Too Much Of A Good Thing
Is there such a thing as “too much of a good thing?”
When we are teaching Pilates we often cue people to scoop more, lift more, or reach more! However, there is a limit to how much a body can scoop, lift and reach. At a certain point, more isn’t better—it’s actually detrimental to performance.
Let me tell you a story.
Tom is a fantastic client who comes in three times a week, is committed to his homework, and works extremely hard during each session. However, he is a client who falls into the category of doing 100% of what you ask him to a fault.
I am sure you also have clients that fall into this category. I seem to attract these types of clients, and over the years I have learned that I need to be careful how I cue them.
During one of our sessions I was teaching Tom the Flat Back on the Short Box. I saw he was sinking in his lower back, so I was telling him to “Lift up. Lift more.” He was lifting up as much as he possibly could, but would grip in his quads and had a very small range of motion. It looked like he had no power behind his movement. Then it hit me. He was lifting SO much that his pelvis was no longer anchored on to the mat. No wonder he had no power behind his movement.
Once I realized what was happening, I rephrased my cue. “Okay Tom, push your sit bones into the box. Now lift your spine up as much as you can without changing this pressure in your pelvis. Now hinge back.” Guess what happened? He had much more power behind his movement, and his range of motion increased because he was working both oppositional forces. It is simple physics.
In fact there are concepts of physics that we experience in Pilates without even realizing it. The one concept I want to discuss with you is Newton’s Third Law which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If we look at this in terms of Pilates exercises, for each exercise there are oppositional forces that are important for us to engage. By only asking Tom to lift in my original cue, I was instructing him to move in only one direction and he was applying 100% of his effort to achieve this. But Tom was doing too much a good thing. It was great for him to be lifted in the exercise, but not to the extent that it disrupted his alignment and base of support. Tom did not have much power behind his movement because there wasn’t an equal reaction of oppositional forces.
I think this is an important example to keep in mind when we are cueing. People will do what we are telling them to do. We want to make sure that what we are telling them is effective, clear, and physically possible. By changing my cue to reference both lifting and pelvic stability during the exercise he was able to leverage oppositional forces. My second, more specific cue set him up in the correct position from the beginning.
Next time you feel the urge to give the general cues of “lift”, “scoop”, or “reach” think about whether the client going to do too much of a good thing and throw off the balance and oppositional forces needed in the exercise. What is a more specific cue you can offer?
If you are having trouble staying away from general cues, check out the Kinexology Method six-week online course What You Say Matters where you will learn the tools to create cues that mitigate this issue. Your clients will be able to better understand how they need to approach and execute each exercise in the Pilates system, resulting in lasting changes in their bodies and more enjoyment for you.