Ground Reaction Force: The source of your power!
Do you remember learning Newton’s third law in a science or physics class? Don’t worry, we didn’t think so! This is the law that states “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
Well, in a nutshell, Newton’s third law explains ground reaction force. When we run, jump, throw something, etc., we push against the ground to get power, and the ground returns the exertion of the force to help us get that power. If this doesn’t make sense at first, imagine trying to throw a ball while treading water in a deep pool. Clearly, without a stable surface to push against with the legs, a person in a pool could not propel the ball the distance he could if he were standing on firm ground. In a pool, the legs and torso can do relatively little to help, so the shoulder, elbow and wrist joint must produce the majority of the force necessary to throw the ball.
If muscles in the hips and legs, particularly the gluteus medius, are weak or injured, then the scenario on land is not much better than that in water! When we push against the ground and the ground returns the exertion, the joints of our bodies must transmit this force in the best anatomical and most efficient way possible. In other words, all the muscles of the body must be recruited at the right time to accomplish the task at hand. Muscles must “fire” sequentially to prepare the body to hit the ball, leap the hurdle or perform the double back flip with a twist. Thus, if any muscle along the kinetic chain is weak, underused or injured, then the transmission of forces will be inefficient and faulty, and other body parts must take on more work to make up for the “weak link.”
Using the tennis serve as our example (see chart below) 54% of the ball’s speed should come from the trunk and back, hips and legs. Fifty four percent! This means that before the shoulder even becomes involved in the serve, the body from the shoulders down generates more than half of the power that gives the ball its speed. Of course the remaining power comes from the upper body: the shoulder joint is responsible for 21% of the power, the elbow, 15% and the wrist, 10%.
If the gluteus medius is weak, the torso, back, shoulder, elbow and wrist compensate for the lack of power by taking on more of the force. As discussed in a previous blog, the gluteus medius is a key stabilizer of the hip, especially when the weight is on one leg. When “winding up” for the serve, the body’s weight is on the same leg as the serving arm. The muscles are loaded with power and funneled into an explosive serve. A weak gluteus medius results in decreased power and INCREASED potential for injuries. In fact, research shows a weak gluteus medius contributes to shoulder and elbow injuries not only in tennis but in baseball, swimming and golf as well.
What can you do? Well, strengthen your gluteus medius of course! In our previous blog, we listed all the Pilates exercises that are great for doing just this, “Side Leg Lift Series,” “Side Lying Scissors,” “Side Lying Clam and Book,” etc. But, unfortunately, if the firing pattern for hip abduction is faulty, the TFL (tensor fasciae latae) fires BEFORE the gluteus medius. Ideally, the gluteus medius fires before the TFL, but the reverse is true for many people. No matter how fabulous a Pilates instructor you are, teaching someone NOT to use a muscle is far more challenging then teaching them to use one!
This is where ActivCore is absolutely ideal! Because the Redcord system allows for the off-weighting of clients, chronic “misfiring” during hip abduction can be remedied without complex imagery, vocabulary or body awareness. The reduced load enables the client to perform hip abduction with the proper sequencing of muscle firing. Pictures 1 and 2 below shows the regular Side Lying Abduction exercise and pictures 3 and 4 shows the same exercise off-weighted. For more information on ActivCore or the Redcord system, please visit their respective websites at www.activcore.com and www.redcord.com. If you would like to enroll in the teacher training for ActivCore, please visit our teacher training page for upcoming training dates!
The Tensor Fasciae Latae: new Starbucks drink or important muscle of the hip?
First of all, we’re joking! To hear the correct pronunciation of this important muscle of the hip, click here! The correct pronunciation is fash-ē-ē-lā-tē or fash-ē-ə-lā-tə, not “LATTE” as in the coffee drink! (But don’t you think it would make a GREAT name for a new coffee concoction?)
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promise to finish our discussion of the gluteus medius and its importance in ground reaction force, but first, we’ll discuss the cousin of the gluteals, the tensor fasciae latae or “TFL.” The TFL is part of the “gluteal group” of muscles and literally, the name “tensor fasciae latae” means “tensor of the fascia lata.” Well, that’s not very helpful now, is it?! Generally speaking, the muscle originates on the iliac crest and the outer portion of the ASIS and inserts into the iliotibial band (click here to read more.) The tensor fasciae latae abducts the femur and assists with medial rotation and flexion of the hip. Also, it stabilizes the pelvis on the head of the femur and through its insertion on the iliotibial band, stabilizes the femur on the tibia.
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ow here’s the catch: when the thigh abducts, the gluteus medius should fire first and the tensor fasciae latae second. However, in many cases, the tensor fasciae latae fires before the gluteus medius, which simply means the gluteus medius is not doing its job (more on this later!) Also, though the tensor fasciae latae assists in medially rotating the femur, it should not be the ONLY medial rotator of the femur! The adductors, specifically adductors brevis and longus and the upper portion of adductor magnus, assist with medial rotation of the femur yet are grossly underused by most of the population. (More on the adductors later this week!)
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xercise bands, small balls and Pilates rings are excellent ways to target both the abductors and hte adductors in the same workout. Try “Tighten and Tone“, “Sculpt and Shape“, “Stretch and Strengthen” and the “Small Ball Toning Workout” on www.ultimatepilatesoworkouts.com. For individual exercises, try Episode 112 “Side Lying Clam and Book” or any of our exercises such as Half Roll Down or Half Roll Down with Obliques squeezing the Pilates Ring or a small ball between your knees.
The “other” Glutes!
In our last blog, we discussed the merits, both aesthetic and anatomical, of a well developed gluteus maximus (click here to read!). But since the “glutes” do get lopped together often in cueing, today’s blog will discuss their differences and similarities.
First of all, the gluteus maximus is the most superficial of the three and gives the buttocks is lifted, curvy shape (when well toned, of course.) Underneath the gluteus maximus lies the gluteus medius and underneath that lies the gluteus minimus. Their sizes are in the name: large, medium and small respectively. If the gluteus maximus gives overall shape to the buttocks, then the gluteus medius and minimus can be said to give shape to the hip.
The gluteus maximus extends and laterally rotates the femur at the hip, and is responsible for bringing the torso upright from a stooped position when standing. The gluteus medius and minimus ABduct the femur, but primarily stabilize the body when standing on one leg. In fact, an often used “weak link” test to determine a weak gluteus medius is to see if the subject can balance on one leg. If the gluteus medius isn’t firing properly, the subject can not stabilize the body on one leg at all. Additionally, both the gluteus medius and minimus assist in medially rotating the femur. However, once the hip is flexed to ninety degrees, the action of the gluteus medius shifts and it aids in laterally rotating the femur.
In Pilates mat work, the gluteus medius and minimus get their moments in the sun during the Side Leg Lift series of exercises. This includes Side Kicks, straight forward Side Lying Abduction of the femur, Side Lying Scissors, Side Lying Bicycle, Banana, and the side lying exercises with the exercise band, Side Lying Clam and Book. However, this pair of muscles is always stabilizing in any standing exercise on the chair or cadillac and in footwork on the reformer, to name a few.
Because the Tensor Fascia Latae also abducts the hip, targeting the gluteus medius and encouraging it to fire first (as it should) can be challenging. ActivCore and the Redcord system offer fabulous exercises for strengthening the gluteus medius safely and effectively. Because of the unique off-weighting system, ActicCore provides direct, acheivable gluteus medius conditioning exercises that can help even the most body UN-aware person isolate the gluteus medius and strengthen it. A strong gluteus medius improves Ground Reaction Force which helps distribute forces evenly through the body during actions such as the tennis serve (click here to read more) and the baseball swing.
More on the gluteus medius and Ground Reaction Force next time!
Booty call! The anatomical and aesthetic benefits of the gluteus maximus
Who doesn’t want a butt that seems to defy gravity and fill out that snazzy pair of jeans? Of all body parts, women AND men care about their derrieres. After all, Mia Michaels choreographed an entire routine for the third episode of “So You Think You Can Dance” (click here to watch) around the appeal of a pleasant posterior. But a beautiful backside is not all that is obtained by strengthening and toning the gluteus maximus!
First of all, human beings’ unique gluteus maximus is a consequence of upright walking. (click here to read more.) BUTT (ha ha ha), because we in the developed world spend most of our time sitting at desks, our gluteus maximuses on the whole are “woefully underdeveloped” (click here to read more.) A weak gluteus maximus not only leaves you with droopy jeans and sagging skirts, it also wreaks havoc on the lumbar spine, the sacrum, the hip joint and the lower leg!
A strong gluteus maximus not only helps tense the thoraco-lumbar fascia (thus providing additional support to the low back), but also indirectly stimulates the multifidus to fire. (click here and click here to read more.)
As the gluteus maximus should engage at the point of the heel strike when walking, when it is weak, the trunk lurches backward at heel strike on the weakened side, thus straining the lumbar spine and causing imbalances in the pelvis, sacrum and hip joint.
BUTT, Pilates offers many exercises to strengthen the gluteus maximus safely and effectively! (click here for this excellent back and butt toning workout!) First of all, engaging the gluteus maximus at all times when performing prone exercises is important. This helps to stabilize the pelvis so that the lower back (lumbar spine) does not over-extend in any prone extension exercise. For example, in Breast Stroke, only the thoracic spine is meant to extend and keeping the gluteus maximus engaged helps ensure that the lumbar spine does not extend and the pelvis remains in neutral.
For exercises such as Swan Dive and Double Leg Stretch which require full spinal and hip extension, engaging the gluteus maximus keeps pressure out of the lumbar spine and helps create even extension along the backside of the body.
If the above mentioned prone gluteus maximus exercises cause any discomfort in the lower back, try lying prone over an Arc Barrel so that the lumbar spine is in flexion. Then practice lifting one leg at a time into extension to concentrate on firing only the gluteus maximus while leaving the erector spinae relaxed. This can be challenging, but with practice, it can be done!
Exercises such as Shoulder Bridge, Hip Rolls with Heel Lifts and Heel Squeeze are excellent ways to focus on pure hip extension, i.e. pure gluteus maximus work without extending the lumbar spine. In Shoulder Bridge, the spine stays neutral throughout and the pelvis must be stabilized using the gluteus maximus and the abdominals against rotation. Hip Rolls and Hip Rolls with Heel Lifts adds articulation of the spine and while lifting and lowering the heels targets the hamstrings more than the gluteus maximus, the latter is still challenged by holding the hips in extension at the top (and stabilizing against rotation!) Finally, Heel Squeeze is a great way to practice keeping the pelvis in neutral since you can focus on all three bony landmarks – the hip bones and the pubic bone – remaining in contact with the floor as you engage the gluteus maximus. Advanced students may add a lift of the thighs as the heels squeeze ONLY if this can be performed with a neutral pelvis and spine.
Finally, standing lunges target the gluteus maximus and a slew of other muscles as well. In the classical Pilates mat repertoire, lunges and squats are not included, but if you plan on running to a gym and doing lunges/squats to strengthen your gluteus maximus, please keep the following tips in mind: 1) keep your abdominal muscles pulled in and engaged at all times; 2) do not allow your lower back to arch as you lunge or squat and 3) make sure your knees bend directly over the 2nd and 3rd toes without rolling out or in as this puts undue strain on the knee joint.
Lastly, oftentimes we Pilates instructors say “squeeze your glutes” when we really mean “contract your gluteus maximus.” This is merely for time and does not reflect one’s lack of knowledge in what the various muscles do! So please know that 95% of the time, when your instructor says “squeeze your glutes,” she/he means gluteus maximus!!
Best wishes for a terrific buttsky this summer!!
Why We Love Props For Pilates
From exercise bands to BoSUs to stability balls, props can add challenges, assistance or variety to a regular Pilates workout. The right prop can make a hard exercise easier and a simple exercise extremely challenging! Targeted use of props can also help spice things up for clients who have been practicing Pilates for years and need a little pizzazz thrown into their workout.
So why do we love props? The first reason is simple and perhaps the most important: props help facilitate the proper execution of an exercise. They help clients achieve neutral, fire into the “right” muscle group and activate dormant muscles that have not been doing their job! Pads and cushions help clients begin an exercise in as close to neutral alignment as possible, which is essential for a biomechanically correct, pain-free Pilates practice. We would not survive at our New York studio without pads to place under clients’ heads to bring the cervical spine into proper alignment when supine or cushions for them to sit on to bring the pelvis into neutral. Pilates Rings and Small Balls between the ankles or knees on certain exercises can help engage inactive inner thigh muscles and help clients deepen their abdominal contraction. Arc Barrels or BoSUs can be effective teaching tools for prone spinal or hip extension exercises. Placing the lumbar spine in flexion on the barrel helps deactivate the often over-active erector spinae of the lower back and can help clients isolate the erector spinae of the upper back or activate the hip extensors without going into lumbar extension.
Second, props help build the strength or awareness necessary to perform the “real” exercise properly. The original Pilates exercises are fabulous and effective on their own, but some people just can’t do them right….yet! Props can be the stepping stone a client needs to succeed in a Pilates mat environment. The “Roll Over,” for instance, can be challenging for many individuals who lack either abdominal strength or spinal flexibility (or both)! By performing the “Roll Over” on an Arc Barrel and beginning with the hips elevated, the client can build the strength necessary to execute the exercise properly without using momentum and jeopardizing the lower back. Similarly, for those with tight lower backs (such as the authors here), the “Roll Up” can be absolutely lovely holding a 4 lb mini-body bar. Of course one needs to be careful with the shoulder girdle given the extra weight, but this little bit of extra weight adds leverage where it is needed to assist with articulation of the spine through the tight spot. As another example, those clients seeking to transition from “Hundreds” with bent knees to “Hundreds” with straight legs but still find maintaining a strong imprint challenging benefit from using an exercise band around the feet. The band helps support the weight of the legs, and thus allows the abdominal muscles to build the strength necessary to maintain imprint, protect the lower back and support the lower body simultaneously.
Finally, we love props because they introduce muscle confusion training into a Pilates mat workout, which helps any body get more out of their Pilates routine. Simply put, the muscle confusion training principle states that muscles adapt to a specific type of stress and need to be challenged in varied ways in order to continue experiencing results. Muscles improve from being subjected to new and different stresses and challenges which is exactly what props can provide. Athletes cross train for this very reason, as the body benefits overall from allowing certain muscles fibers to rest and others to engage. Moreover, incorporating props into a Pilates workout can help prevent the well-known plateau effect and even boost clients over a “road block” that keeps them from progressing. Use of props can kick up the intensity of the workout quite effectively without placing undue strain on the body. In fact, research shows that something as simple as performing a bench press on a stability ball is 62% more effective than a bench press with the same weight conducted on a regular bench. (Source)
Furthermore, muscles performing the same action day after day “get bored” just as clients get bored with the same workout! Varying a workout ensures that clients continue to see results and stay interested. Pilates enthusiasts who regularly work out on the Pilates equipment already benefit from the muscle confusion training practice as integrating all equipment into sessions over the course of a week or month allows muscles to perform in different ways each workout. Thus, just as “Side Bends” activates different muscles groups on the Ladder Barrel, Cadillac and Mat, so to does “the Hundreds” challenge the body in different ways using the Stretch Band, the BoSU and the Pilates Ring. Focusing on different muscle groups and adding variety will not only enhance core stability, but also turn your Pilates routine into a fabulous cross-training program, which will improve your overall fitness and decrease your risk of injury. (Source)
With all the props available today, one can quickly become overwhelmed when deciding which props to choose. Is your goal to challenge your client? Help her do an exercise correctly? Target his core? Facilitate better alignment? Knowing the merits of each prop and which ones best suit your clientele’s objectives is the first step to integrating props successfully into your Pilates workouts. We have included a chart below to highlight the various benefits, but please keep in mind that the categories are exercise specific! The exercise band, for example, can assist the “Roll Up” but challenge the “Double Leg Stretch.” Also, one very dangerous trap to fall into is watching others use props and then copying them in your sessions. Never EVER use clients as guinea pigs! Incorporating a prop often changes the emphasis of the exercise, so be sure to try the exercise with the prop first before teaching it to an unsuspecting client.
In conclusion, we offer three basic rules of thumb to follow with regard to incorporating props into Pilates workouts. First, choose a prop with a specific goal in mind for the client or class you are teaching. (In other words, do not choose a prop because you, personally, are bored and need some entertainment!) Second, remember that most clients can focus on one thing at one time. Thus, multiple props used simultaneously tend to destroy — rather than enhance — the integrity of the exercise. Though the picture to the right is humorous, you clearly want to avoid this scenario with your clients. Finally, because props do change the original exercise a bit, be mindful of what is gained — and what could be compromised — with the addition of a prop. Shoulder Bridge on the BoSU, for example, helps activate the core because of the instability, but the hamstrings may cramp because of the increased effort required to stabilize.
The Pilates repertoire has not only withstood the test of time, it continues to impress and amaze both the fitness and medical worlds with its benefits. Make sure to honor this system with thoughtful use of props that enhance the client’s overall Pilates experience.
How to work your abs WITHOUT FLEXING YOUR SPINE!
As we wrote in our last blog, when a client asks to “work their abs,” it is very easy to fall into the trap of delivering an hour of flexion exercises. Hearing our clients squeal “oh I feel my abs” is most gratifying, and as we all know, this result is most quickly achieved when many flexion exercises are performed in succession.
But for the spine’s long term health AND balance of the muscles in the torso, varying spinal movement is absolutely essential. Additionally, exercises requiring stabilization in neutral add a new dimension of body awareness and abdominal work to a client’s routine. Not only do such exercise help teach a client where neutral is in their own body, but also trains the muscles in the body to support the body there.
For starters, simple exercise like sitting upright, right on top of the sit bones, on the stability ball can start to bring awareness to the abdominal muscles’ role in holding the spine and pelvis in neutral. Once this is mastered, practicing alternating lifting and lowering the legs (we call this “marching”) further challenges core strength.
Every piece of equipment, including the mat, includes exercises in neutral, so don’t forget to include them in your clients’ sessions. The Reformer and Cadillac provide many exercises in which the spine is stabilized in neutral against the movement of the arms and legs. These exercises can be modified for all levels, so beginning and advanced clients alike can benefit. The Chair, on the other hand, offers many “neutral” exercises, but given the balance and core strength required for many of them, these exercises may not be the most suitable for the first session (depending on your client’s strength and ability, of course.)
Personally, we LOVE the prone exercises on the chair! One of our biggest problems to this day is popping ribs, and the prone chair exercises help bring awareness to the muscles we need to use ALWAYS to prevent this from happening. Because the weight of the legs is unsupported in this series, you can try backing the chair up to the Cadillac (providing your Chair and Cadillac bed are the same height) so that the client’s lower body is fully supported if necessary. Likewise, side lying exercises on the Cadillac and Barrels are excellent ways to work all four layers of the abdominal muscles while working the legs or arms, depending on the exercise.
In fact, we encourage all readers to challenge themselves to incorporate at least 10 “stabilization in neutral” exercises into all of their sessions this week. If you have a client with a disc injury (a herniation, etc.), you are surely an old pro at this! If you have not yet HAD to program this way, staring now when it is “fun” is an excellent way to prepare for the client you will have – one day – who can not flex his/her spine.
Know your Anatomy and Become a Pilates Instructor Who’s in demand!!
A myriad of skills are required to be a highly skilled Pilates instructor, and one of the most important is a strong foundation in anatomy and biomechanics. Rock-solid knowledge of anatomy will not only help you excel in your Pilates instructor training program, but also enable you to design more effective workouts, work with minor aches and pains, and address sports specific concerns. With an arsenal of Pilates exercises on hand that target each muscle, you have all you need to serve you and all your clients’ needs!
Studying anatomy initially can be a little boring (it can seem like rote memorization), but whatever you do, don’t just memorize!! The best way to learn anatomy while you are going through your Pilates instructor training program is to pick one muscle at a time, and then start moving! Find the exercises that target the muscle you want to “memorize“, and then do each Pilates exercise, concentrating on the muscle being worked. The combination of the kinesthetic awareness with the visualization of the muscle will change your entire outlook on learning anatomy and biomechanics! You’ll learn quickly, more effectively and more efficiently….and you’ll remember it too!
Thus, when your clients come in and tell you that their shoulder is bothering them, sore, achy, untoned…. whatever, you first know what questions to ask to pinpoint the possible source of the pain. Does it hurt to reach forward? Behind? Out to the side? From their answer, you must quickly decide (with your client’s feedback, of course) whether it is best to avoid that joint all together or find safe ways to address it. The good news: because you have spent so much time practicing your Pilates exercises while thinking of the muscles being used, you will know from your own experience which Pilates exercises will best target or avoid the muscle in question. You can further strut your stuff by giving your clients two or three ways to target the muscle in question by addressing different planes of movement and different actions of the muscle. And if you have a studio full of Pilates equipment, then you have even more ways to utilize your knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics with all the offerings that the Pilates Reformer, Pilates Cadillac and Pilates Chair afford.
ACTIVCORE® cured my neck and shoulder pain
When we first started doing ActivCore ® , we couldn’t wait to try every exercise that we could get my hands on. As dancers, we’re also always first enticed by the exercises for the legs and the core… the upper body exercises have always been a secondary focus. However, as we began the training and learned more about ActivCore’s amazing ability to get the right muscle to fire in the right amount at the right time, we started wondering if there was any hope for the nagging neck and shoulder pain that we had been silently suffering with off and on for years. Katherine had lost hope that anything would make her pain go away. It had actually become so bad that I couldn’t finish the last sip in a tall glass of water without being forced to support the weight of my head in my free hand!!
To our amazement, the secret recipe for completely “fixing” shoulder and neck pain was ActivCore ® … particularly the pull ups and the push ups. Who knew?! The first time we tried the pull ups (not being able to do a single pull up on my own), we knew we were using our legs more than our arms, but we LOVED the way it opened my shoulders and how we were so connected through our backs. Because ActivCore ® allows you to set the difficulty appropriate to your own personal strength level, you really can’t go wrong. We have all our clients doing their own personal pull ups with the ActivCore Activation Station ® because of its incredible adjustability.
With the push ups, because the ropes are unstable every direction except straight down, we were total wrecks…. both of us on the left side (for different reasons, we promise!!! We’re not clones!!!) Neither of us could really complete one push up without our left arms freaking out and shaking like gangbusters. We couldn’t keep the rope still!! ….And that’s when it hit us. None of the local stabilizers in the left shoulder were firing. It was like they were on vacation on another planet. The solution? Find the setting on the ActivCore Activation Station n® that would allow us to complete four push ups without collapsing or shaking uncontrollably. Then I repeated three more sets of four, adjusting the height of the ropes or where I was standing so that I could alter the level of support.
In the first week, we probably did the pull up and push up sequence 2 times….. that’s a total of about 32 pull ups and push ups, and both our shoulders and necks felt better after that one week, not to mention that we felt like our posture improved immensely. (…And we’re not the only ones who’ve said this! One of our best friends and workout buddies said to us the day after doing one set of pull ups: “Could it really be possible that my posture is better after only one session????” The answer: yes!)
Now, we’re completely addicted to the pull ups and push ups!! Katherine’s neck pain is gone, and I no longer have to hold the back of my head when I’m enjoying my last sip of my favorite beverage. Kimberly’s rotator cuff pain is gone, too! We make both push ups and pull ups a mandatory part of our ActivCore ® workout sessions, and as a result we have happier necks and shoulders!!
Those of you Pilates enthusiasts who know us or who have watched Tired of your Exercise Routine?? TRY SOMETHING NEW!!!!
At our Pilates Studio, we hear people complain often about being sick and tired of their workout regime. There is actually a really easy remedy to this problem: quit your typical workout regime for a week or two, and try new things!! With the beautiful weather comes the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, so why not take a walk, ride a bike, etc? Better yet, why not try something you’ve never tried before?
Trying new things not only refreshes your mind, but also gives your overworked muscles a break, while introducing movement and stimuli to often dormant muscles. Moving the body in planes of motion different than what you typically do can reap lots of benefits, including balancing out muscle groups as well as exposing you to a weakness that you may have not known that you had. With that knowledge, you’ll have something new to target when you return to your regular fitness routine.
You will be amazed with the outcome if you give your mind and body a necessary break. You’ll come back to your usual Pilates routine refreshed, revived, and invigorated!!
