Movement musings

Salt, are you eating enough?

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 03:17:58 GMT

Salt is not scary

Here are two mind blowing videos on the subject of Salt/ Sodium and the effects it has on the body. Dr. Dinicolantonio is extremely knowledgeable and helped publish over 200 scientific articles on the subject matter and wrote a book on this subject that I am currently reading and felt the need to share the information. Have a watch and see if you eat enough salt.

https://www.amazon.com/Salt-Fix-Experts-Wrong-Eating/dp/0451496965/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542403445&sr=8-1&keywords=the+salt+fix+by+dr+james+dinicolantonio

Hip mobility needs hip strength

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 03:15:51 GMT

What's hurting?

The single most complaint I get with new clients, are how terrible their hips feel. The urge and "need to" stretch comes from their physicians, therapists and mostly advice on TV or wellness platforms. No one is wrong wanting to have "open hips" but open hips come with a price. The price is to let go of the old notion of wanting to stretch them, but be committed to consciously and consistently work on strengthening them.

Remember when you barely could walk?

You owned the most perfect squat. Then your parents sent you to school, you sat for 7 hours a day in a chair, and your squat... disappeared, and with it came a trajectory for bad posture lower back pain, neck and hip pain.

My teacher Irene Dowd would always say "you're tight for a reason". Muscles don't decide to be tight. It's your subcortical brain that controls muscles, especially the tight ones, I'd argue. Tightness keeps you safe and functioning. Going from A to B, doing things, just at some point even that feels tough and you start to look old and forward bent.

Why are tight hips such a thing? MODERN LIFE.

Sitting for hours on end in chairs, planes and automobiles is literally killing our hip mobility and strength. I jokingly say "if you wash your clothes squatting by a river, you don't have hip "issues".

Why do we want open hips? Because even if we don't know really how the body functions properly, poor hip mechanics make for a less active lifestyle. Hip flexion, bringing your knee to your nose, is for most fist time clients impossible, Yes, hard to believe. We sit tucked under and hip flexion becomes spine flexion (very rounded lower back and/or upper back, any combination there of) and the brain just holds whatever it can to stabilize a deeply unstable body.

That's the tightness we feel and know to be wrong. Cue: the yoga teachers who teach us hip opening, the personal trainer and Dr. Oz, who recommend stretching. Where does it lead? To open hips, more mobility, feeling better, moving better?

Unfortunately not.

We really have to change the approach to how we deal with tight hips and really and other tight muscle we need to add strength and deep engagement (under load) to coax length (mobility) without threatening the brain to re-tighten.

One of my former clients in NYC, a famous spine surgeon (and avid Pilates student), once mentioned that under anesthesia there are not tight muscles. Muscles are only tight when the nervous system is "alive" and under "treat". That really gave me the clue that we have to go beyond the muscles and talk to the brain first and foremost.

Cue: Pendiculation , squatting, sitting on floor, varied sitting, stop stretching.

To be continued....

Colossal Kale salad

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:40:05 GMT

Sean's kale salad

This salad is the brain child of my teacher Sean. He introduced it to us after a private Ring session for my husband and I. The best part is, that you can add whatever you love and make it a full meal, of just keep it simple as a side to any protein, you choose.

Ingredients:

Serves 2

Dressing:

1/8 cup olive oil
4 Tsp Apple cider vinegar
Salt to taste
Dash of maple syrup
fresh herbs, chopped (parsley, chives, cilantro)
1/8 cup Sesame tahini

Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl or blend in a blender to incorporate the tahini.

1 Bunch of curly or red Russian Kale (or a mixture)
1/4 cup toasted Walnuts (or any nut of choice)
1/4 cup dried cranberries (unsweetened, cut in half)
2 Tsp. Hemp hearts
1 ripe Avocado, cut in bite sized pieces
1 Tsp lemon juice, pinch of salt
Roasted sweet potatoes make it a meal for hungry men :)

Assembly:

Toast your nuts for a better flavor on low heat in a dry skillet
Wash and dry Kale, pull out the stem, cut in small, bite sized pieces and place in a bowl and massage it with the salt and lemon juice to break down the tough structure for better digestion.
Add cranberries, avocado and cooled down, toasted nuts.
Add dressing and toss thoroughly. Taste if it needs salt.
Sprinkle hemp hearts, herbs.

Feel it to own it

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:35:30 GMT

Moving, breathing, FEELING... Becoming- OWNING

My conscious movement journey started almost 20 years ago. Considering I'll be 50 this year, is less than half of my life. It started with running (not conscious, but it wetted my appetite to actually feel, breathe and being ok with feeling uncomfortable), then Pilates, Yoga, Dance, Tai Chi. The more intricate the movement became, the more I had to "pay attention", be patient, be committed, be imperfect, and at some point the "practice" was moving ME.

Becoming intricately aware of our bodily sensations before, during and after is (almost and maybe completely) more important that doing it. Acknowledging my elevated breath, sweat, tingling, blood rush, thoughts, heat, ache is the super speed highway, or the only way to REALLY BECOME the body and mind you want to be. Not saying we have to meditate while we're working out, or need complete silence (I often listen to podcasts), but it's not about distraction, getting it over with, and disconnecting from the sensations.

Be OK with discomfort. Seek it. BE in it. Do the stuff that sucks (cold, heat, fasting... moving) and be amazed by your GROWTH. No one can take away or diminish what you OWN deep inside yourself, what you WORKED for, what you BECAME.

I take the "practice" and become IT.

Take it from the studio to the street.

Start TODAY.

My case against stretching

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 22:35:52 GMT

What is flexibility?

First we should distinguish between mobility and flexibility. I spoke in other posts about hyper mobility, really meaning ligamentous laxity. Tendons and ligaments are longer than they should be because of your genetic makeup, injuries, or years of "working on your flexibility", bad habits, bad posture, end range training.

Cue the ballet dancers, gymnasts, yogis... Ligaments stabilize joints, tendons connect muscles to bones. Both are made of collagen and have a very small range of movement. They should be taught, as a matter of fact. These long ligaments allow you to extend your elbows or knees beyond the "safer" range of motion. After all being gumby does not have many advantages. Too much ROM or mobility creates issues for stability and force production. Let's say you play tennis for 20 years with your hyperextended elbow. Every time you hit the ball, the force of the impact will most likely not be absorbed by your body, but guess what, your.... elbow.

How can we stop this?

First of all, know if you're hyper mobile. If you straighten your elbow and your forearm (way) behind your upper arm, or your knees are (way) behind your hip when you stand up straight, if your knees can touch the floor when you sit in an L-sit coupled with your heels lifting off, you ARE.

Now it takes a considerable amount of awareness to know if and when you are hyperextended, especially while you're exercising. Now add the usual "faster, faster, faster" of the Cross fitter generation on top of it and you are not in control anymore. You're throwing your bones around and your muscles are going along for the ride, until something tears. That would be the worst case scenario, but what about a steady stretching practice? I've met so many yogis, for example, over the past years that always complain about their tightness and how they have to "go to yoga" because they are "so tight". Well, after 10 years of Bikram yoga, when do you see an improvement? I don't mean to pick on yoga, it's just such an easy example.

I've seen countless people stretching their hamstrings and quads before they go on a run, lungeing the sh*t out of their hip flexors and expect to run well. The worst thing are the foam roller fanatics, that stretch their IT-band in the hopes for better hips and knees.

Funny how many people know their IT-band and have never heard of their iliacus. Get to know your iliacus... deeply, intimately and your life will change profoundly.

Just a little side note: Your IT-band is a tendon, not a muscle and should never be stretched. All you're rolling around on, is your vastus lateralis, one of your quad muscles, its painful; to do, painful to watch. It doesn't change a thing. It makes things worse. Stop it. NOW!

Tight people do pilates, flexible people do yoga

I am teasing... Don't we all pick what we like, especially if we spend our precious free time with it. If you are tight, chances are very high, that you don't seek out the yoga class that puts your body for 1.5hrs through hell. At least not for a long time. Bendy people love to do bendy things... Tight people... run... Or are they tight because they run...?

Anyway, back to the subject. How do we stop abusing our joints, cause muscles to be tight and unresponsive. A tight muscle (the feeling of tightness) is your muscle holding for dear life.

Cue: The nervous system

I also call it Mission Control (MC). You don't f**k with it. It governs you, it keeps you out of trouble and does so by evaluating "am I safe, or should I run?" 24-7. Also called fight, flight or freeze. If all is well, we don't have to tighten muscles, we are ready for anything that gets thrown our way. Another thing MC hates, is: guess what, too much mobility. Ever sprained an ankle? That's a long ligament at its best. Not super functional. Now stretching your joints mindlessly will most likely result in some form of muscle elongation but also elongate tendons and ligaments. Unlike muscles the latter don't recoil. Stretch too much and they tear. That's why you most likely sprain the same ankle over the course of your life. The support is compromised and if your muscles are not strong and at the ready to support your joint, the next sprain is bound to happen. If you ever had surgery, let's say MCL/ ACL... chances are your hamstrings are creating a beautiful bandage to help stabilize the knee, at least until you got stronger around the joint and Mission Control gives the green light. Muscles are tight for a reason, not because you are inferior.

Now really, how can we stop this?

Awareness.
Better work. Becoming more mindful and responsive with our body work.
Dial back the intensity.
Stop stretching. Stop the non functional stretch, elongate and tone with strength in mind.
Work SMARTER, engage the stretch, focus in lengthening with load and engagement

Pain in the neck, and why you might have it doing the 100's

4cXtMgvefKdWTBKD7nZxxRCKOkx2 — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 22:30:15 GMT

A strong neck is a must in Pilates and an asset for life

If your neck hurts while or after doing Pilates, let's say in your 100's, something's up. First off: where does it hurt? 1. front or 2. back.

The front hurts:

Congratulations, you're working your deep neck flexors and if you sit in front of a computer all day, they pretty much don't exist. The computer posture or "turtle neck" is connected to many other imbalances (dysfunctions) in our body. Achy neck, tight and rounded forward shoulders, back pain... working your neck will tremendously improve all of the above. It's important to know HOW to work your neck.

The back hurts

Check and see what muscles are actually contracted while lifting. Front or back. My bet: your muscles in the back of your neck are working (habitually holding your head up) and it's not their job, at least in that position! Muscles pull bones. So get into the front of the neck to pull your head up, rather than pushing from the back. Start by just lifting the neck a tiny bit. Is the front activating? Then proceed to TILT your head on your neck, chin directionally moving towards the sternum to functionally stretch the back. Keep looking towards your toes or pubic bone to avoid the back muscles taking over. Keep the brain back to avoid more pushing from the back.

Important here:

If you can't sustain the position for your 100's, lower down. Don't practice the shitty position. All you get is .... yeah, right! Be humble. Don't do it because the neighbor is doing it too. Do YOU! Your instructor should be watching you and correct you if your head position is wrong. If your neck is weak, it will be challenging and maybe "hurting" a bit, but know you're also getting stronger.

Please keep in mind, it takes time and effort to change your patterns, but know, you can change them!!!

#risepilates #risepilatessantafe #pilatesstrong #pilatesmat #100s #pilatesismytherapy #noglutesnoglory #fitspo #fitfam #fitfoodie #fitgirl #fitlife #fitnessmotivation #fitness #fitstagram #fitnessjourney #classicalpilates #originalpilates #returntolife #contrology #resist #counterrotate #anticipate

Hip re-education

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 22:24:33 GMT

You're never too young to work your hips

Hips are a theme, my theme, I guess, I am obsessed with them. It took me ages of learning and teaching, to understand my own hips and the issues that come with "bad" hip mobility, health, alignment, you name it. One of my teachers would always say "let's get the chair out of your ass". How rude :) but true.

Range of motion in our hips is one of the most misunderstood and misguided ...

Now, do you suffer from (chronic) hip pain? Popping sensations when running or walking? Tightness? Stiffness? Tight hamstrings? Can you get up and down to the floor easily or does the pure thought of being on the ground scare you?

Are you ready to make a real change?

Try this:

Side to side shifting exercise

Check out your range of motion ROM.

Stand parallel with your feet hip width apart. Bend your knees slightly. Shift pelvis side to side, not rotating your hips, think sassy hips.
Observe. Which side feels easier to shift to? Take your timer, do it a couple of times. Where do you have more ROM? I'd contest that you can go more over to the side that hurts. Are your knees still bent or did they hyper extend? Are your feet parallel (slightly pigeon toed) or do your feet turn out? This exercise is best done in fron to of a mirror.
If I was right, your pain side is the more mobile side, you got your clue. You stand more on that leg during the day, and your hip is too far out to that side. The muscles that should support your hip are over stretched (too long) and are holding on for dear life. Working too hard, all the time. No one likes working all the time. Do you?
Give them a little break. Become aware of how many times a day, you can catch yourself standing on that leg and shift to even weighted stance.
Check your feet (parallel)
Check your knees (soft)
You're on the way to better hips, no exercise required.
Start a regular training program to improve stability and strength, and watch your hip mobility increase.

Green soup à la Sun in Bloom

4cXtMgvefKdWTBKD7nZxxRCKOkx2 — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 22:19:22 GMT

Detox Soup

Ingredients:

Makes 4 servings

Place all of these in a Vitamix blender:

1/2 head organic Romaine lettuce

1/2 organic lemon, juiced

2 stalks organic celery

1 organic cucumber, skin and seeds

1 ripe avocado

1/2 bunch of organic parsley

Redmond real salt to taste

Good water, to taste. Start with a cup, add more if you want it less thick.

Place all of these in a Vitamix blender.

Blend on high speed until smooth and creamy. Drink immediately Soup will settle and separate, if left too long. It keeps in the fridge for a day, but I try not to.

Great lunch replacement, or part of a cleanse/ detox week.

Deal with it now, or later

Sun, 26 Jan 2025 03:13:14 GMT

Conscious movement is just like therapy.

I will never tire to keep shouting it from the (flat) rooftops (here in Santa Fe), how WONDERFUL our bodies are. They are built perfectly. They function with perfection. They are self-healing and self-regulating. They are incredibly smart and communicative. Unfortunately we all were trained to stop listening and to abuse them.
For me it started as a child, when my parents said that crying was "being weak", "showing pain" and "one should not do that". They are good parents, they just told me, what they were told. Maybe they were helpless facing a hysterically crying child during their busy day. It doesn't matter, but here's where it started. Ignore your instincts. Don't act out. Function. Be a little less sensitive. This crazy society we live in can't handle people who feel, do and think out of the box. We are less "productive" when we're ill, emotional or weird. That's when we are asked to get the pain killers, the fever meds, the decongestant, the anti-anxiety pill... the list is endless, to numb and override the bodies reaction to something. Stress, injury, emotions, toxins. We demonize and frankly disrespect our body (&soul). Popping a painkiller before you go for a run, without asking the deeper question: WHY am I in pain, is one of the very common habits of many people.

In times when I dealt with high states of anxiety in my life, I thought something was deeply wrong with me. I just didn't leave the house or could mostly rearrange my self-employment schedule. Or I just lived with sleepless nights for months on end. Cue many years later, I found people who helped me. Telling me that there's a way to look at my feelings, to communicate with them and knowing there's a deeper message to be heard.
Self discovery.
Instead of numbing my feelings, pushing them away, I became curious.
I am here to tell you, become curious. If your body is in pain (no matter how young you are) it's a call to ACTION.

Waiting will make things worse. DEAL with it NOW. Explore and learn how anatomy works, how joints should move, how muscles should mobilize and stabilize. Become your own “mechanic”. Outsourcing health and happiness are disempowering and make you dependent. Move freely.
You'll be so happy you did. Living a full life, doing the things you love.