Blog - The Curious Mover
Should I STAY or Should I GO?
To exercise or not to exercise? That is the question!
When will exercise help shift you out of feeling tired or when does your body need the rest? These are great questions to ask, but the answer is, it depends. It helps to develop a skill of listening and asking your body.
I can’t even count the number of times clients come in and tell me how tired they are, only to leave feeling better and revived. That’s the beauty of movement! I make sure in those sessions to give more flow to honor tired, but just the right push to achieve that shift. I always encourage communication with clients about how they are feeling during a session so I can adjust what movement direction I go in next. But when do we go and when do we skip exercise?
The Metaphor of Spring
In Pilates, we use springs as resistance rather than weights. That’s not really news to anyone, but let’s take this metaphor of spring a lot further, especially in this Spring season! Let’s apply the spring to muscles: pulling the spring open (lengthening) followed by closing it (contraction). Just like the two phases of muscle actions: the lengthening or load phase, and the contraction or shortening phase. I see more emphasis on the contraction phrase, but not enough on the lengthening, resulting in short and contracted muscles, which leads to pain and tightness.
The Mid Line- PART 2
In Part 2, we go into the importance of the inner thighs and their connection. You heard of the rotator cuff of the shoulder? It is made up of external and internal rotators to stabilize the shoulder joint. These five inner thigh muscles are considered the inward rotators of the hip, and with the six external rotators complete the “rotator cuff” of the hip, but have roles to stabilize and move the body. When I think inner thighs, it's hard not to think of the thigh master infomercial with Suzanne Somers. I am here to tell you, they are so much more muscle than to jam a contraction in and squeeze! We have the magic circle in Pilates, a somewhat similar contraption, but hopefully you also have a teacher that guides the connection of the inner thighs into the core cylinder.
That’s a Wrap - The Deep Six: The Bridge PART 1
The deep six. Sounds like a rock band, or maybe it's because I just finished Daisy Jones and The Six (highly recommended) all about a rock band. Ever wonder why Pilates foundation work is so big on wrapping six tiny muscles around the back of the pelvis? When I meet a beginner to the practice of Pilates, they can be so strong, but chances are these six little muscles have never been introduced. They are the bridge on the back of the leg: Connecting the foot down into the ground, then back up the leg, crossing that deep six bridge to the pelvic floor, the base of the core.
Do you Zoom?
Have you taken a class with me on Zoom or FaceTime? You might not know you are missing out...but it’s true! Taking classes online is not the same, because it is different. It seems as if it would not be as effective as in person with a full studio of equipment, but I am here to surprise you - the results of a 2 year exploration are in!
Get on UP with a breakDOWN: Part 2
Hopefully for the last two weeks, you have been practicing your get up movement without weight. Good form and understanding of each step is very important, as well as having the basic required strength acquired before you load it up. If you have been so diligent as to practice your get up as a January goal, your next step is here. You have earned the right to load it with weight. This creates a whole different strategy of work but you want to heed some precautions mentioned below.
Get on UP with a breakDOWN: The Turkish Get Up
I have chosen one of my go to full body exercises that works everything, The Turkish Get Up. Not only does this exercise work the whole body, but it’s valuable for a functional reason. It will keep you mobile and strong to get up from and down to the floor. That action is lifesaving. Ironically and unfortunately, that movement tends to be avoided as we get older. We will lose it if we don’t use it, and it is important at any age to be able to get off of the floor. Gravity is a constant companion during our lifetime, and it doesn’t discriminate, so we can fall at any age.
My Accountability Partner
Next week, I have an anniversary! It is the 4 year first-date-a-versary that fateful, auspicious night at the Culver Hotel, where I met my now husband. I am a loyal wife, BUT I have another anniversary I am celebrating: 6 months with my fitness watch. We’ve been inseparable ever since. And my husband seems to be ok with it!
Hips Don’t Lie #3
For the final installment of hip mobility and strength, we work primarily in the transverse plane. This first video took you mostly through the sagittal plane. The second video took you into the frontal plane. This video is the rotational plane in which we need movement as well. More on that later.
Hips Don’t Lie #2
This version we are working the hip in parallel and external rotation in the frontal plane. It will also challenge balance, whole body connection, and foot flexibility and stability. I also think we need to move our pelvis around our hips more, thus the sexy, yet important second exercise. There is an over emphasis on pelvic stabilization exercises these days, and not enough mobility. I say “Free the Pelvis!”
Hips Don’t Lie
Gluts. The booty. Everyone wants to do exercises for them. But in my over 2 decade career and practice in this field, I am finding essentially the gluts need to train in “load” phase. What is load?
Not Every Exercise is for You
It’s true. Our bodies are all built differently. Yes we have two eyes, ears, arms, legs, and a nose. And a butt, BUT! Not only are men’s bodies very different from women’s, we are also individually put together differently. For example, we all have a hip socket, hip joint, and neck of the femur, but mine is different from yours in size, shape, and location. And we have two, and even they can be different from each other. So having a one size fits all exercise is a tall order.