00:00:05.948 --> 00:00:11.248

All right, something that I hear a lot and which I actually agree with is that

00:00:11.248 --> 00:00:17.048

Pilates is a system and that if you follow the system, it works better and that

00:00:17.048 --> 00:00:18.568

Mr. Pilates created this amazing system.

00:00:18.888 --> 00:00:24.468

Now, I happen to agree with that, but I think oftentimes the people who say

00:00:24.468 --> 00:00:31.288

it, I don't agree with them on how they actually use the system.

00:00:32.288 --> 00:00:35.288

Uh let me give you an example and

00:00:35.288 --> 00:00:39.188

it's specifically about mistaking the

00:00:39.188 --> 00:00:42.188

muscular action of exercise and therefore

00:00:42.188 --> 00:00:45.508

how to basically progress or regress movements

00:00:45.508 --> 00:00:50.028

so if you look at you know the the the different apparatus you've got the reformer

00:00:50.028 --> 00:00:53.848

the mat the the ladder barrel the small barrels the cadillac the you know all

00:00:53.848 --> 00:01:03.888

of that etc basically you do the same sequence of moves and you can do, you know,

00:01:04.028 --> 00:01:10.248

very similar moves on each apparatus, but each apparatus has its own unique

00:01:10.248 --> 00:01:13.508

sort of way of making the move more supported maybe,

00:01:13.788 --> 00:01:18.608

or more guided, or more challenged, or, you know, or a larger range or a smaller

00:01:18.608 --> 00:01:19.468

range of motion, et cetera.

00:01:19.708 --> 00:01:22.948

So for example, you can do 100 on the mat, you can do 100 on the reformer,

00:01:23.048 --> 00:01:27.588

you can do 100 on the Cadillac, uh, et cetera.

00:01:27.888 --> 00:01:32.488

And so, and I think, you know, this is great because you can move,

00:01:32.608 --> 00:01:36.288

once you can do 100 on the, on the mat, well, you can progress to doing it on

00:01:36.288 --> 00:01:37.308

the reformer, it's a bit harder.

00:01:38.008 --> 00:01:43.208

And once you can do that, you can progress to doing maybe teaser on the mat.

00:01:43.668 --> 00:01:47.888

And then once you can do that, you can progress to doing teaser on the reformer and so on and so forth.

00:01:47.988 --> 00:01:50.408

Right. And maybe you can do some rollups with the push through bar and stuff,

00:01:50.728 --> 00:01:52.848

teaser and push through bar, you know, somewhere in the middle there.

00:01:53.248 --> 00:02:01.428

But, where I think people frequently mistake this concept of the system is they

00:02:01.428 --> 00:02:04.608

look at two moves and they think these moves look similar.

00:02:05.068 --> 00:02:06.768

So, for example….

00:02:10.218 --> 00:02:15.258

A, you know, like an elephant on the reformer or arabesque on the reformer maybe,

00:02:15.598 --> 00:02:17.898

where your foot's on the carriage, hands are on the foot bar,

00:02:18.598 --> 00:02:22.958

one leg's in the air, and it's on a light spring, and the carriage is,

00:02:23.058 --> 00:02:25.138

you're using your abs and your flexes to pull the carriage in.

00:02:27.018 --> 00:02:30.658

And then looking at something like on the chair, a mountain climber,

00:02:30.858 --> 00:02:34.178

you know, or you call it forward step up or backward step up or backward step

00:02:34.178 --> 00:02:37.238

down, I can't remember what it's called these days, but basically one foot's

00:02:37.238 --> 00:02:38.378

on the chair, one foot's on the pedal,

00:02:39.598 --> 00:02:41.858

the foot on the chair is bent and you're pushing back and forth,

00:02:41.978 --> 00:02:43.278

like a scooter sort of thing.

00:02:44.518 --> 00:02:47.598

And saying that like, you know, one's a progression of the other or one's an

00:02:47.598 --> 00:02:48.338

equivalent of the other.

00:02:48.518 --> 00:02:51.898

And it's like, yeah, it's the same body position is in one leg's forward,

00:02:51.978 --> 00:02:54.178

one leg's back and you're kind of moving your legs back and forth,

00:02:54.238 --> 00:02:58.018

but it's the opposite exact muscle group.

00:02:58.518 --> 00:03:02.578

And I think there are instances of this that I'm sure Heath,

00:03:02.698 --> 00:03:07.138

you can point out that are probably a simpler comparison than the one I just pulled out.

00:03:07.878 --> 00:03:11.918

But I think, yeah, so basically I feel like,

00:03:12.338 --> 00:03:16.418

yes, Pilates is a system, it's a fantastic system, but I think where people

00:03:16.418 --> 00:03:22.938

mistake it is they don't actually a lot of the times get which muscles are actually

00:03:22.938 --> 00:03:28.918

working hard in an exercise to therefore accurately progress people from one to the next.

00:03:29.018 --> 00:03:33.198

And I know that you've made that your essentially life's work to do that.

00:03:33.198 --> 00:03:37.678

So, you know, where do you see, you know, where do you see people going?

00:03:37.898 --> 00:03:40.258

I mean, I'm just assuming that you do see people going wrong with this.

00:03:40.338 --> 00:03:43.698

Where do you see people going wrong with this? And how do you think differently about it?

00:03:46.929 --> 00:03:50.969

Um yeah all right there's a bunch yeah i have thought a lot about it,

00:03:51.649 --> 00:03:56.189

which makes it a very real risk that i'll disappear down a wormhole really quickly

00:03:56.189 --> 00:03:59.489

well we've we've got dear listener and you know this because you're watching

00:03:59.489 --> 00:04:04.609

the podcast recording time and you know that we've only got 19 minutes remaining yes,

00:04:06.309 --> 00:04:09.969

and i'm like when you're sitting out there in listener land going oh holy crap

00:04:09.969 --> 00:04:12.669

how did you know you've got 19 minutes it's like yeah because heath and i both

00:04:12.669 --> 00:04:14.289

got a class at the top of the Yeah, well, that's why.

00:04:19.909 --> 00:04:26.589

So you're absolutely right, and I think people do get confused or they maybe

00:04:26.589 --> 00:04:30.689

have been taught to think about it at a level that's not as deep as it could be.

00:04:31.749 --> 00:04:39.069

And there's a bunch of things that we build into our courses and I've had the

00:04:39.069 --> 00:04:43.189

great honor to sort of have to think out loud through that have helped people.

00:04:43.649 --> 00:04:49.609

With it. So one idea, one little heuristic that is often applicable is that

00:04:49.609 --> 00:04:52.189

the muscles that are creating the shape.

00:04:55.115 --> 00:04:59.355

Can, well, as you said, it can be completely different muscle groups with the same shape. Right.

00:04:59.575 --> 00:05:04.515

So if you take a photo of someone in a shape, you don't know what muscles got

00:05:04.515 --> 00:05:06.275

them there is kind of a way to think about it.

00:05:06.335 --> 00:05:11.495

You've got to see the movement and see where the load and the force that they're having to create is.

00:05:12.215 --> 00:05:15.635

And when you start to think like that, then you start to be able to problem

00:05:15.635 --> 00:05:21.255

solve how one thing that might not look like another is actually more closely

00:05:21.255 --> 00:05:23.615

associated than something else that looks a lot like it.

00:05:23.615 --> 00:05:27.435

So what's a common example you see, you know, because you've given a crap ton

00:05:27.435 --> 00:05:30.935

of workshops and taught a lot more teaching workshops than I have now.

00:05:31.695 --> 00:05:35.655

What's somewhere you see where maybe instructor students or maybe instructors,

00:05:35.655 --> 00:05:42.215

you know, commonly get confused and think that two exercises that look the same

00:05:42.215 --> 00:05:45.215

are the same when in fact they're actually working opposite muscle groups?

00:05:46.315 --> 00:05:54.015

Yeah. Well, yeah. So, all right. I think anything on the reformer that has hands

00:05:54.015 --> 00:05:58.815

on the footbar, feet on the shoulder pads is fertile ground for understanding spring tension.

00:05:59.115 --> 00:06:01.735

Oh, right. So yeah, long stretch with the heavy spring versus the light spring.

00:06:01.875 --> 00:06:05.915

Is that what you mean? Yeah. Or tiger stretch or down stretch or knee stretch.

00:06:06.175 --> 00:06:11.995

And what we call, we call this the law of the spring in the certification program and the mentorship.

00:06:12.335 --> 00:06:14.755

So, and that's how I've found it useful to...

00:06:16.153 --> 00:06:19.733

The idea of it is that the further out the bed travels, the more spring tension

00:06:19.733 --> 00:06:21.693

there is, and that is always true.

00:06:22.113 --> 00:06:25.453

Then it depends on how many springs are on and what the movement is.

00:06:25.533 --> 00:06:29.313

So it's a way to kind of remind yourself to come back to the fundamental thing

00:06:29.313 --> 00:06:35.213

is how far is the bed traveling, what springs are on, and the further out the

00:06:35.213 --> 00:06:37.013

bed travels, the more spring tension there is.

00:06:37.173 --> 00:06:43.393

And then the way to sort of start making sense of it is in a long stretch where

00:06:43.393 --> 00:06:50.033

the springs are light, your body weight becomes more of a problem the further out the bed goes because.

00:06:50.833 --> 00:06:54.493

You're more, and you can talk to the biomechanics more efficiently than I can. You're inching a lever.

00:06:54.613 --> 00:06:57.253

But on very, yeah, so it's a longer lever.

00:06:57.413 --> 00:07:00.333

So suddenly it's hard to keep your body off the ground because gravity is pulling

00:07:00.333 --> 00:07:02.433

you down and you're not getting much pushback from the bed.

00:07:02.993 --> 00:07:06.533

On the heavier springs, you're essentially being sandwiched between the spring

00:07:06.533 --> 00:07:07.513

tension and the foot bar.

00:07:07.613 --> 00:07:12.493

Right. So you have forcibly, you have to push the bed out. so like

00:07:12.493 --> 00:07:15.513

long stretch light springs armpits and front

00:07:15.513 --> 00:07:18.733

body long stretch heavy springs front shoulder

00:07:18.733 --> 00:07:22.013

back body roughly roughly roughly and you just

00:07:22.013 --> 00:07:24.813

play with that across multiple movements and the

00:07:24.813 --> 00:07:28.513

other thing that i think people benefit from

00:07:28.513 --> 00:07:31.513

thinking about is that the reformer lets

00:07:31.513 --> 00:07:35.053

us break gravity and not many exercise equipment pieces

00:07:35.053 --> 00:07:38.093

not many pieces of exercise equipment do that for you so most

00:07:38.093 --> 00:07:41.053

things are a vertical force vector that you're working

00:07:41.053 --> 00:07:44.053

against but the reformer allows you to make a horizontal force

00:07:44.053 --> 00:07:50.213

vector heavier than than gravity so that you're not just being pulled down you

00:07:50.213 --> 00:07:54.013

can make it so that you're trying to push across you know perpendicular to the

00:07:54.013 --> 00:07:59.153

earth and that takes a bit of thinking about you know it's like so it's because

00:07:59.153 --> 00:08:02.693

it's it's not enough to say that heavier springs are harder and.

00:08:03.802 --> 00:08:07.142

Depending on the muscle group you're working, because shoulder bridge,

00:08:07.462 --> 00:08:12.142

long stretch, anything where your body weight becomes part of the problem,

00:08:12.402 --> 00:08:18.542

part of the weight that you're lifting, the lighter springs will let the bed move away more easily.

00:08:18.542 --> 00:08:21.062

So something's going to have to work to offset that.

00:08:22.642 --> 00:08:28.202

Right. So that's an example of light springs versus heavy springs.

00:08:28.362 --> 00:08:30.802

And light springs, again, and we've talked about this before on the podcast,

00:08:30.942 --> 00:08:32.022

but basically light springs,

00:08:32.022 --> 00:08:34.982

what we mean when we say light spring is a spring

00:08:34.982 --> 00:08:37.882

where the assistance you get from the

00:08:37.882 --> 00:08:41.182

spring is less than your body weight so your

00:08:41.182 --> 00:08:44.562

body weight becomes the actual load and

00:08:44.562 --> 00:08:48.902

so uh and that's and you know what spring that is going to depend on how heavy

00:08:48.902 --> 00:08:52.082

your body is and how long you are because the more you stretch the spring with

00:08:52.082 --> 00:08:57.202

long arms long legs long torso the more spring resistance you have so you know

00:08:57.202 --> 00:09:01.122

like you know there's no such thing as one setting that is a light spring for

00:09:01.122 --> 00:09:03.562

everybody, but you can say, you know, on a long stretch kneeling,

00:09:03.762 --> 00:09:08.042

yeah, half or one is going to be light for most people. Okay.

00:09:08.982 --> 00:09:12.762

And then a heavy spring is defined as where the spring actually wants to push

00:09:12.762 --> 00:09:16.362

you in and you have to work to push the carriage out.

00:09:16.702 --> 00:09:19.742

And so light spring versus heavy spring on a long stretch, it's,

00:09:19.802 --> 00:09:24.422

you know, abs and armpits on the light spring, you know, delts and upper shoulders

00:09:24.422 --> 00:09:28.622

and maybe back and hip extensors, whatever, on a heavy spring.

00:09:29.282 --> 00:09:31.982

Same same uh we have the same thing but kind of a

00:09:31.982 --> 00:09:34.862

little bit different on say a lunge or

00:09:34.862 --> 00:09:37.562

a scooter right so let's say a scooter where the

00:09:37.562 --> 00:09:41.042

front you're standing on the front foot standing on the floor next to the foot

00:09:41.042 --> 00:09:44.702

bar the back foot's on the carriage up against the shoulder block the front

00:09:44.702 --> 00:09:47.682

leg is bent and stationary and you're pushing the carriage in and out with the

00:09:47.682 --> 00:09:53.082

back leg okay if you've got a light spring let's say a half a spring okay versus

00:09:53.082 --> 00:09:55.282

a heavy spring let's say two two and a Offsprings.

00:09:56.367 --> 00:10:01.487

Exact same movement, exact same body position, same range of motion,

00:10:01.667 --> 00:10:03.547

same action, same joints, everything's same.

00:10:03.787 --> 00:10:06.567

What's different is which muscles are working. So light spring,

00:10:06.747 --> 00:10:11.067

it's going to be all front leg, the glute, the quad, the inner thigh of the

00:10:11.067 --> 00:10:12.507

front leg, going to be working really hard.

00:10:13.167 --> 00:10:17.807

On a heavy spring, it's going to be all or mostly back leg.

00:10:18.867 --> 00:10:21.867

It's going to be a bit of front leg as well yes well

00:10:21.867 --> 00:10:25.567

the way i get people to remember that is super light

00:10:25.567 --> 00:10:28.487

springs lunge you get back of the front leg front

00:10:28.487 --> 00:10:31.967

of the back leg is a way to think about it and then because the flip of that

00:10:31.967 --> 00:10:34.487

is heavy springs you get the front of the front of the front of the front leg

00:10:34.487 --> 00:10:39.347

and back of the back leg yeah right and so so this is the point right and so

00:10:39.347 --> 00:10:43.367

when you're looking at you know a say a lunge or scooter on a light spring versus

00:10:43.367 --> 00:10:46.267

every spring a long stretch on a light spring versus a heavy spring,

00:10:46.767 --> 00:10:50.307

it's like they're the same shape, they're the same range of motion,

00:10:50.587 --> 00:10:54.067

they're the same body position, different exercise.

00:10:55.027 --> 00:10:59.687

Why is it a different exercise? Because if you do a crap ton of long stretch

00:10:59.687 --> 00:11:02.447

on a heavy spring, you get really strong delts, okay?

00:11:03.567 --> 00:11:08.767

Not strong abs, not strong lats. If you do a crap ton of long stretch on a light

00:11:08.767 --> 00:11:11.747

spring, you get really strong lats, really strong abs, not strong delts,

00:11:11.887 --> 00:11:13.407

right? It's a different exercise.

00:11:14.987 --> 00:11:25.247

So, yeah, I mean, so how do you, how do you see, I mean, do you see that sort

00:11:25.247 --> 00:11:28.807

of playing out in people's teaching? Does it come out in their programming choices?

00:11:28.947 --> 00:11:31.627

Does it come out in progressions? Does it come out in layering choices?

00:11:31.827 --> 00:11:35.467

Like where do you see that, you know, mistake, I guess, manifesting?

00:11:35.607 --> 00:11:38.647

Not necessarily with those two exercises specifically, but just,

00:11:38.647 --> 00:11:43.027

That concept of looking at a body shape and going, oh, that's interchangeable

00:11:43.027 --> 00:11:45.207

with this other one, which actually it isn't.

00:11:46.662 --> 00:11:50.762

Yeah. So again, as you said, where do you see it playing out?

00:11:51.042 --> 00:11:58.162

One of the blind spots that I see people having, and I had it too,

00:11:58.382 --> 00:12:01.542

so it's something about, it emerges from education,

00:12:01.862 --> 00:12:09.522

is mistaking the shape for the exercise.

00:12:09.522 --> 00:12:17.362

So that you think that the shape you're making or the exercise that you learned

00:12:17.362 --> 00:12:21.862

at Pilates school on a spring setting is the thing.

00:12:22.182 --> 00:12:26.062

And so anytime you see that shape, you think it's the same. Yeah. And you know what?

00:12:26.362 --> 00:12:29.482

And I know you've still got a thought there, so hold that, but I just want to

00:12:29.482 --> 00:12:32.882

jump in here because you triggered me to think about that in our Stop Pilates

00:12:32.882 --> 00:12:36.342

manuals, and I think this is probably the same in a lot of contemporary Pilates,

00:12:36.962 --> 00:12:40.502

that what we were taught about, like what the exercise is, quote, for,

00:12:41.142 --> 00:12:43.462

right, would be very, very generic.

00:12:43.462 --> 00:12:51.522

It would be like spinal mobility or like hip flexion and extension or hip circumduction or something.

00:12:51.602 --> 00:12:56.082

It's like, okay, flexion and extension, great, but like which one is being challenged?

00:12:56.482 --> 00:13:00.982

You know, spinal mobility, okay, great. In which direction and which muscles

00:13:00.982 --> 00:13:02.422

are moving you in and out of that?

00:13:02.562 --> 00:13:06.322

So are we working the flexors or are we working the extensors, you know?

00:13:07.602 --> 00:13:14.182

And yeah, so like saying an exercise is for something kind of generic,

00:13:14.402 --> 00:13:18.382

like hip flexion extension, is essentially it's meaningless.

00:13:18.382 --> 00:13:19.842

It's useless. It doesn't say anything.

00:13:20.122 --> 00:13:26.302

Yeah. It just names one of the joint appearances that is in the movement. Right.

00:13:28.042 --> 00:13:33.042

I think one thing I think that's for me that we could talk about and,

00:13:34.735 --> 00:13:40.935

It illustrates this well, and I think we could probably run a really good three-hour

00:13:40.935 --> 00:13:43.895

workshop on this, and I know that because I have, and it goes really well.

00:13:44.035 --> 00:13:45.015

People find it really interesting.

00:13:45.215 --> 00:13:47.195

We won't do it now because we've got 16 minutes left.

00:13:47.435 --> 00:13:51.975

No, we've got nine minutes, people. Yeah, so when I was at Pilates school,

00:13:52.335 --> 00:13:56.295

you taught me that feet and straps was always done on two red springs. Yeah, because it was.

00:13:57.255 --> 00:14:01.315

Yeah, and if you did anything else, spines were going to explode and the world

00:14:01.315 --> 00:14:02.635

would stop turning on its axis.

00:14:02.835 --> 00:14:05.835

Yeah, yeah. You haven't done that, have you? I hope you haven't ever done that.

00:14:07.415 --> 00:14:12.535

No, I promise I haven't. I know you have because I know I've been in your class

00:14:12.535 --> 00:14:13.535

many times when you've done it.

00:14:14.415 --> 00:14:20.335

Yeah, yeah. Well, one of my favorite things on the planet is a sequence of movements

00:14:20.335 --> 00:14:23.275

that I didn't learn at Pilates school in feet and straps on full springs.

00:14:23.315 --> 00:14:26.075

Yeah, I've done that one in my class quite a lot of times.

00:14:27.155 --> 00:14:29.435

And of course, not everyone's going straight to full springs,

00:14:29.575 --> 00:14:30.935

dear listener. You build it up incrementally over time. Yeah,

00:14:30.935 --> 00:14:34.135

sometimes you start on just four, you know. And then building up from there.

00:14:35.535 --> 00:14:39.295

Dear listener, we joke, we jest, we joke. Sometimes you start on three.

00:14:40.475 --> 00:14:42.075

Progressive overload. Yeah.

00:14:44.635 --> 00:14:50.475

So let's think about the lift and lower where straight legs up,

00:14:50.575 --> 00:14:54.015

straight legs down, feet in straps. So, you know, I learned that on two springs.

00:14:54.535 --> 00:14:58.635

And if everyone does it on two springs, then you're,

00:14:59.671 --> 00:15:03.431

Especially if no one lifts their hips, it's just a question of can you manage

00:15:03.431 --> 00:15:05.671

the load of two springs, which doesn't take very long.

00:15:05.731 --> 00:15:08.671

Yeah, and I'm going to say, so back to what we said just a second ago,

00:15:08.891 --> 00:15:10.911

okay, the long stretch on light springs versus heavy springs,

00:15:11.351 --> 00:15:16.431

okay, and what we said about your body weight and your body length also influences

00:15:16.431 --> 00:15:20.791

that because the springs have a particular amount of resistance and your body

00:15:20.791 --> 00:15:23.131

might be more or less than that depending on how your body is.

00:15:23.291 --> 00:15:26.431

And also, the springs have more resistance the more you stretch them.

00:15:26.431 --> 00:15:29.871

And so if you've got longer body parts, you're going to stretch them more so

00:15:29.871 --> 00:15:30.671

you'll get more resistance.

00:15:31.191 --> 00:15:38.171

So what I find having been blessed with heavy legs is that, uh,

00:15:38.611 --> 00:15:41.451

feeding straps lifted lower on two springs. It's about neutral.

00:15:41.611 --> 00:15:44.511

Like it's neither a light spring nor a heavy spring. Like it's basically just

00:15:44.511 --> 00:15:45.991

neutralizes the weight of my legs.

00:15:46.231 --> 00:15:48.851

So it's neither much effort. You just go up and down for an hour.

00:15:48.951 --> 00:15:51.771

Right. It's neither much effort to lift them nor much effort to lower them.

00:15:53.111 --> 00:15:57.871

Whereas somebody much smaller and lighter and with shorter legs than me,

00:15:58.491 --> 00:16:03.551

would probably experience two springs as a heavy spring where it's like really

00:16:03.551 --> 00:16:07.071

easy to lift the legs up and the springs assist them to lift the legs up and

00:16:07.071 --> 00:16:08.791

they have to work to pull the legs down.

00:16:09.791 --> 00:16:14.891

Whereas I don't get that on two springs. Well, and the curly one would be someone

00:16:14.891 --> 00:16:19.451

like me, who's got fairly, like my legs are nowhere near as dense as yours, but longer.

00:16:20.531 --> 00:16:25.031

So if I haven't spent time, I've got longer legs so that I've got to press the

00:16:25.031 --> 00:16:28.431

bed further out to get my legs back down, to get my legs down.

00:16:29.851 --> 00:16:33.531

Um, and the other thing, if we add to this is like, if you roll to the shoulders,

00:16:33.671 --> 00:16:36.011

so if we call it the, a short spine, right?

00:16:36.211 --> 00:16:38.891

So as the moment your hips lift, then...

00:16:41.336 --> 00:16:44.876

The way to think about it is exactly like the long stretch example,

00:16:44.876 --> 00:16:48.896

as Raph said, more springs, spinal extensors.

00:16:49.236 --> 00:16:53.756

And the more springs you add, the more spinal and hip extensors have to manage the bed.

00:16:53.916 --> 00:16:59.896

And if you lift up to a full jackknife or a long spine massage,

00:16:59.896 --> 00:17:03.556

tall position, it's all coming out of your spinal extensors.

00:17:03.556 --> 00:17:06.376

As you're pressing against the straps and the heavier the springs,

00:17:06.616 --> 00:17:10.516

the more your hamstrings, glutes, spinal extensors, calves, everything in the

00:17:10.516 --> 00:17:12.436

back of your body is lifting you up.

00:17:13.296 --> 00:17:18.396

As you reduce the spring tension- It's abs and hip flexors. The more it's abs and hip flexors.

00:17:18.716 --> 00:17:21.536

And then one of the things- And maybe shoulder extensors because you're pushing

00:17:21.536 --> 00:17:23.576

desperately into the carriage with your hands.

00:17:24.236 --> 00:17:26.956

Or you're holding your shoulder pad handles. Thank you, Stock Pilates.

00:17:27.076 --> 00:17:30.056

One of the better parts of their design sequencing is that you can actually

00:17:30.056 --> 00:17:32.656

pull on something- Unless you've got one of those shoulder pads that comes out

00:17:32.656 --> 00:17:35.556

without a bolt, just like, Yeah, you don't want that.

00:17:35.656 --> 00:17:38.596

That wasn't a great innovation. And I wish they'd warned me about that before

00:17:38.596 --> 00:17:40.116

I bought my second round of beds. Yeah.

00:17:41.019 --> 00:17:46.019

Um, and then what I really like about that shape is if you, so if you use heavy

00:17:46.019 --> 00:17:49.839

springs, you're doing Jefferson curls, you're using spinal and hip extensors

00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:55.959

to control the flexion and extension with flexion and out of flexion via the extensors.

00:17:56.239 --> 00:17:59.439

If you've been trained up that like doing short spine, long spine,

00:17:59.739 --> 00:18:02.799

you know, whatever on heavy springs is like a big no, no and dangerous.

00:18:02.819 --> 00:18:06.199

It's like, go look at the world deadlift championships and

00:18:06.199 --> 00:18:09.399

watch people lift like just ungodly amounts

00:18:09.399 --> 00:18:12.439

of weight with a fully flexed lumbar spine and

00:18:12.439 --> 00:18:15.779

then go think how much is that in springs it's like 7 000

00:18:15.779 --> 00:18:19.039

fucking springs you know it's like

00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:24.679

yeah the human body can take it all right please proceed well so yeah so we

00:18:24.679 --> 00:18:30.799

it's a it's a it's a movement that is is um well worth exploring once you apply

00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:36.219

this idea so heavier springs spinal extensors hip extensors to control lighter springs.

00:18:37.219 --> 00:18:40.219

Hip flexors, spinal flexors, right? And arms.

00:18:40.379 --> 00:18:44.319

But then if you get rid of the springs altogether and you start to lift up to

00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:48.799

a full jackknife and let alone you start coming down in your lever or your half

00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:55.039

lever or your lever preps, then holding that jackknife up in the air is everything, right?

00:18:55.199 --> 00:18:59.319

If you try and hold that straight line and break anything but vertical,

00:18:59.479 --> 00:19:03.299

but even hold vertical, it's the front and the back of your body working.

00:19:03.299 --> 00:19:06.219

But I would argue that the vertical part is the easy part.

00:19:06.399 --> 00:19:08.619

It's the coming up and down that's the hard part.

00:19:09.319 --> 00:19:12.959

Right. And this is one of the things that's fascinating about this is it goes

00:19:12.959 --> 00:19:16.159

back to our other conversation that we will keep coming back to is...

00:19:17.496 --> 00:19:22.356

A person with a more flexible spine who can flex their cervical easily and extend

00:19:22.356 --> 00:19:25.596

their thoracic, flatten their lumbar and make a more vertical line will have

00:19:25.596 --> 00:19:26.756

a more efficient vertical.

00:19:27.356 --> 00:19:32.476

Someone with a big chest, less flexible, you and me to an extent, my neck's not great.

00:19:32.956 --> 00:19:36.056

That stops you and all of a sudden you're not quite vertical.

00:19:36.056 --> 00:19:40.296

So you're working like frick just to hold yourself in space and it's front and back body.

00:19:40.516 --> 00:19:44.036

Right. Or another example of this. All right, so here's another example,

00:19:44.076 --> 00:19:49.816

and I just want to switch gears here into one of my least favorite exercises to do personally.

00:19:51.116 --> 00:19:56.696

Although there's probably a few more least, like I would say like crab would

00:19:56.696 --> 00:19:59.056

be less favorite than this one.

00:19:59.836 --> 00:20:03.576

And some of those inverted ones on the ladder barrel, I hate those.

00:20:03.936 --> 00:20:07.056

But this one is up there for me, and it's one leg circle.

00:20:07.836 --> 00:20:10.456

And everyone's out there thinking like, oh, I know one leg circle is such a

00:20:10.456 --> 00:20:13.776

beautiful, gentle stretchy you know hip release blah blah blah blah and if you

00:20:13.776 --> 00:20:16.876

do it the original contrology way it's a lovely lumbar spine stretch which i

00:20:16.876 --> 00:20:20.036

agree it is lovely lumbar spine stretch when you do it the original contrology

00:20:20.036 --> 00:20:21.216

way because you're rotating your pelvis,

00:20:22.316 --> 00:20:29.516

but for those of us dear listener who are blessed with both really fucking heavy legs and also,

00:20:30.316 --> 00:20:34.776

really stiff hips and don't tell me to stretch because i already stretch i stretch

00:20:34.776 --> 00:20:41.516

a lot i just don't get more flexible from that's all okay because i also run a lot so it Anyway.

00:20:42.816 --> 00:20:47.316

It can't flex our hip to 90 degrees or even anything like 90 degrees.

00:20:47.436 --> 00:20:51.076

So I'm stuck at like 70 degrees of hip flexion with this really,

00:20:51.296 --> 00:20:54.996

really heavy leg that probably weighs like, I'm not kidding you, 30 kilos.

00:20:55.116 --> 00:20:59.276

Like I weigh a hundred kilos. My body weight, my whole body is like 102 kilos today.

00:20:59.976 --> 00:21:04.836

So I reckon my right leg is probably 30 kilos or pretty close to it.

00:21:04.836 --> 00:21:11.316

And when that leg's at 70 degrees, like I'm, my hip flexors are holding a substantial

00:21:11.316 --> 00:21:16.196

portion of that 30 kilos, you know, so it's not like this effortless stretch.

00:21:16.196 --> 00:21:17.816

It's fucking hip flexor torture.

00:21:19.027 --> 00:21:23.287

You know, it's really hard work. And so for your heavier legged,

00:21:23.967 --> 00:21:27.407

stiffer people, something that for some people is like a beautiful hamstring

00:21:27.407 --> 00:21:32.627

stretch and a nice chance to breathe is like really, really grueling and unpleasant.

00:21:34.027 --> 00:21:38.487

And that's because it's working the opposite muscles because the leg is the

00:21:38.487 --> 00:21:40.507

other side of your base of support.

00:21:40.647 --> 00:21:43.627

And it's the hip flexors supporting it, not the hamstrings and glutes like you

00:21:43.627 --> 00:21:45.807

are when you're in greater than 90 degrees of hip flexion.

00:21:46.407 --> 00:21:50.807

So yeah, the body position really makes a difference there.

00:21:51.547 --> 00:21:56.607

It does. And the principle that we're talking there, we've got,

00:21:57.800 --> 00:22:03.940

which we should pick up another time, is we've been talking quickly about different

00:22:03.940 --> 00:22:08.720

spring tensions or different loads affecting different muscles in shapes that are the same.

00:22:09.220 --> 00:22:15.860

And what we've just touched on is that depending on the range of motion available

00:22:15.860 --> 00:22:21.020

at a joint, something will hit one muscle group for one person and be completely

00:22:21.020 --> 00:22:22.120

different for another person.

00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:25.620

I'm going to give you one more quick example of that, which I'm a victim of

00:22:25.620 --> 00:22:29.180

also, which is the breaststroke on the long box.

00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:32.680

So you're long on the long box. You've got probably one spring on if you're

00:22:32.680 --> 00:22:34.540

doing it the kind of classical way, maybe one and a half.

00:22:34.820 --> 00:22:39.760

And you're facing the foot bar and you're on your tummy and you've got your hands in the straps.

00:22:39.940 --> 00:22:42.360

And all you have to do is just reach your arm straight out ahead,

00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:46.360

lift your arms up above you and the spring will actually pull you up into a full backbend.

00:22:46.700 --> 00:22:51.100

And of course, if you've only got like 150 degrees of shoulder flexion and you

00:22:51.100 --> 00:22:52.460

weigh a fucking 100 kilos.

00:22:53.120 --> 00:22:58.560

Then the one spring, all it does is pull your arms downwards and

00:22:58.560 --> 00:23:01.760

so you're lifting your own body weight plus the

00:23:01.760 --> 00:23:05.080

weight of the spring on a fully extended arm and so

00:23:05.080 --> 00:23:11.660

it's just it's just a deltoid it's pure deltoid shoulder flexion zero stretchiness

00:23:11.660 --> 00:23:16.400

about it whatsoever yeah and when when we think about that movement the what

00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:20.500

when we teach that in courses i tell and we look at people do it one of the

00:23:20.500 --> 00:23:22.900

things i've found useful is there's a moment for people where you,

00:23:23.120 --> 00:23:26.560

where they catch the wind, where the sail, you get above, you get above the

00:23:26.560 --> 00:23:28.800

apex of the movement and the spring pulls you up. Right. Yeah.

00:23:29.420 --> 00:23:33.400

And I've never been there. I've just seen it. The rope goes higher than the

00:23:33.400 --> 00:23:37.100

midline of your rib cage, but you've got, and then, then whatever spring tension

00:23:37.100 --> 00:23:38.220

you've got will pull you up.

00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:41.120

But until you reach that, it's pulling you down. And that's,

00:23:41.280 --> 00:23:43.160

we should talk about that in another one. Yeah.

00:23:43.780 --> 00:23:45.820

Right. There's a bunch of them. Great. Good talk.