting state once it's been perturbed.

00:17:01.953 --> 00:17:09.073

So you do stuff and it comes back. Stability in biomechanics is very, very poorly defined.

00:17:09.453 --> 00:17:12.753

No one's come up with an agreed upon definition of what it actually is.

00:17:12.993 --> 00:17:19.193

And generally what physios and Pilates instructors mean when they say stability

00:17:19.193 --> 00:17:21.793

is keeping your body part still.

00:17:22.453 --> 00:17:28.173

Now, sometimes we mean keeping your scapula flat on your spine and on your ribcage

00:17:28.173 --> 00:17:30.613

and not winging or anteriorly tilting or whatever.

00:17:31.593 --> 00:17:35.753

Yeah, but basically what they mean is nebulous and ill-defined and everyone

00:17:35.753 --> 00:17:37.953

means a different thing by it and you can't really measure it.

00:17:38.113 --> 00:17:42.553

But yeah, aside from that, pray continue. Yeah, well, often just,

00:17:43.133 --> 00:17:49.813

I mean, so often what I think people have been taught, if only by inference,

00:17:50.113 --> 00:17:52.533

what stability means is essentially dissociation.

00:17:52.813 --> 00:17:56.773

Like you're demonstrating your ability to stabilize when you can keep one thing

00:17:56.773 --> 00:17:58.913

in one place and do something with something else.

00:17:59.013 --> 00:18:01.273

Hold body part A still, move body part B.

00:18:01.493 --> 00:18:06.733

B, right. And teaching that adds a complexity to what could otherwise be a pretty

00:18:06.733 --> 00:18:11.513

intuitive movement. So it affirms our expertise rather than empowering the core.

00:18:11.613 --> 00:18:14.353

Oh, and a really cynical, a really cynical, a

00:18:14.353 --> 00:18:22.873

much more cynical podcast host than me would say that that would be a great

00:18:22.873 --> 00:18:28.933

way of making up some kind of dysfunction so that your clients feel bad about

00:18:28.933 --> 00:18:33.113

their bodies and you're the only one with a secret answer that can cure their made-up dysfunction.

00:18:34.273 --> 00:18:38.473

Right. And then if you scale that out, you've got a population of people who

00:18:38.473 --> 00:18:43.173

think they're unsafe in movement, shit at Pilates, and if they don't do it right,

00:18:43.213 --> 00:18:45.713

they're going to injure themselves so they don't train in a way that actually

00:18:45.713 --> 00:18:48.193

gives them healthier, happier, longer lives as an outcome.

00:18:49.814 --> 00:18:52.454

You'd have to be really fucking cynical to say that though, Nate.

00:18:52.874 --> 00:18:58.714

I know, it's dark. We're in dark waters here. All right, so coming back to the

00:18:58.714 --> 00:19:00.414

scapular stabilization thing.

00:19:02.974 --> 00:19:08.334

So one way we seem to be taught what stabilization is, is dissociation.

00:19:08.454 --> 00:19:11.454

And we can talk about dissociation in another session because there's lots of

00:19:11.454 --> 00:19:13.574

movements that do that really well and that we can unpack.

00:19:13.934 --> 00:19:16.754

Another one would be that your scapula are flat and flush on the rib cage.

00:19:18.954 --> 00:19:22.614

And when you protract and slightly

00:19:22.614 --> 00:19:25.414

upwardly rotate your scapula that's a damn good place

00:19:25.414 --> 00:19:28.134

to put them flat and flush on the rib cage because your rib

00:19:28.134 --> 00:19:32.054

cage folks is not a rectangle it's an oblong one of my favorite words in the

00:19:32.054 --> 00:19:35.754

english language and so when you move the scapula in that way they they suck

00:19:35.754 --> 00:19:40.694

on so if you're really interested in training scapula on the rib cage that hands

00:19:40.694 --> 00:19:45.054

position where the hands are not to the bed is a great one and then paradoxically

00:19:45.054 --> 00:19:47.314

as your hands come below the line of your shoulder,

00:19:47.554 --> 00:19:53.494

the humeral head follows the glenoid, so the scapula is actually going to change

00:19:53.494 --> 00:19:56.194

its position, and it won't be as stable,

00:19:56.374 --> 00:20:01.594

except that it is stable because stability is its ability to manage force through,

00:20:01.754 --> 00:20:04.214

like we probably need to do a full thing on, or you can do one on,

00:20:04.374 --> 00:20:06.154

the glenoid follows the humeral head.

00:20:06.414 --> 00:20:10.474

But what I wanted to say to what you said, Raf, is...

00:20:12.239 --> 00:20:17.599

As you increase the load, and by that I mean as you add more springs and you

00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:21.899

do the movement the way I sort of laid it out, where the hands don't go below

00:20:21.899 --> 00:20:23.339

the line of the shoulder,

00:20:23.679 --> 00:20:28.279

the heavier the load becomes, the more you can tolerate that load,

00:20:28.279 --> 00:20:31.999

the easier it is to pull your knees to your chest and bring your hips up.

00:20:32.359 --> 00:20:36.339

And you start to be able to get to the rib cage and to the shoulder blade,

00:20:36.359 --> 00:20:41.679

and that starts to open up the movement that I learned with my hands pressing

00:20:41.679 --> 00:20:44.939

into the bed as, now I've forgotten the name, overhead.

00:20:45.819 --> 00:20:48.779

And now overhead pressing your hands into the bed is one thing.

00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:52.319

I'm going to stick my hand up and say, I like to stick my hand into the bed when I do overhead.

00:20:53.139 --> 00:20:56.979

Yeah, of course. Which is like jackknife, right? Overhead is jackknife on the reformer.

00:20:57.079 --> 00:21:01.579

Overhead is jackknife, 100%. And so if you're working with someone who's working

00:21:01.579 --> 00:21:06.479

on jackknife, overhead, or they've got quads like RAF, they're going to want

00:21:06.479 --> 00:21:08.999

to press their hands into the bed because they've got to generate a lot of force.

00:21:08.999 --> 00:21:14.599

Try lifting your legs up over your head when your legs weigh freaking 70 kilos. Right.

00:21:15.939 --> 00:21:19.019

Like if Raph was in my class, I would call, hey, Raph, press your hands into

00:21:19.019 --> 00:21:21.859

the bed until we get used to getting the hips off, right?

00:21:21.979 --> 00:21:25.419

But I'd also look at Raph and think, well, he's got pecs that are commensurate

00:21:25.419 --> 00:21:28.979

to his quads and biceps that are commensurate to his quads.

00:21:29.019 --> 00:21:34.239

So I think if I can get him the skill, which is to manage the load,

00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:37.379

then I reckon I can get him to his shoulders, but it would mean I have to put

00:21:37.379 --> 00:21:41.559

a lot of load into the strap. I was just going to say, if you give me all the springs.

00:21:42.199 --> 00:21:46.579

Yeah, well, that's what I would do. Like I, more and more, the further along

00:21:46.579 --> 00:21:50.899

I go, the more often I teach full spring hands and straps towards overhead if

00:21:50.899 --> 00:21:52.099

the clients can come with me.

00:21:52.199 --> 00:21:57.379

And the paradox of it is once your arms, which as Raf said, are strong relative

00:21:57.379 --> 00:22:01.079

to your abs can tolerate the load. And that's also getting used to it.

00:22:01.459 --> 00:22:07.059

Then you can use that as a platform to roll your hips off the bed and it's an.

00:22:08.179 --> 00:22:13.159

Unstable platform. Like you're not pressing into the bed, but it's actually very stable.

00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:16.459

Like it's, once you get used to the load, it gives you a lot because as Raf

00:22:16.459 --> 00:22:20.059

said, the higher your arm, the longer the lever, the more load there is.

00:22:20.199 --> 00:22:26.839

So paradoxically, the skill of jackknife comes from heavy springs and that makes

00:22:26.839 --> 00:22:31.999

your scapula connect to your rib cage more effectively because all the muscles work harder to do that.

00:22:32.499 --> 00:22:37.939

I'm talking about paradoxical things. I think it's kind of paradoxical that, you know,

00:22:38.159 --> 00:22:44.919

we're here sort of advocating for this worldview of Pilates,

00:22:44.919 --> 00:22:49.419

that it is in fact a fucking system and that you, when you're doing your mid-back

00:22:49.419 --> 00:22:52.299

or your arms and straps in 90-90, you know, tabletop,

00:22:52.679 --> 00:22:57.399

like that's overhead, right? It's just the baby version of overhead.

00:22:58.299 --> 00:23:02.179

And if you do it in tabletop, you're breaking the system. Right.

00:23:02.379 --> 00:23:05.519

And if you do it in, like, if you do it in tabletop in neutral spine,

00:23:05.899 --> 00:23:12.319

because overhead, you have to flex your fucking spine and flex your hips maximally to get up there.

00:23:15.439 --> 00:23:21.419

If you think about it as a system, and, you know, we can't know what Joseph

00:23:21.419 --> 00:23:24.739

Pilates were thinking, but, you know, people always, you know,

00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:27.479

all the Pilates purists, they talk about, oh, Pilates is a system,

00:23:27.579 --> 00:23:29.399

you have to understand it, you can't just do it on the reformer.

00:23:29.399 --> 00:23:33.279

It's like, I think we fucking understand it at this point. I think,

00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:35.099

you know, I think this is what it's about.

00:23:35.299 --> 00:23:38.579

It's like you're working up to those bigger, you know, expressions of the movement.

00:23:38.759 --> 00:23:42.339

And so if you don't get there, that's fine. You know, we all have our strengths

00:23:42.339 --> 00:23:44.659

and flexibilities and our body proportions and whatever.

00:23:47.411 --> 00:23:52.331

It's like understanding that, you know, exercise A is just an easier version

00:23:52.331 --> 00:23:58.291

or a prep or a piece in the puzzle towards, you know, exercise B or exercise C.

00:23:58.991 --> 00:24:04.291

You know, to me, that's understanding the system of Pilates. Pilates is a system.

00:24:04.531 --> 00:24:09.711

And when you, you know, I think the people who break exercises down into smaller

00:24:09.711 --> 00:24:12.871

and smaller parts, you know, conversely by going like, okay,

00:24:12.891 --> 00:24:15.511

when you're doing mid-back, think about this in your scapula and this in your

00:24:15.511 --> 00:24:16.731

humerus and this in your hip.

00:24:16.731 --> 00:24:19.811

And this is like, okay, what about making the movement bigger?

00:24:20.031 --> 00:24:23.851

You know, um, I think they quite mistake the matter. And I think that's actually

00:24:23.851 --> 00:24:27.171

not what the system of Pilates is all about.

00:24:27.371 --> 00:24:29.831

You know, it's like what, what we were talking about last time,

00:24:29.991 --> 00:24:30.931

count the legs and divide by

00:24:30.931 --> 00:24:36.031

four, you know, like it could give too many cues to do a simple movement.

00:24:36.551 --> 00:24:43.251

Um, let's move on to. And so just quickly as a quick aside on that, you know, um.

00:24:44.666 --> 00:24:52.706

A counterpoint to that, that I've talked about a lot with people is, and it simmers down to,

00:24:53.586 --> 00:24:57.446

as an instructor, as a facilitator of movement for other people,

00:24:57.606 --> 00:25:02.006

you're going to be vulnerable to those narratives if you don't feel confident

00:25:02.006 --> 00:25:04.266

about adding load to a movement.

00:25:04.626 --> 00:25:09.106

And the thing that unlocked all of this for me years and years ago,

00:25:09.246 --> 00:25:14.866

now thank God, was understanding, as we've said before, that load is the important variable, not form.

00:25:15.086 --> 00:25:17.306

And then more than that is.

00:25:20.146 --> 00:25:23.926

What does it look like when someone is approaching a point where the load is

00:25:23.926 --> 00:25:26.626

too much? And too much means they can't do another rep.

00:25:27.026 --> 00:25:33.426

And then unlocking the truth that the form as it's laid out in what you ask

00:25:33.426 --> 00:25:38.146

for, so the rules of the game that you make, will dissipate as people approach fatigue.

00:25:38.146 --> 00:25:41.706

And if that hasn't happened at eight or ten reps you're

00:25:41.706 --> 00:25:45.126

in you're in the go zone for making things harder either

00:25:45.126 --> 00:25:48.326

through bigger movements or through more load like

00:25:48.326 --> 00:25:51.666

you've seen that the person can control that movement for eight to ten reps

00:25:51.666 --> 00:25:57.646

you can add load or complexity yeah so you actually so it completely flips the

00:25:57.646 --> 00:26:02.686

paradigm and that does take some thinking so you know i think as as because

00:26:02.686 --> 00:26:06.826

we don't no one wants to hurt their clients so if you're told at pilates school that,

00:26:07.306 --> 00:26:10.886

moving incorrectly is dangerous. Well, of course you don't want to move people incorrectly.

00:26:12.429 --> 00:26:14.969

But the sad truth is that if you've been taught that like that.

00:26:14.989 --> 00:26:19.309

What if that was not true? What if it was just 100% untrue bullshit?

00:26:19.949 --> 00:26:22.409

Right. Right. That's the question you've got to ask yourself.

00:26:22.569 --> 00:26:26.649

What if it's not true? And then work back from there.

00:26:26.889 --> 00:26:30.789

And it's like, because it's not, right? The thing is, if you can do the movement

00:26:30.789 --> 00:26:35.329

and it looks smooth, you don't need to break it down any further.

00:26:35.329 --> 00:26:37.729

You need to look at where it's going.

00:26:37.949 --> 00:26:41.209

But if it wasn't true, then people could do all kinds of things.

00:26:41.209 --> 00:26:45.269

Like if it wasn't true that moving wrong you

00:26:45.269 --> 00:26:48.269

know will hurt you then we'd see

00:26:48.269 --> 00:26:51.129

i mean that that can't be right because if

00:26:51.129 --> 00:26:53.949

it was if it wasn't true then we would see people doing things

00:26:53.949 --> 00:26:58.229

crazy things like wrestling bridges without hurting themselves or break dancing

00:26:58.229 --> 00:27:03.389

without hurting themselves or like advanced yoga poses i mean a leg behind the

00:27:03.389 --> 00:27:08.729

head uh non-neutral spine without hurting like we'd We'd see powerlifters lifting

00:27:08.729 --> 00:27:11.269

like hundreds of kilos with a rounded spine.

00:27:11.469 --> 00:27:19.889

Like we'd see all of those things if it wasn't true that moving wrong would hurt you. Oh, hold on.

00:27:20.469 --> 00:27:23.369

We do see all of those things. Yeah. Huh.

00:27:25.429 --> 00:27:32.489

All right. So tell me about why you've got a thing about tuck versus tabletop.

00:27:36.096 --> 00:27:39.276

Uh, I've got a few things about why I've got a thing about tuck versus tabletop,

00:27:39.336 --> 00:27:44.956

but one of the things I've got is, or, or hold on, hold on, hold on,

00:27:45.536 --> 00:27:50.456

tell me why you've got a thing about not moving the carriage stopper out so

00:27:50.456 --> 00:27:52.796

that you can't bend your hips beyond 90 degrees when you do footwork,

00:27:52.856 --> 00:27:56.016

which is kind of the same thing, right?

00:27:59.256 --> 00:28:03.696

Uh, my, I'm not sure I'm catching. Well, like that lady, like that Pilates instructor,

00:28:03.796 --> 00:28:07.956

I'm assuming she was a lady, like that Pilates instructor came over and adjusted

00:28:07.956 --> 00:28:10.696

your carriage so that you couldn't flex your hips past, you know,

00:28:10.876 --> 00:28:14.056

the quote, you know, the point of no return, you know,

00:28:14.696 --> 00:28:17.176

90 degrees of hip flexion. Oh my God.

00:28:18.616 --> 00:28:22.556

If you ever do, if you ever do go past 90 degrees of hip flexion,

00:28:22.676 --> 00:28:26.076

I'll feel a disturbance in the force. I'll know, I'll know you're gone. Yeah.

00:28:27.276 --> 00:28:30.476

Well, if you don't do that, then you.

00:28:33.431 --> 00:28:37.611

You can't bring, so bringing your knees to your armpits or as deep as you can,

00:28:38.271 --> 00:28:41.031

is going to help you posteriorly tilt your pelvis, which is going to help you

00:28:41.031 --> 00:28:43.371

flex your spine, which is going to help you go into the tuck shape.

00:28:43.871 --> 00:28:48.151

Going into the tuck shape is the only way that you're going to be able to do

00:28:48.151 --> 00:28:56.691

rolling back, jackknife, roll up, roll over, uh, like insert Pilates exercise here.

00:28:56.971 --> 00:28:59.831

When you do the mat work exercise, which apparently, you know

00:28:59.831 --> 00:29:02.951

is the true thing which i mean i fucking love

00:29:02.951 --> 00:29:06.231

matt is it's essentially

00:29:06.231 --> 00:29:09.011

a rolling practice when you do return to life

00:29:09.011 --> 00:29:14.691

through contrology in sequence you're just rolling back and forth and when people

00:29:14.691 --> 00:29:17.671

come and do my mat class they go dude you do a lot of rolling it's like yeah

00:29:17.671 --> 00:29:24.491

rolling's kind of like you know so that and i say that i mean any of the movements

00:29:24.491 --> 00:29:28.051

where you want to get to your shoulders, you're going to need to go into flexion.

00:29:28.391 --> 00:29:30.311

And that's tuck. That's a tuck position.

00:29:30.811 --> 00:29:33.951

It's just not. And then you look at the photos of Joseph doing long stretch,

00:29:34.131 --> 00:29:37.271

which is an upside down hollow body on the reformer.

00:29:37.611 --> 00:29:41.451

He's in full flexion. Full flexion of the spine is the tuck position.

00:29:41.611 --> 00:29:44.931

And, you know, Raf could explain it better than me, but the full flexion of

00:29:44.931 --> 00:29:46.191

your lumbar spine is flat.

00:29:46.671 --> 00:29:50.891

It doesn't flex, and some people do, but roughly speaking, it flexes too flat.

00:29:51.571 --> 00:29:55.911

So putting your lower back on the bed, which allows you to roll back and forth.

00:29:56.671 --> 00:30:00.331

That is the natural end range of your lumbar spine.

00:30:00.511 --> 00:30:04.871

It's designed to go there and it's functional in Pilates because you want to roll.

00:30:05.291 --> 00:30:09.031

Not to mention, it's actually what Joseph wrote in his books and instructions.

00:30:09.831 --> 00:30:13.371

Yeah. Right. And it's just fucking cat stretch. Like when you do,

00:30:13.631 --> 00:30:17.691

why is it, you know, it's like if you're doing cat stretch, you should do tuck position.

00:30:18.051 --> 00:30:23.171

If you, if then maybe some of us are still queuing not to go into full flexion in cat stretch, which,

00:30:29.613 --> 00:30:37.273

uh i'm just looking here through um return to life through contrology and um,

00:30:38.473 --> 00:30:42.093

looking at say the double leg stretch uh,

00:30:44.153 --> 00:30:50.033

he says draw both legs upward and forward with lock wrists and hold them firmly

00:30:50.033 --> 00:30:56.493

in the double up position, pull the legs towards you and press them firmly against chest, end quote.

00:30:59.413 --> 00:31:02.373

Yeah. It's like, that's pretty cool. That's not tabletop.

00:31:04.593 --> 00:31:09.353

It's not tabletop. Single leg, the one leg stretch, the one leg stretch,

00:31:09.633 --> 00:31:13.773

pull left leg as far as possible toward chest, you know?

00:31:15.616 --> 00:31:23.596

That's pretty clear. Going back to Raf's point about if bad movement was dangerous,

00:31:23.856 --> 00:31:28.936

then we wouldn't see, insert high-level movement athlete person here.

00:31:29.256 --> 00:31:32.096

Then the argument is, yeah, but the people I teach are not athletes.

00:31:33.136 --> 00:31:36.256

Yeah, why not? Because you never let them move. Right.

00:31:37.796 --> 00:31:41.336

What do athletes do different? Oh, they move. Okay, great. So if you want to

00:31:41.336 --> 00:31:42.736

be more like an athlete, what should you do?

00:31:43.256 --> 00:31:49.196

Do more of that. They load, right? Right. They load and push into their capacities

00:31:49.196 --> 00:31:50.516

at an appropriate level.

00:31:50.816 --> 00:31:52.176

Seriously, again, I don't want

00:31:52.176 --> 00:31:56.076

to be facetious here. And I was that instructor for many years, right?

00:31:56.236 --> 00:31:59.596

I've done all these things many, you know, hundreds if not thousands of times.

00:32:00.316 --> 00:32:03.456

But, you know, thinking about this, right? Okay, my clients,

00:32:03.696 --> 00:32:06.556

you know, my clients can't do X, Y, and Z.

00:32:06.636 --> 00:32:09.476

They can't do a full back bend. They can't do, you know, knees to chest.

00:32:09.596 --> 00:32:11.356

They can't, you know, get up out of a chair properly.

00:32:12.156 --> 00:32:14.956

They've got a sore shoulder, right? and then there's

00:32:14.956 --> 00:32:17.856

this athlete you know a break dancer oh they can do the splits and

00:32:17.856 --> 00:32:20.496

touch their toes and do this spinal extension and put their

00:32:20.496 --> 00:32:24.096

head on their butt and whatever right okay so my

00:32:24.096 --> 00:32:27.116

clients shouldn't do those things and shouldn't train like that person because

00:32:27.116 --> 00:32:31.836

they can't do those things no your client can't do those things because they

00:32:31.836 --> 00:32:37.076

don't train like that person that is why it's the reverse causality right it's

00:32:37.076 --> 00:32:41.556

like saying like oh my client can't get my client can't go to hospital because he's not well.

00:32:41.756 --> 00:32:45.076

It's like, no, you go to hospital to get well, right?

00:32:45.296 --> 00:32:50.956

My client can't, you know, doesn't have the flexibility, therefore he shouldn't stretch.

00:32:51.816 --> 00:32:55.056

Yeah, my client can't do a push-up, therefore he shouldn't do push-ups.

00:32:55.156 --> 00:32:59.496

It's like your client can't do a push-up because your client doesn't do push-ups,

00:32:59.876 --> 00:33:01.456

right? It's back to front.

00:33:01.696 --> 00:33:05.336

It's totally back to front. Anyway, back to you.

00:33:08.513 --> 00:33:11.193

Sorry, I deroured your train of thought. Yeah, I don't know.

00:33:11.833 --> 00:33:15.053

I don't even know what I was talking about. But you're a...

00:33:17.033 --> 00:33:22.273

What did you ask me? What's my thing about tuck? Yeah, so where did we get to tabletop?

00:33:22.413 --> 00:33:25.773

You know, like, so tuck is the position, right? So when you're thinking about

00:33:25.773 --> 00:33:28.293

pelagias as a system, you're thinking about we're moving towards,

00:33:28.493 --> 00:33:32.533

you know, these body shapes that impacts person a full exercise.

00:33:32.773 --> 00:33:36.313

And whether, again, whether any individual person gets to each particular move

00:33:36.313 --> 00:33:39.893

doesn't fucking matter at all. who cares if you can do it, you know,

00:33:40.033 --> 00:33:41.573

overhead or whatever. Absolutely.

00:33:42.533 --> 00:33:45.973

But that's where it's going, right? That's where it's heading towards,

00:33:46.213 --> 00:33:47.493

right? So we've got to do something.

00:33:47.613 --> 00:33:51.813

We can't just roll around on the floor, you know, in a sock and say it's interpretive dance.

00:33:51.973 --> 00:33:55.993

Like we have to have some kind of structure activity that we do when we come into a Pilates class.

00:33:56.153 --> 00:33:59.153

And so what do we do in Pilates class? We work towards doing the Pilates moves.

00:33:59.293 --> 00:34:02.313

I mean, that seems pretty, I think we can probably all agree on that.

00:34:02.313 --> 00:34:10.513

That, and so tuck really is, you know, the essence of, you know,

00:34:10.613 --> 00:34:12.653

so many of those Pilates moves.

00:34:12.773 --> 00:34:16.153

If you think about the hundred, any of those things, it's like it's back flat

00:34:16.153 --> 00:34:20.733

on the mat, it's rounding the low back, it's, you know, all of that stuff, right?

00:34:20.833 --> 00:34:24.313

And then you go into hundreds, you go into rolling back, you go into all of

00:34:24.313 --> 00:34:27.613

that, you know, they're the same rolling up, et cetera.

00:34:28.513 --> 00:34:31.693

So, but what's wrong with doing tabletop?

00:34:33.675 --> 00:34:38.975

Well, nothing. The tabletop's a place that you stop at on the way from flexion to extension.

00:34:39.435 --> 00:34:43.955

Problem is, to quote our boy, what's his name?

00:34:45.215 --> 00:34:47.355

Did you want to do a middle split? Got to spend time in middle.

00:34:47.495 --> 00:34:48.395

Oh, yeah, Christopher Summer.

00:34:48.955 --> 00:34:52.455

Yeah, he was asked about neutral spine, and he said, to quote, fuck neutral.

00:34:52.635 --> 00:34:57.155

We don't teach neutral. It's not an athletic position, because you can't do anything from there.

00:34:57.315 --> 00:35:01.575

Christopher Summer, 20-year coach of the U.S.

00:35:02.215 --> 00:35:06.275

Men's gymnastics team. I think he knows a thing or two about gymnastics coaching.

00:35:06.455 --> 00:35:09.355

I'm not sure, but I think he does. Yeah, he's probably got a few thoughts on it.

00:35:09.615 --> 00:35:14.075

Well, and they're his words, not mine, from a podcast I heard years and years

00:35:14.075 --> 00:35:17.755

ago, which as you can probably imagine made me sit up and listen.

00:35:20.315 --> 00:35:25.615

And in deference to people who've been taught that the significance of neutral

00:35:25.615 --> 00:35:29.375

is your ability to co-contract the abdominals,

00:35:29.715 --> 00:35:33.815

the spinal extensors, and then can you manage your hip flexors and somehow turn

00:35:33.815 --> 00:35:36.675

them off while you do loaded hip flexion, right?

00:35:38.755 --> 00:35:40.375

To Raf's question of what's wrong.

00:35:42.380 --> 00:35:48.000

Learning to co-contract muscles to stop movement is a dissociation game.

00:35:48.940 --> 00:35:53.340

And every now and again, dissociation is something you need to do as a skill

00:35:53.340 --> 00:35:54.900

to make a movement more efficient.

00:35:54.920 --> 00:35:57.600

But in that case, you're learning the skill of

00:35:57.600 --> 00:36:00.420

dissociation to make yourself less efficient and it doesn't

00:36:00.420 --> 00:36:03.420

protect you from injury and it doesn't build strength because

00:36:03.420 --> 00:36:06.560

it's held over long periods of endurance

00:36:06.560 --> 00:36:09.560

until your hip flexors freak out and you can't do Pilates

00:36:09.560 --> 00:36:12.440

because you can't do 58 reps without your hip flexors

00:36:12.440 --> 00:36:15.600

freaking out i want to just take i want to take the last three

00:36:15.600 --> 00:36:18.300

four minutes that we got here before we got to finish up and i just want

00:36:18.300 --> 00:36:22.200

to talk about that concept and how it relates to learning and skill because

00:36:22.200 --> 00:36:25.540

you touched on like efficiency there and efficiency is one of the hallmarks

00:36:25.540 --> 00:36:28.280

of skill like as you become more skilled in the movement like by definition

00:36:28.280 --> 00:36:31.940

you become more efficient so you use less effort to achieve the same output

00:36:31.940 --> 00:36:37.280

and um when you're teaching somebody you know dear listener you you'll know

00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:38.180

this from your own experience.

00:36:38.620 --> 00:36:43.140

When you're teaching somebody something, you can basically teach anyone anything

00:36:43.140 --> 00:36:46.200

if you've got long enough, right? So if you had a thousand years, you could.

00:36:48.808 --> 00:36:52.968

Probably it's not worth the time and effort, but if you had enough repetitions, you probably could.

00:36:53.628 --> 00:36:57.548

And so, dear listener, if you're teaching somebody to do something really that

00:36:57.548 --> 00:36:59.328

they know how to do really well, right?

00:36:59.488 --> 00:37:04.188

So just say you're, you know, you're coaching some kind of like super advanced,

00:37:04.268 --> 00:37:07.148

like elite, you know, tennis player or something like that, right?

00:37:07.208 --> 00:37:10.548

And they're in the middle of a match and you're like, okay, you know,

00:37:10.608 --> 00:37:13.368

see when the opponent's hitting the ball, like they're always hitting it a bit

00:37:13.368 --> 00:37:16.188

short. So what I want you to do is I want you to place it just a little bit

00:37:16.188 --> 00:37:18.428

longer in your next volley, right?

00:37:19.088 --> 00:37:23.308

That is the level of instruction you would give to an elite tennis player, right?

00:37:23.928 --> 00:37:27.188

Notice I gave zero instructions about which fucking muscles to use,

00:37:27.328 --> 00:37:29.828

what to do with your fingers on the grip, on the maturial racket,

00:37:29.908 --> 00:37:31.008

your follow through, any of that, right?

00:37:31.188 --> 00:37:35.208

It's place the ball a bit longer, right? So it's the outcome of the movement.

00:37:35.408 --> 00:37:38.348

Whereas a beginner, first tennis lesson, what would you say?

00:37:38.448 --> 00:37:39.668

You wouldn't say place the ball a bit longer.

00:37:40.008 --> 00:37:42.828

You'd say, here's how you hold the racket and your fingers go here.

00:37:43.188 --> 00:37:45.088

Okay, now you put your foot here, you put your other foot here.

00:37:45.228 --> 00:37:48.828

Now you swim, here's how you swing, right? You would give them like much more

00:37:48.828 --> 00:37:52.548

minute, detailed instructions, right?

00:37:52.868 --> 00:37:56.828

And that is, you know, somewhat appropriate for a beginner to get more,

00:37:57.108 --> 00:37:59.908

you know, like if you're teaching someone to answer emails in your business,

00:38:00.128 --> 00:38:05.048

you would like, okay, a total beginner, imagine you're teaching my mum to send

00:38:05.048 --> 00:38:06.728

emails. You're like, okay, this is a computer.

00:38:07.368 --> 00:38:10.348

Here's how you turn it on. This is the email program we use.

00:38:10.508 --> 00:38:13.028

Here's how to type. Like you would have to go through all the basics, right?

00:38:13.368 --> 00:38:15.088

Then if you didn't get someone who's very advanced, you'd be just like,

00:38:15.148 --> 00:38:16.348

okay, the templates you're

00:38:16.348 --> 00:38:19.128

in a folder called xyz you know you'll figure it

00:38:19.128 --> 00:38:21.908

out right and then off you go give them less instruction they can

00:38:21.908 --> 00:38:25.128

figure it out now when somebody's really good at pilates

00:38:25.128 --> 00:38:29.228

dear listener here's where we get back to the actual point okay and you're saying

00:38:29.228 --> 00:38:32.428

they've done like 100 pilates classes and you're saying to them okay we're going

00:38:32.428 --> 00:38:36.128

to do this movement so start by gently engaging your pelvic floor don't move

00:38:36.128 --> 00:38:39.348

your hips beyond 90 degrees be a neutral spine contract your transverse abdominis

00:38:39.348 --> 00:38:42.488

and your lumbar multifidus okay lengthen your shoulder blades any back,

00:38:42.968 --> 00:38:46.188

you're doing the equivalent of saying, here's how you hold your racket and.

00:38:48.115 --> 00:38:53.855

Put your feet here, et cetera. And that is how you make people regress in terms of their skill.

00:38:53.935 --> 00:38:56.995

Like if you take that, imagine if you gave that elite tennis player and they're

00:38:56.995 --> 00:39:00.835

like, you know, two match points short of winning Wimbledon and they come like,

00:39:00.935 --> 00:39:03.775

okay, coach, what should I do in this last point? You know, it's match point.

00:39:03.935 --> 00:39:07.855

And the coach is like, okay, well make sure you hold your racket like this and

00:39:07.855 --> 00:39:10.435

swing when you follow through and don't use your shoulder too much.

00:39:10.495 --> 00:39:12.835

Cause sometimes, you know, use your shoulder too much and put your feet here

00:39:12.835 --> 00:39:13.955

and make sure you keep your weight balanced.

00:39:14.275 --> 00:39:19.035

They're going to cause them to overthink the fuck out of that movement and stuff it up, right?

00:39:19.295 --> 00:39:23.895

So you want to keep them, you want to use the highest level of instruction possible

00:39:23.895 --> 00:39:25.775

given that person's level of skill.

00:39:26.055 --> 00:39:30.895

And so this is like when we like quote teach in Pilates a lot of the time,

00:39:31.095 --> 00:39:35.215

we're teaching more advanced people, we're giving them the super basic instructions

00:39:35.215 --> 00:39:38.015

like put your foot here, swing through, bring your arm up, et cetera.

00:39:38.115 --> 00:39:41.735

It's like they already fucking know, dude, they already know it.

00:39:41.735 --> 00:39:48.075

So the point is, when we give people more detailed instructions than they need,

00:39:48.215 --> 00:39:51.775

it's not actually just a waste of breath. It's actually actively regressing

00:39:51.775 --> 00:39:56.575

their learning, is making them a worse mover.

00:39:57.215 --> 00:39:59.375

That's what it's doing. All right, rant over.

00:40:03.716 --> 00:40:07.456

So, um, at the end of the day, I've got to,

00:40:07.556 --> 00:40:11.456

I just want to catch that as you know, as I've got to jump on teacher class,

00:40:11.556 --> 00:40:20.996

but I think we should bookmark a continuation of this conversation and talk about dissociation.

00:40:21.116 --> 00:40:24.936

We'll talk about the movement that we call flamingos and how that relates to

00:40:24.936 --> 00:40:29.556

hands in straps and to reverse knee stretches and talk about, um,

00:40:30.236 --> 00:40:37.056

you know, cause the whole idea of neutral, keeping neutral while you do the

00:40:37.056 --> 00:40:42.016

strap press or the leg extension and however many more muscles you cue to while you do that.

00:40:43.196 --> 00:40:49.956

The dissociation game is one that's really, really viral in Pilates teaching.

00:40:50.816 --> 00:40:53.836

And I often get people saying, so you don't teach dissociation.

00:40:53.916 --> 00:41:00.116

I teach it all the time when it helps people be more efficient at the movement that I want them to do.

00:41:00.116 --> 00:41:08.176

And i think that deserves an unpack because we're not you know dissociation is not a bad thing,

00:41:08.796 --> 00:41:11.676

but teaching it like raf just explained for the

00:41:11.676 --> 00:41:14.596

sake of making well what the first long for making

00:41:14.596 --> 00:41:22.396

things more exactly so dissociation's everywhere right right right right exactly

00:41:22.396 --> 00:41:29.096

so i think we should next time we talk we should talk about this idea of flamingo

00:41:29.096 --> 00:41:32.716

and when you teach it and how dissociation is a, it's a good thing to teach because,

00:41:32.896 --> 00:41:38.256

but it's taking the dissociation somewhere rather than just continually drilling it.

00:41:38.276 --> 00:41:42.336

Well, it's just, it's just taking one thing in isolation.

00:41:42.576 --> 00:41:45.476

You're going shoulder flexion. It's like, okay, don't you teach shoulder extension?

00:41:45.656 --> 00:41:48.876

No, we don't teach shoulder extension. It's like, no, sometimes flexion's good.

00:41:48.976 --> 00:41:50.516

Sometimes extension's good. Sometimes you're in the middle.

00:41:50.656 --> 00:41:52.916

It's like, you just do whatever's appropriate to the movement.

00:41:53.056 --> 00:41:55.856

Like you need a full repertoire and vocabulary of movements.

00:41:56.576 --> 00:41:58.536

Yeah. Don't get obsessed with one freaking thing.

00:42:00.016 --> 00:42:02.956

All right. Good talk. Ciao, bye. See you later.