00:00:06.043 --> 00:00:13.743

There are two basic ways to adjust the challenge in any exercise,

00:00:14.003 --> 00:00:16.543

assuming that you're on a reformer.

00:00:17.203 --> 00:00:18.883

One way is to adjust the equipment.

00:00:19.583 --> 00:00:22.463

We can adjust the foot bar, the spring setting, the carriage position,

00:00:22.863 --> 00:00:27.663

the gear bar, the stopper, the rope length, etc.

00:00:28.003 --> 00:00:32.043

To make it harder or easier. And the other is to adjust the body positioning.

00:00:32.043 --> 00:00:35.103

So we can lean the torso, move the foot, straighten the legs,

00:00:35.203 --> 00:00:36.743

bend the elbows, those kinds of things.

00:00:37.583 --> 00:00:43.803

And there are some exercises where it's just way easier to do one or other of those things.

00:00:43.983 --> 00:00:48.103

And there are some exercises where it's pretty easy to do both of those things.

00:00:48.623 --> 00:00:55.663

And one such exercise, Heath Lander, is the humble lunge, or should we say the mighty lunge.

00:00:57.843 --> 00:01:03.803

Yeah we should say the mighty lunge especially in in the in our reformer world where.

00:01:06.563 --> 00:01:09.783

Depending on the kind of dumbbells you may or may not have in the studio,

00:01:10.343 --> 00:01:15.943

and legs being so strong you tend to run out of load if you're using footwork

00:01:15.943 --> 00:01:20.763

for leg strengthening so your lunge you have to be good with the lunge or even

00:01:20.763 --> 00:01:25.783

in the the unimaginable case where you might not even have dumbbells in your studio.

00:01:26.183 --> 00:01:30.603

Exactly. You might just have a fitness circle, some toning balls,

00:01:30.863 --> 00:01:34.563

a mini stability ball, some flex bands, and a hope and a prayer.

00:01:36.803 --> 00:01:41.303

Yeah. So, all right, so what we want to talk about today is.

00:01:43.646 --> 00:01:51.266

It's a general principle, and the principle is something about how to adjust

00:01:51.266 --> 00:01:57.586

either the body position or the equipment setting to really add challenge,

00:01:57.746 --> 00:01:59.466

and we can use that in reverse.

00:01:59.666 --> 00:02:06.966

We can decrease challenge to an exercise because there are many or several right

00:02:06.966 --> 00:02:11.946

ways that you can do it that all work, and there are many ways that don't work.

00:02:11.946 --> 00:02:14.826

You can change the equipment settings, you can change body position in such

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a way that it doesn't make the exercise actually more or less loaded.

00:02:21.106 --> 00:02:22.406

It just makes it different.

00:02:24.246 --> 00:02:27.366

And my observation, and I'm pretty sure your observation as well,

00:02:27.586 --> 00:02:33.306

is most Pilates instructors, maybe not you, dear listener, but most Pilates

00:02:33.306 --> 00:02:36.326

instructors choose the latter.

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They do variations in body position and equipment setting that actually don't

00:02:40.726 --> 00:02:43.686

enhance the move in any meaningful way.

00:02:43.806 --> 00:02:46.166

They just make it different.

00:02:47.366 --> 00:02:49.746

So we're going to fix that.

00:02:51.146 --> 00:02:56.926

All right. So when you're lunging, what's it for?

00:02:58.206 --> 00:03:05.846

Yeah. that's exactly when I've worked through this in workshops that's exactly

00:03:05.846 --> 00:03:12.326

that the conversation as it were is called why do we lunge and I think.

00:03:16.234 --> 00:03:22.814

As I said before, you need to work your lunge in your programming and as an

00:03:22.814 --> 00:03:26.974

instructor if you're serious about giving people strong legs,

00:03:26.974 --> 00:03:29.514

because if you are, you're going to run out of load in your footwork.

00:03:29.974 --> 00:03:36.054

And there's lots of reasons to lunge, but if we're focused on adding load,

00:03:36.214 --> 00:03:40.734

then the question is, where do you want the load to go?

00:03:41.094 --> 00:03:45.734

So you need to, and this brings us to the spring tension question. So if you don't...

00:03:46.234 --> 00:03:49.414

Hold on, hold on. Before we jump in there, hold that spring tension. Hold that thought.

00:03:51.874 --> 00:03:56.714

Essentially, you know, what I learned in four years of exercise science degree

00:03:56.714 --> 00:04:02.974

is that a lunge or a squat or a footwork or a step up, basically any pattern,

00:04:03.234 --> 00:04:06.834

any movement pattern where you are extending your hip and extending your knee

00:04:06.834 --> 00:04:10.694

at the same time, lunge, squat, step up, et cetera,

00:04:11.934 --> 00:04:18.434

works pretty much every muscle below the waist in terms of glutes,

00:04:19.434 --> 00:04:24.814

quads, your adductors, your abductors to a greater or lesser extent,

00:04:24.914 --> 00:04:26.234

depending on whether you're lunging or squatting.

00:04:26.374 --> 00:04:28.374

They work more in a lunge, less in a squat.

00:04:29.294 --> 00:04:33.414

Your calves, you know, so your deep calf muscles, et cetera.

00:04:33.774 --> 00:04:37.854

So basically, if you squat or lunge, you're pretty much working every muscle

00:04:37.854 --> 00:04:42.114

in your lower body. You know, there's an argument to say that you're not substantially

00:04:42.114 --> 00:04:43.094

challenging the hamstrings.

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But, you know, let's put that to the side for now. And so essentially,

00:04:49.454 --> 00:04:56.734

it's the lower body workout par excellence is any kind of squat or lunge variation.

00:04:57.294 --> 00:05:01.454

So where I was going with that, though, is that if your spring tension goes up enough,

00:05:02.983 --> 00:05:08.223

as you push the bed back, that force in a horizontal, no, no, no, in a lunge.

00:05:08.603 --> 00:05:12.723

So if you go to a one and a half, two spring lunge, the effort of put,

00:05:12.803 --> 00:05:16.163

as this bed goes out, the spring tension increases and pushes you forward.

00:05:16.643 --> 00:05:19.503

Well, well, hold on, hold on, hold on. I think we, I think we're,

00:05:19.623 --> 00:05:21.263

we're like three steps behind that still.

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So like, you know, the question is like, what's a lunge for?

00:05:24.883 --> 00:05:27.323

Yeah. And the answer is it's, it's for strengthening the lower body.

00:05:27.723 --> 00:05:30.823

Okay. Yeah. But it's like, well, why would we lunge? why not just do footwork

00:05:30.823 --> 00:05:33.503

or legs and straps like froggy press or something, you know?

00:05:33.743 --> 00:05:35.803

That's my first question. Ah, okay.

00:05:36.063 --> 00:05:43.743

So, well, if you, as Raph just said,

00:05:45.063 --> 00:05:51.343

hip extension, knee extension, hip flexion, knee flexion, aka a squat pattern

00:05:51.343 --> 00:05:53.703

or a lunge pattern, is footwork.

00:05:55.163 --> 00:05:58.663

Lying down on the bed takes out your body weight.

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So all you've got is spring tension so you however much load you're managing

00:06:03.183 --> 00:06:08.103

your body doesn't count anymore because you're lying on a bed that rolls easily back and forth,

00:06:08.683 --> 00:06:12.403

so you've only got the amount of spring tension or load that the springs create

00:06:12.403 --> 00:06:19.083

which is different for all springs and all beds but let without getting too

00:06:19.083 --> 00:06:20.983

nerdy about how much springs equal,

00:06:22.163 --> 00:06:27.723

for full springs is is like raf raise what do you weigh now raf 100 kilos 890

00:06:27.723 --> 00:06:31.183

kilos Precisely 100 today. I weighed myself this morning.

00:06:31.623 --> 00:06:38.363

So 100 kilos lean, strong, full springs. And stiff.

00:06:38.823 --> 00:06:43.603

And stiff. I'm doing your reformer stretch class in a couple hours. Okay.

00:06:43.943 --> 00:06:53.603

So full springs is barely, if it is, it is barely Raph's body weight when he does footwork.

00:06:54.845 --> 00:06:59.245

So it's essentially the equivalent of doing body weight squats. Right. A bit weaker.

00:06:59.565 --> 00:07:03.665

Exactly. So, and the only, the only example that could really argue against

00:07:03.665 --> 00:07:08.705

that is if you get a deconditioned 55 kilo person, that's, they're going to be, you know.

00:07:09.345 --> 00:07:14.585

So if you're, if you're wanting to add load to a squat pattern and you're using

00:07:14.585 --> 00:07:16.785

footwork, you are going to run out of load.

00:07:17.005 --> 00:07:19.325

You're going to run out of springs. You're going to run out of springs.

00:07:19.645 --> 00:07:24.245

And even when you go to single leg, you're still going to run out of springs at some point.

00:07:24.245 --> 00:07:27.185

You know, it's going to take a little bit longer, but you are going to run out

00:07:27.185 --> 00:07:30.305

of springs and you're probably going to have people like extremely uncomfortable

00:07:30.305 --> 00:07:33.225

in their upper traps before you run out of springs, you know,

00:07:33.285 --> 00:07:35.785

a lot of times. So it's like footwork is great.

00:07:36.005 --> 00:07:39.685

Single leg footwork is great. Froggy press is great, but they're just not,

00:07:39.825 --> 00:07:44.965

you know, once people get to like average or slightly above average levels of

00:07:44.965 --> 00:07:46.705

leg strength, it's just like you run out of springs.

00:07:47.165 --> 00:07:50.285

Yeah. And so you need to have a lunge. You need to lunge.

00:07:50.385 --> 00:07:53.505

You need to lunge. and you know just make

00:07:53.505 --> 00:07:56.565

the to say it explicitly and clearly a lunge is

00:07:56.565 --> 00:07:59.525

is your first progression to a

00:07:59.525 --> 00:08:04.245

single leg squat or it's a single leg squat so you're biasing the load of a

00:08:04.245 --> 00:08:09.685

squat to one leg and so that's so it's double body weight double yes it's some

00:08:09.685 --> 00:08:13.845

progression towards double body weight which if you don't have heavy dumbbells

00:08:13.845 --> 00:08:17.525

in your reformer studio and no judgment whether you do or don't,

00:08:17.645 --> 00:08:24.025

you need to be able to increase the load because a body weight squat is, you know, as Raph said,

00:08:24.245 --> 00:08:29.225

once you've got essentially average strength, you're going to do 20 plus body weight squats.

00:08:29.425 --> 00:08:32.385

So now you've got to find more load. So the lunge is where you've got to be.

00:08:32.765 --> 00:08:36.065

I would even argue that with, even with relatively heavy dumbbells,

00:08:36.305 --> 00:08:42.745

like it's not that effective at adding like, like any, basically any load that

00:08:42.745 --> 00:08:46.525

you can carry in your arms is going to be fairly insubstantial for your legs,

00:08:46.645 --> 00:08:48.825

because your legs are just that much stronger than your arms.

00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:54.160

And so you've got to, you've got to lunge. You've got to split the legs.

00:08:55.020 --> 00:08:57.620

Got to lunge. Um, all right.

00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:01.960

Does that get us to where I was headed off? Yeah. So, so what are lunges for?

00:09:02.100 --> 00:09:04.520

So they're for basically every muscle below the waist, the glutes.

00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:07.540

Let's, let's include the hamstrings because they're not terrible for the hamstrings.

00:09:07.680 --> 00:09:08.600

They're just not awesome for it.

00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:13.920

The glutes, the hamstrings, the quads, the calves, the adductors and the abductors,

00:09:14.260 --> 00:09:17.760

you know, basically every muscle below the waist. That's what that's for.

00:09:20.340 --> 00:09:29.600

All right, now I think that whilst that's important for people to know because

00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:33.200

people get fixated on little movements within lunges,

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let's also say that there is a lunge you can do on one spring,

00:09:38.520 --> 00:09:43.220

give or take, where you keep your legs roughly straight and the bed goes out

00:09:43.220 --> 00:09:45.960

as far as you can and it starts to look like a front split.

00:09:48.060 --> 00:09:51.020

And then there's a lunge you can do where your front knee bends

00:09:51.020 --> 00:09:53.940

forward to the toes and your hips go low and

00:09:53.940 --> 00:09:57.620

you bow forward or or shakara even

00:09:57.620 --> 00:10:03.220

beyond your toes beyond the toes right and it and to look at it it looks like

00:10:03.220 --> 00:10:07.400

a lunge uh like a squat right so the front leg is in a squat movement pattern

00:10:07.400 --> 00:10:12.220

or you can do a front split where the legs are essentially all completely straight

00:10:12.220 --> 00:10:15.080

and it looks like a front split pattern.

00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:16.820

Right. And...

00:10:18.215 --> 00:10:24.635

So when we start to think about lunges, I've found it helpful to think of those

00:10:24.635 --> 00:10:28.635

two patterns as being variants of a lunge in a reformer class,

00:10:28.815 --> 00:10:31.495

because it helps you see what people are doing.

00:10:31.835 --> 00:10:38.295

I would say there's a third version in my mind that is similar to the knee forward

00:10:38.295 --> 00:10:43.935

version, you know, the bent front leg, but you keep your knee directly above your ankle.

00:10:44.995 --> 00:10:48.075

So it is a bent front leg but your your shin

00:10:48.075 --> 00:10:51.495

stays vertical and your your thigh

00:10:51.495 --> 00:10:55.675

goes backwards rather than your knee going forwards and so that is you know

00:10:55.675 --> 00:11:00.895

substantially similar like it's like 80 similar to the front one but it's going

00:11:00.895 --> 00:11:06.395

to change the bias of which muscles work a bit more versus a bit less in the

00:11:06.395 --> 00:11:10.875

movie yeah and it sits kind of in the middle of the two that i've put on the table, correct?

00:11:11.355 --> 00:11:16.375

Yeah. And yeah, yeah, it does. Well, I would say that the other one,

00:11:16.515 --> 00:11:20.275

the sort of the split, you know, where the front leg straightens out is in fact

00:11:20.275 --> 00:11:22.035

a fantastic hamstring exercise.

00:11:23.255 --> 00:11:28.755

Whereas the other two are probably pretty, you know, mediocre hamstring exercises. Yeah.

00:11:29.355 --> 00:11:32.095

I'm nodding emphatically here while Brett talks, by the way.

00:11:32.375 --> 00:11:39.155

Yeah. Whereas the bent front leg version are probably like way better quad and glute exercises.

00:11:39.955 --> 00:11:43.855

Compared to the split version, which is probably a pretty mediocre glute exercise

00:11:43.855 --> 00:11:48.275

and probably not even a quad exercise in any way, shape or form.

00:11:48.775 --> 00:11:55.135

Right. And right now, where our conversation is right now is like one of those

00:11:55.135 --> 00:11:59.775

nodes on the London Underground poster, where there's about nine different lines

00:11:59.775 --> 00:12:02.255

going off from the node. So...

00:12:04.649 --> 00:12:07.689

What we've established is that there are movement patterns. Raf's just started

00:12:07.689 --> 00:12:12.769

going down the rabbit hole of which muscles are biased to in those movement patterns.

00:12:12.889 --> 00:12:15.429

And as soon as we do that, we could probably talk for a couple of hours.

00:12:15.769 --> 00:12:24.429

And each of those lunge patterns is affected differently by spring tension. Right.

00:12:25.649 --> 00:12:28.549

So we can bias the movement.

00:12:28.669 --> 00:12:34.029

So basically all variations are going to essentially work most of the muscles below your waist.

00:12:34.029 --> 00:12:36.809

Okay but depending on which version you choose

00:12:36.809 --> 00:12:39.549

you're going to emphasize particular muscles a

00:12:39.549 --> 00:12:42.309

bit more a bit less okay the split version is going to emphasize the

00:12:42.309 --> 00:12:46.789

front leg hamstrings and back leg hip flexors a little okay the

00:12:46.789 --> 00:12:53.089

as well as the adductors the the bent leg bent front leg versions uh when your

00:12:53.089 --> 00:12:57.049

knee goes further forward that's going to emphasize the quads a bit more okay

00:12:57.049 --> 00:13:02.849

when your knee stays backward that's going to emphasize the glutes and the adductors a little bit more.

00:13:03.149 --> 00:13:07.949

Both of them are going to work both of those muscle groups, but it's just going

00:13:07.949 --> 00:13:11.569

to be 60-41 way versus 40-60 the other way.

00:13:13.249 --> 00:13:18.449

So we're not necessarily talking about increasing the load overall at this point.

00:13:18.489 --> 00:13:24.769

It's just increasing the load on one muscle by decreasing the load on a different muscle.

00:13:24.829 --> 00:13:27.109

It's a distribution question rather than a… Right.

00:13:27.849 --> 00:13:31.649

So it's not the case that knees forward is harder or easier than knees backward.

00:13:31.829 --> 00:13:34.769

It just emphasizes a different body part.

00:13:36.663 --> 00:13:42.843

But this is important for the group instructor because if you call a lunge on

00:13:42.843 --> 00:13:49.943

one spring and your clients put their front foot where they put their front

00:13:49.943 --> 00:13:52.343

foot and you watch them do their lunge,

00:13:52.543 --> 00:13:57.023

depending on what you ask for and what you see will tell you about what your

00:13:57.023 --> 00:14:01.603

clients are able to do and or what they've understood of what you want them to do.

00:14:03.523 --> 00:14:06.463

So you can you can do the lunge on one

00:14:06.463 --> 00:14:09.223

spring and let's say half the class have got their

00:14:09.223 --> 00:14:12.043

knee going slightly behind the heel well let's say a third

00:14:12.043 --> 00:14:15.003

another third have got their knee above the heel because they've been taught

00:14:15.003 --> 00:14:19.303

not to take their knee forward of the heel and then the third group have got

00:14:19.303 --> 00:14:24.303

their knee going forward of the heel to and beyond the toes none of them are

00:14:24.303 --> 00:14:28.743

bad none of them are wrong but those three groups are having a different experience

00:14:28.743 --> 00:14:31.403

as you do your 15 20 reps Right.

00:14:31.603 --> 00:14:34.963

So the heel behind the heel, the knee behind the heel group will be feeling

00:14:34.963 --> 00:14:36.363

it mainly in the front leg hamstrings.

00:14:36.923 --> 00:14:41.123

The knee on the heel will be feeling mainly in front leg glutes and the knee

00:14:41.123 --> 00:14:43.583

in front of the toes will be feeling it mainly in front leg quads.

00:14:43.683 --> 00:14:45.183

You know, that's a generalization.

00:14:45.543 --> 00:14:48.503

And depending on what you do with the back leg, those first two examples,

00:14:48.703 --> 00:14:50.063

they'll feel a lot more hip flexor.

00:14:50.603 --> 00:14:54.583

Right. And so your mileage may vary because it also depends what's happening

00:14:54.583 --> 00:14:58.583

with your torso and how heavy the spring is relative to your body weight and

00:14:58.583 --> 00:14:59.963

where your foot is positioned on the floor.

00:15:01.183 --> 00:15:05.543

But, you know, in general, as a rule of thumb, that's what you'll experience.

00:15:05.963 --> 00:15:10.323

And so… And so just to go too much further with that, the other thing in the

00:15:10.323 --> 00:15:14.403

example I was giving is I said your feet go wherever, right? Right.

00:15:14.623 --> 00:15:22.643

And so if Raf is 100 kilos and six foot and he puts his right foot with the

00:15:22.643 --> 00:15:26.243

toes level with the base of the foot bar and there is another 100 kilos,

00:15:26.423 --> 00:15:28.303

six foot person who's roughly the same strength,

00:15:28.503 --> 00:15:31.403

and they put their foot forward of that,

00:15:31.623 --> 00:15:34.323

then they're working with less spring tension. So.

00:15:35.302 --> 00:15:40.602

And this is where it starts to tease out. And when I teach lunges,

00:15:40.742 --> 00:15:44.302

what I would do and encourage people to do is get people moving.

00:15:44.582 --> 00:15:47.982

So we're on one spring, put your right foot on the floor, left foot on the shoulder

00:15:47.982 --> 00:15:49.662

pad, lunge the carriage back, stand up.

00:15:49.922 --> 00:15:53.382

I don't care how they lunge because I know that with one spring,

00:15:53.582 --> 00:15:57.202

it doesn't matter. Their foot's on the floor. I want to see what they do.

00:15:57.642 --> 00:16:01.342

But as I see what they do, then I'm going to refine what I ask for.

00:16:01.482 --> 00:16:05.682

And that might include, everyone bring your toes to this point,

00:16:05.882 --> 00:16:07.902

or Raf, bring your toes to this point.

00:16:08.422 --> 00:16:11.502

And then also- And when you say this point, you're thinking about basically

00:16:11.502 --> 00:16:13.302

moving forwards in general.

00:16:13.522 --> 00:16:17.302

Usually it'll be moving forwards so that I bring more weight into the front leg.

00:16:17.642 --> 00:16:20.282

Right. And more weight into the front leg and, like you said,

00:16:20.402 --> 00:16:22.242

less spring assistance.

00:16:22.622 --> 00:16:26.962

Less spring tension. because the spring is helping you stand back up in that

00:16:26.962 --> 00:16:32.802

exercise, which is assisting the glutes, quads, et cetera, et cetera,

00:16:32.882 --> 00:16:34.322

et cetera, to stand you up.

00:16:34.422 --> 00:16:39.542

So it's actually, the more spring tension means less load on those muscles.

00:16:39.742 --> 00:16:45.242

So when we bring the foot forwards, that means that the carriage doesn't go out as far,

00:16:45.922 --> 00:16:49.262

which means that the spring is not stretched as much, which means the spring

00:16:49.262 --> 00:16:51.822

doesn't develop as much tension, which means you have less support,

00:16:51.822 --> 00:16:55.362

which means more of that load of your body weight goes onto the glutes,

00:16:55.482 --> 00:16:58.042

quads, adductors, et cetera. Plus gravity.

00:16:58.502 --> 00:17:00.842

So foot forward equals harder.

00:17:01.422 --> 00:17:03.062

Right, for the front leg.

00:17:04.803 --> 00:17:08.563

And harder for the back leg means less hard for the front leg.

00:17:09.903 --> 00:17:15.103

And then it brings us back to why do we do lunges? And if we do lunges to strengthen

00:17:15.103 --> 00:17:18.943

the leg and we want to use roughly the distribution of a squat,

00:17:18.943 --> 00:17:25.583

we want to pick on the front leg and the back leg is kind of like your support

00:17:25.583 --> 00:17:27.703

leg or your- It's just stop you falling over.

00:17:27.883 --> 00:17:30.423

It's just stop you falling over. And if we could, we'd chop it off and make

00:17:30.423 --> 00:17:31.463

you do single leg squats.

00:17:31.723 --> 00:17:35.183

Right. And then you'd have to hold that weight of that other leg on your shoulder,

00:17:35.183 --> 00:17:37.763

and that would make it even harder.

00:17:38.283 --> 00:17:42.863

Yeah. And so at this point, if we just think quickly about what Raf just said,

00:17:43.383 --> 00:17:48.123

when we do lunges... Not the legs on the shoulder bit. Yeah, yeah. Describe that.

00:17:48.983 --> 00:17:53.063

If we think about why do we do lunges, if it's to strengthen legs,

00:17:53.223 --> 00:18:00.503

then the Google pin that you're heading for would be the lightest possible springs with the foot forward,

00:18:00.803 --> 00:18:05.503

with the hips going as low as possible, give or take, and the bed moving as

00:18:05.503 --> 00:18:08.823

back as little as possible because the further back the bed goes,

00:18:08.943 --> 00:18:12.543

the more spring tension there is, which is what we call the law of the spring.

00:18:12.663 --> 00:18:16.103

And that's always true, but how it affects the movement varies.

00:18:16.623 --> 00:18:19.783

So which is, now this is very different to how a lot of people think about lunges.

00:18:19.843 --> 00:18:21.403

When you say, how do you make a lunge harder?

00:18:21.583 --> 00:18:25.703

The answer is add more springs. And it's like, well, not if you're trying to

00:18:25.703 --> 00:18:27.223

strengthen the front leg. Yeah.

00:18:29.226 --> 00:18:35.766

Well, yeah. So if you think about a lunge as a, as a essentially a one legged

00:18:35.766 --> 00:18:37.546

squat, you know, a half of a squat.

00:18:38.206 --> 00:18:43.386

Well then, and you, you know, understand that with the back leg on the carriage,

00:18:43.646 --> 00:18:47.706

the spring is pulling the carriage back in, which pushes you up to a more of

00:18:47.706 --> 00:18:52.086

an upright standing position, which assists you. So it makes it easier.

00:18:52.546 --> 00:18:56.646

Therefore, more springs makes it easier to stand up. And in a squat,

00:18:56.866 --> 00:18:58.926

standing up is the hard bit.

00:18:58.926 --> 00:19:02.466

Going down to the easy bit coming up is the hard bit and so

00:19:02.466 --> 00:19:05.226

the springs assist you so the more springs we have the more

00:19:05.226 --> 00:19:07.866

assistance you get and therefore the easier it is

00:19:07.866 --> 00:19:13.046

on your glutes quads blah blah blah now we can add more springs to make it easier

00:19:13.046 --> 00:19:17.586

we can also move the front foot the foot on the floor further back towards the

00:19:17.586 --> 00:19:22.386

pulley end of the reformer to also make it easier because that means that you

00:19:22.386 --> 00:19:26.346

start with more tension on the springs because your back foot pushes the carriage is out further.

00:19:26.546 --> 00:19:30.686

And then as you lunge deeper, the carriage goes out further because you're starting

00:19:30.686 --> 00:19:32.146

from a more extended position.

00:19:32.686 --> 00:19:36.946

Therefore, you have more spring tension because one of the key things about

00:19:36.946 --> 00:19:41.626

springs that we all must understand as Pilates reformer instructors is that

00:19:41.626 --> 00:19:45.066

spring tension increases as the spring stretches.

00:19:45.346 --> 00:19:49.166

So the tension on the spring when it's at half extension is not the same tension

00:19:49.166 --> 00:19:53.286

that when it's at three quarters extension. It actually increases as you extend it.

00:19:53.706 --> 00:19:57.146

And so if you only extend it a little bit, the first six inches,

00:19:57.366 --> 00:20:00.926

you hardly get any resistance.

00:20:01.206 --> 00:20:03.626

But the next six inches, you get a fairly substantial resistance.

00:20:03.686 --> 00:20:06.746

And then the third six inches, you get a lot of resistance.

00:20:07.226 --> 00:20:10.446

So if you can cut off the last six inches, you're cutting off more than just

00:20:10.446 --> 00:20:14.726

like 10% of the resistance. You're cutting off like 50% of the resistance probably.

00:20:15.046 --> 00:20:17.886

And I don't know that exact number, but it's going to be a pretty substantial

00:20:17.886 --> 00:20:19.066

portion of the resistance.

00:20:20.046 --> 00:20:26.086

So moving the standing foot, you know, three or four inches forward on the floor

00:20:26.086 --> 00:20:32.186

has a very dramatic effect on the load on that front leg. Yeah.

00:20:34.871 --> 00:20:39.531

I've found working with instructors that that's one of the biggest concepts,

00:20:39.831 --> 00:20:45.811

and they're interconnected concepts.

00:20:46.251 --> 00:20:52.111

One is that the further forward the front foot goes, the less spring tension

00:20:52.111 --> 00:20:57.091

there is, and that couples with the understanding that less spring tension makes

00:20:57.091 --> 00:20:58.331

the front leg work harder.

00:20:58.651 --> 00:21:04.351

Right. And then one of the, and Raf, you said in there a moment ago that more

00:21:04.351 --> 00:21:09.051

spring tension makes it easier for, and then you just listed the muscles.

00:21:09.311 --> 00:21:14.211

And one of the things that we've worked a lot with on people to help them understand

00:21:14.211 --> 00:21:20.551

is one and a half to two springs absolutely is harder on the quads of the front

00:21:20.551 --> 00:21:25.311

leg and the hip extensors of the back leg and even the calf.

00:21:25.311 --> 00:21:28.051

But if you end up if the spring as and as raf said

00:21:28.051 --> 00:21:31.231

if you bring the foot back and or increase the spring tension enough

00:21:31.231 --> 00:21:34.211

you will not be able to get enough depth

00:21:34.211 --> 00:21:39.171

for there to be a meaningful range of motion and you'll

00:21:39.171 --> 00:21:42.371

have to put your hands on the foot bar now that's awesome that leads to what

00:21:42.371 --> 00:21:46.111

we could call a power scooter which is what i teach is like once we've established

00:21:46.111 --> 00:21:50.111

scooter on one and a half springs now go to two springs now to go to two and

00:21:50.111 --> 00:21:54.891

a half now go to three if you can and you could adjust the front foot to make that achievable.

00:21:55.091 --> 00:21:57.951

But if you're not using a foot bar, you've got your head up the person in front

00:21:57.951 --> 00:21:59.051

of you's butt. Yeah, yeah. Right?

00:21:59.551 --> 00:22:04.031

And the reform is sliding across the floor. Yeah, and or the reform is sliding away from you.

00:22:04.491 --> 00:22:10.871

So you can use a lunge pattern on more springs to work harder,

00:22:10.871 --> 00:22:13.791

but you're very much changing the load distribution.

00:22:13.931 --> 00:22:16.371

It becomes kind of power endurance scooter stuff.

00:22:16.771 --> 00:22:21.211

Right. And so to biomechanically dissect that just a little bit,

00:22:21.211 --> 00:22:24.531

When you're doing a lunge, which I would describe as, you know,

00:22:24.711 --> 00:22:31.671

a spring that is lighter than your body weight so that it's harder to stand up than it is to go down.

00:22:33.457 --> 00:22:36.557

What that works is basically everything in the front leg that we talked about.

00:22:37.577 --> 00:22:42.037

When you switch the springs or when you add enough spring tension that the spring

00:22:42.037 --> 00:22:45.477

is heavier than your body weight, so in other words, it's harder to go down

00:22:45.477 --> 00:22:51.057

than to come back up, then you essentially completely change the exercise.

00:22:51.177 --> 00:22:55.197

And it's one of those exercises where it really is just working completely different muscle groups.

00:22:55.257 --> 00:22:58.177

It becomes more about the back leg pushing the carriage out,

00:22:58.517 --> 00:23:03.377

hence scooter, and also So the quads of the front leg pushing the carriage out,

00:23:03.497 --> 00:23:06.637

but your quads are working, when you have a scooter with a heavy spring on,

00:23:06.837 --> 00:23:10.457

you're actually straightening your front leg to push the carriage out rather

00:23:10.457 --> 00:23:11.977

than bending your front leg to push the carriage out.

00:23:12.017 --> 00:23:15.917

So it's a completely different movement, right? It kind of looks kind of similar,

00:23:16.317 --> 00:23:19.197

okay? And it's in roughly the same body position in terms of like your foot

00:23:19.197 --> 00:23:20.817

placement is, you know, can be the same.

00:23:21.177 --> 00:23:24.677

But in terms of like biomechanically, it's just a completely different movement.

00:23:24.817 --> 00:23:28.097

You're working in different, completely different sets of muscles, basically.

00:23:28.097 --> 00:23:32.317

So nothing like like i said nothing wrong with a scooter love a scooter awesome

00:23:32.317 --> 00:23:36.657

exercise but it's not a harder version of a lunge it's a completely different

00:23:36.657 --> 00:23:40.657

movement as you're working opposite muscle groups essentially so you could take

00:23:40.657 --> 00:23:43.137

a rest from your lunges by doing scooters,

00:23:44.957 --> 00:23:47.757

because essentially you work in the back leg instead of the front leg mainly,

00:23:49.457 --> 00:23:52.677

yeah all right that i i just i mean i.

00:23:55.126 --> 00:24:00.026

We've got a lot of listeners at a lot of different levels of experience and training.

00:24:00.446 --> 00:24:08.606

I don't mean this as a lowball, but in all the workshops I've run,

00:24:08.786 --> 00:24:11.606

this is a concept that continues to be sticky for people.

00:24:11.766 --> 00:24:14.006

I think Raf caught it well there.

00:24:15.946 --> 00:24:22.506

Raf defined a lunge as where it's harder to stand up than it is to go down for the front leg.

00:24:23.526 --> 00:24:29.006

And in pilates world i think we we call a lot of things lunges without thinking

00:24:29.006 --> 00:24:30.266

really critically about what's

00:24:30.266 --> 00:24:35.746

going on and what's hard in the movement and what's making it hard so.

00:24:38.067 --> 00:24:42.147

I wouldn't suggest you sharing any of this with your clients because they don't

00:24:42.147 --> 00:24:45.327

really care. They just want to get a good workout that makes their legs stronger.

00:24:45.567 --> 00:24:50.507

But for us, being clear that if you've got a person with their foot well behind

00:24:50.507 --> 00:24:55.367

the foot bar and they're lunging the carriage back and struggling to get low

00:24:55.367 --> 00:24:57.867

because the spring tension is so great it's lifting them out,

00:24:58.067 --> 00:25:03.487

they are not doing the same exercise as a person who's got their foot forward

00:25:03.487 --> 00:25:08.047

and is working really hard to get up out of the lunge.

00:25:08.707 --> 00:25:12.447

They're quite literally doing different exercises, even though to the untrained

00:25:12.447 --> 00:25:14.967

eye, it looks very, very, very similar.

00:25:15.587 --> 00:25:20.647

Right. And so I think a really good kind of illustration of this would be to

00:25:20.647 --> 00:25:22.967

think about something like a rowing movement.

00:25:23.167 --> 00:25:27.047

Okay, so if you just think about, you know, sitting, pulling on,

00:25:27.167 --> 00:25:30.827

you could be pulling on springs or a flex band or a cable machine, whatever,

00:25:31.227 --> 00:25:33.847

and you're sitting up straight, your elbows are narrowed by your side,

00:25:34.087 --> 00:25:36.927

you know, your arms are bent 90 degrees, and your conduit is pulling backwards

00:25:36.927 --> 00:25:41.067

and then pushing and then releasing until your arms are straight out in front of you.

00:25:41.167 --> 00:25:43.927

Then you pull until your elbows are behind your torso. Then you release to your

00:25:43.927 --> 00:25:45.807

arm. And so you're pulling, right? It's a pulling movement.

00:25:46.187 --> 00:25:50.367

Now take that exact same movement pattern, but just turn around and face forwards

00:25:50.367 --> 00:25:54.687

and just turn it into a pushing pattern, right? So you're pushing and you're

00:25:54.687 --> 00:25:59.367

pushing, you know, like, like a, um, you know, kneeling facing the foot bar.

00:25:59.467 --> 00:26:01.107

Now you've got the straps in your hands, you're pushing, right?

00:26:01.547 --> 00:26:04.647

Exact same movement, exact same mind of motion, opposite muscles.

00:26:04.647 --> 00:26:06.167

It's not the same exercise.

00:26:06.467 --> 00:26:11.087

And so I think that's the same principle with the lunge, with a light spring

00:26:11.087 --> 00:26:12.027

versus lunge with a heavy spring.

00:26:12.147 --> 00:26:15.767

Like it looks the same, right? You know, we can say that the knee is flexing,

00:26:15.847 --> 00:26:17.147

the knee is extending, the hip is flexing.

00:26:17.367 --> 00:26:22.467

You know, the movements are the same, but it's not the same exercise. Different muscles.

00:26:25.446 --> 00:26:29.526

Yeah, point well made. And you could also say, depending which language of Pilates

00:26:29.526 --> 00:26:34.806

you're speaking, you could say chest expansion and reverse chest expansion or arm circles.

00:26:35.466 --> 00:26:41.206

Movement can look incredibly similar, the exact same switch of muscle groups.

00:26:41.226 --> 00:26:46.606

What we're doing with the lunge, if you're not careful, what you can do or you

00:26:46.606 --> 00:26:52.086

can inadvertently do is do that switch, but the movement looks exactly the same.

00:26:52.226 --> 00:26:57.226

You haven't turned around. around you're in you so and that that that's what

00:26:57.226 --> 00:26:59.246

i was saying before about getting people moving,

00:26:59.926 --> 00:27:03.126

because it doesn't it doesn't mean it's wrong it's

00:27:03.126 --> 00:27:07.506

not dangerous it's not bad if there is disparity in what people are getting

00:27:07.506 --> 00:27:13.186

but to be an to be an excellent group reformer teacher you want to be able to

00:27:13.186 --> 00:27:20.026

curate the outcome for the group you do and and and and moreover like if you,

00:27:20.786 --> 00:27:23.686

once you understand clearly like what you're

00:27:23.686 --> 00:27:26.766

doing with an exercise like are we working the front leg or the back leg is like

00:27:26.766 --> 00:27:29.826

the base level here right everything that

00:27:29.826 --> 00:27:35.206

you do to make that movement harder to add layers like it's only going to work

00:27:35.206 --> 00:27:38.346

if you're actually working the bit you think you're working right so if you're

00:27:38.346 --> 00:27:42.506

doing something to add load to the front leg for example leaning the torso further

00:27:42.506 --> 00:27:47.266

forward right well if you're not actually loading the front leg you're loading the back leg,

00:27:47.346 --> 00:27:50.626

that's actually going to offload the back leg. It's going to make it easier.

00:27:51.446 --> 00:27:58.606

So, you know, it's really important that you are clear which bit you are in fact loading.

00:27:58.806 --> 00:28:04.366

And the way you can know that is a very simple test. Is it easier to go up or is it easier to go down?

00:28:04.586 --> 00:28:08.246

If it's easier to go up, you work in the back leg. If it's easier to go down,

00:28:08.446 --> 00:28:09.346

you work in the front leg.

00:28:09.946 --> 00:28:14.806

And so, you know, generally lighter springs, front leg, heavier springs, back leg.

00:28:15.686 --> 00:28:21.266

And once you have that, then we can start to adjust the body position to add more load.

00:28:25.149 --> 00:28:28.249

And if we were to adjust the body position to add more load,

00:28:28.529 --> 00:28:29.849

assuming that we've gone,

00:28:30.129 --> 00:28:35.089

in Raf's example, with a setup that makes it harder to stand up than it is to

00:28:35.089 --> 00:28:39.129

where we're biased to the front leg,

00:28:39.329 --> 00:28:46.969

then the body position that we'll do would be bring the foot back or bring the bed in.

00:28:46.969 --> 00:28:49.869

And this is that like sort of

00:28:49.869 --> 00:28:53.849

nerd factor alert speaking specifically

00:28:53.849 --> 00:28:59.409

about when you teach a lunge on a reformer if we're on a half spring and we've

00:28:59.409 --> 00:29:03.329

done what you we've we've implemented what raf and i are talking about we've

00:29:03.329 --> 00:29:08.769

got it set up so that you're lunging it's hard to go up and easy to go down

00:29:08.769 --> 00:29:13.769

on the front leg the further back the bed goes the easier this because of the support,

00:29:14.029 --> 00:29:19.929

the whole load distribution problem becomes, if you bring the bed in and stay

00:29:19.929 --> 00:29:24.249

down and then stand up, which is difficult to cue to a group because no one

00:29:24.249 --> 00:29:26.769

wants to do it because they know intuitively that it's harder.

00:29:27.089 --> 00:29:32.269

If you lunge down, stay down, pull the bed in and then stand up,

00:29:32.749 --> 00:29:37.849

that's a way to make it harder through the movement for that muscle group.

00:29:37.989 --> 00:29:41.569

And if you do do that, what you'll notice is the moment you say bring the bed

00:29:41.569 --> 00:29:45.229

in, people's knees want to bump the bed and they'll go, oh, I know what I'll

00:29:45.229 --> 00:29:47.729

do. I'll stand up more. And you think, no, no, no, no.

00:29:48.009 --> 00:29:52.429

Wind your knee out of the way, keep your hips low. And then we come in and stand up.

00:29:53.269 --> 00:29:57.289

So that, that would be, you know, taking the position of the foot and the spring

00:29:57.289 --> 00:30:01.869

tension, and then looking for ways within the lunge to bring more load into the front leg.

00:30:03.769 --> 00:30:08.969

And so that's one way is, which I love, you know, lunge back,

00:30:09.289 --> 00:30:11.069

push the carriage out, stay low,

00:30:11.869 --> 00:30:16.009

keep low, bend the back leg to bring the carriage in, hold, okay,

00:30:16.149 --> 00:30:19.989

now stand up, go again, lunge out, push the carriage away, et cetera.

00:30:20.369 --> 00:30:24.489

So that's one way. Let me nerd factor on that. So the layer from what that is,

00:30:24.649 --> 00:30:28.449

I think, you know, would be eventually, you know,

00:30:29.758 --> 00:30:33.698

But essentially, you don't use the bed, right? Are you going to lift your back foot?

00:30:34.278 --> 00:30:37.858

Well, you'd keep your back foot on and you just go down, touch the back knee,

00:30:38.058 --> 00:30:41.798

stand up. Down, touch the back knee. Okay, great. Down, touch the back knee, hold.

00:30:42.078 --> 00:30:44.958

Now lift the back leg off and bring it to your chest like a flamingo.

00:30:45.018 --> 00:30:46.498

And then stand up if you can.

00:30:46.918 --> 00:30:51.418

Yeah. And it's hard to cue that, right? People don't want to do it. It's difficult.

00:30:51.738 --> 00:30:55.238

It's a challenging piece of sequencing. But if you practice it and do it,

00:30:55.338 --> 00:30:58.958

you will get that moment in a group where everyone just goes,

00:30:59.218 --> 00:31:01.018

holy crap, what are you doing?

00:31:01.198 --> 00:31:03.218

And then they come back and say to you.

00:31:03.858 --> 00:31:08.458

I want to double click on that because I think there's layers of genius in that

00:31:08.458 --> 00:31:12.478

little sequence there, which you've cued me through and I've experienced it.

00:31:13.278 --> 00:31:18.978

Because when you get, just to recap, dear listener, the sequence that Heath

00:31:18.978 --> 00:31:22.638

just described is, okay, don't push the carriage out. You're starting in a lunge

00:31:22.638 --> 00:31:26.078

position, but you're actually just going to just essentially descend vertically,

00:31:26.418 --> 00:31:27.998

okay, without pushing the carriage out.

00:31:28.838 --> 00:31:33.998

And then you're going to, in that position, you're going to lift your back leg

00:31:33.998 --> 00:31:35.958

off the carriage and tuck it

00:31:35.958 --> 00:31:40.238

into your chest, okay, without standing up at all. You're still low, okay?

00:31:40.398 --> 00:31:43.678

And from there, we're going to stand up, right?

00:31:43.938 --> 00:31:48.418

And so the extra genius, so the genius there is firstly, we're keeping the carriage

00:31:48.418 --> 00:31:52.938

in so we're not getting any spring assistance, okay?

00:31:53.278 --> 00:31:57.198

Then the second part is, well, then you lift your foot off the carriage so you're

00:31:57.198 --> 00:32:01.438

not even getting the carriage taking the weight of the supported leg there so

00:32:01.438 --> 00:32:05.718

you're actually increasing the amount of body weight that your standing leg is supporting, right?

00:32:05.738 --> 00:32:09.558

So you get like a 30% increase to your load on that leg because your legs are pretty heavy.

00:32:11.079 --> 00:32:15.839

And then the third thing is, as you're cueing those people and they're at the

00:32:15.839 --> 00:32:18.239

bottom of their lunge and you're saying, okay, now I want you to hold where

00:32:18.239 --> 00:32:22.099

you're, keep your standing leg exactly where it is. Do not raise up.

00:32:22.279 --> 00:32:25.719

Okay. The leg that's on the carriage, just float it one inch up for me.

00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:29.179

Now bring your thigh in towards your tummy and squeeze it there hard. Okay.

00:32:29.659 --> 00:32:34.499

That took me about 10 seconds to say, during which time you are paused at the

00:32:34.499 --> 00:32:37.339

bottom of the lunge in the hardest part.

00:32:37.919 --> 00:32:40.099

Right. And that is the third layer of genius.

00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:51.899

And with it with a piece of programming like that that is very demanding both

00:32:51.899 --> 00:32:57.439

on your teaching and on your clients everything that you know raf laid out there

00:32:57.439 --> 00:33:01.359

when going back to one of our recent conversations about what a layer is so

00:33:01.359 --> 00:33:03.919

each of them is a layer so you would do the lunge,

00:33:04.479 --> 00:33:09.819

establish the hip and the knee relationship getting low etc if people are making

00:33:09.819 --> 00:33:11.899

that look easy. They're not looking super challenged.

00:33:12.099 --> 00:33:15.239

Then you'd add the scooter with the knee winding out of the way.

00:33:15.419 --> 00:33:17.119

If they do that looking easy, great.

00:33:17.439 --> 00:33:20.679

And so, sorry, just, just, just to quickly make sure that we're clear on,

00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:23.239

cause we used the word scooter before of like as a back leg movement,

00:33:23.319 --> 00:33:25.659

but you can, the scooter is essentially the front leg stays still,

00:33:25.719 --> 00:33:26.839

the back leg pushes in and out.

00:33:26.999 --> 00:33:30.639

Right. And if you've got a really light spring, if you've got a really light

00:33:30.639 --> 00:33:33.239

spring, that's still a front leg exercise. Yeah.

00:33:34.219 --> 00:33:37.359

So there's the, the light spring scooter would be a layer.

00:33:37.559 --> 00:33:42.279

And in this case adding load to the front leg and then the hold where you stand

00:33:42.279 --> 00:33:45.799

up and down and touch the knee that would be another because you've taken out

00:33:45.799 --> 00:33:50.139

the spring tension then there's the the lunge down and stay in a flamingo leg

00:33:50.139 --> 00:33:53.559

put the foot back on stand up there's another layer and.

00:33:54.965 --> 00:33:58.425

These sort of what might seem like very incremental layers

00:33:58.425 --> 00:34:01.325

are necessary because you're trying to get 10 to 15 people to

00:34:01.325 --> 00:34:04.505

understand what you mean and achieve some success and

00:34:04.505 --> 00:34:08.805

give you feedback about whether they can or not and ultimately you eventually

00:34:08.805 --> 00:34:14.765

might add the final layer that wraps it and if you did 10 of all of those layers

00:34:14.765 --> 00:34:18.865

you've done 55 fairly strong layers and everyone's smoked which brings us back

00:34:18.865 --> 00:34:23.925

to our clustering concept where now you've got that's that's 15-20 minutes of programming plus,

00:34:24.245 --> 00:34:27.725

because you're going to do one or two layers on the right leg.

00:34:28.025 --> 00:34:32.005

Then you do the same two layers on the left leg and probably some long stretch

00:34:32.005 --> 00:34:36.645

in the middle and come over and do the next two layers if you can on the right

00:34:36.645 --> 00:34:41.625

leg or drop back to the previous layers if you can't, and then go and do the other on the left.

00:34:41.785 --> 00:34:45.165

And if you just think that through, that's 25 minutes of programming.

00:34:45.345 --> 00:34:48.065

And I guarantee you, your clients are not bored. They're like,

00:34:48.205 --> 00:34:52.865

holy crap, we're on a train going to hell here. yeah they're muttering under

00:34:52.865 --> 00:34:54.425

their breath for Don Tootin.

00:34:56.838 --> 00:35:00.598

So, yeah, I think we've done a reasonable job in that moment,

00:35:00.698 --> 00:35:04.398

Raph, of like that is the, we've talked through the biomechanics and the muscle

00:35:04.398 --> 00:35:05.978

and the load distribution of it all.

00:35:06.378 --> 00:35:09.958

And we've also been able to capture, like that's a piece of programming that

00:35:09.958 --> 00:35:16.098

I use a lot, but I also wanted to just like, it's hard to make that work at a group.

00:35:16.198 --> 00:35:19.258

You've got to really, as an instructor, you've got to really work for it,

00:35:19.478 --> 00:35:24.738

partly because it is hard and no one really wants to do the hard thing.

00:35:24.738 --> 00:35:30.298

Well, I think it's, I think it's like, it's, it's, it's, it's like a lot of

00:35:30.298 --> 00:35:34.938

things that are extremely simple once you understand them,

00:35:35.418 --> 00:35:42.518

but not at all obvious or easy before that, that it's very, very easy to do it wrong.

00:35:42.698 --> 00:35:46.038

And when I say wrong, I mean, just in a way that doesn't actually load the bits

00:35:46.038 --> 00:35:48.778

you're trying to load and where people do the whole sequence and at the end

00:35:48.778 --> 00:35:49.698

they go, yeah, that was okay.

00:35:49.838 --> 00:35:54.718

I didn't really feel it much, you know, because you had their foot in the wrong place on the floor.

00:35:55.298 --> 00:35:58.698

Maybe you didn't have the right spring setting for them maybe they

00:35:58.698 --> 00:36:01.778

weren't you know going to the right depth they weren't

00:36:01.778 --> 00:36:05.038

holding in the right place they were pushing into the carriage leaning their

00:36:05.038 --> 00:36:07.598

back knee on the carriage too much you know like there's lots of ways they can

00:36:07.598 --> 00:36:14.998

get it wrong and kind of cheat and once you get it right and getting it right

00:36:14.998 --> 00:36:19.758

means being very intentional about your instructions,

00:36:19.758 --> 00:36:21.798

about where to place their foot.

00:36:22.898 --> 00:36:26.198

How many springs to select, how far to push the carriage out,

00:36:26.738 --> 00:36:31.018

when to pause, when to raise the back leg, all of that kind of stuff,

00:36:31.058 --> 00:36:34.618

and to be very, very clear and direct with your instructions so that as they

00:36:34.618 --> 00:36:37.618

raise their back leg, they're not also straightening their front leg.

00:36:38.358 --> 00:36:42.358

The more precise you are with your instructions and the more precise they are

00:36:42.358 --> 00:36:45.678

with their movements, the more they'll feel it and the more they'll walk out

00:36:45.678 --> 00:36:47.578

on rubber legs at the end going, holy crap, you know.

00:36:48.018 --> 00:36:52.498

That was awesome. Yeah. And so it's one of those exercises where.

00:36:54.110 --> 00:36:58.630

When you cue it really well, it comes across as very, very simple,

00:36:58.650 --> 00:37:02.770

but it's really freaking hard to make it look that simple.

00:37:03.630 --> 00:37:07.410

I think I've told you this before on a podcast, so apologies if I'm repeating

00:37:07.410 --> 00:37:13.230

this for you people, but I taught that sequence in a class, plus obviously some

00:37:13.230 --> 00:37:14.390

other things in the class.

00:37:14.850 --> 00:37:19.150

And a client who had a lot of years of Pilates experience came up to me afterwards,

00:37:19.470 --> 00:37:22.830

Pilates experience elsewhere and said um hey

00:37:22.830 --> 00:37:25.890

that was that was an amazing class like you've really properly smoked

00:37:25.890 --> 00:37:28.790

me i haven't worked like that that was great i'm like wow without

00:37:28.790 --> 00:37:31.510

but why don't you do refinements like why don't why

00:37:31.510 --> 00:37:35.050

don't you talk about like details and i

00:37:35.050 --> 00:37:37.830

was like yeah that's all we did talk about

00:37:37.830 --> 00:37:40.710

and and the reason that's funny

00:37:40.710 --> 00:37:43.750

for me dear listener is just that but what

00:37:43.750 --> 00:37:46.690

i learned it took me a long time to learn it but now i feel pretty clear

00:37:46.690 --> 00:37:50.310

on it and that's what we try to teach is where you

00:37:50.310 --> 00:37:53.750

put people's bodies and

00:37:53.750 --> 00:37:56.670

by that i mean how where you the movements that

00:37:56.670 --> 00:38:02.830

you take them through and its relationship to the spring tension is most effectively

00:38:02.830 --> 00:38:07.010

described by put this here put that there now move that to there and go up and

00:38:07.010 --> 00:38:12.370

down but when you get that right that does all of the things that we're we're

00:38:12.370 --> 00:38:15.990

taught at pilates school to try and do by saying squeeze this,

00:38:16.170 --> 00:38:18.310

engage that, move that, lengthen this.

00:38:19.170 --> 00:38:23.170

But that's not the effective way to teach it. The effective way to teach it

00:38:23.170 --> 00:38:28.090

is to understand the effect of what we've been talking about for each movement

00:38:28.090 --> 00:38:32.210

and then just cue it like a seven-year-old would understand it and make them do a bunch.

00:38:32.990 --> 00:38:38.970

Right. And we didn't even get to talk about torso lean or arm position or really

00:38:38.970 --> 00:38:41.810

much about foot placement either, but we're out of time.

00:38:43.659 --> 00:38:47.299

Thanks, Raph. So maybe we've got a few more Lunge episodes in us. I don't know.

00:38:48.779 --> 00:38:53.479

At this rate, it'll be the year 3000 before we get through all of the exercises.

00:38:54.919 --> 00:38:57.219

We've got time. Good talk. See ya.