Get This Book! {Dang it! I gotta change my favorite cue}.

  

I first came upon Dr. Kelly Starrett a couple of years ago from a link to his blog, MobilityWod. The post had to do with the first part of a Kettlebell Turkish Get Up (this is not the video. I can never find it. This clip is a good demo of what the exercise is though). I had never even heard of the exercise, but I instantly fell in love with the Turkish Get Up and kettlebells.

Over the next couple of years I would check in with Starrett's MWod site, but I've never been a religious follower. Now he has written a book, Becoming A Supple Leopard:The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance. A book I highly recommend everyone get.

Is it a book for just the athlete or athletic coach? Nope. It's a book for anyone in possession of a body. Which is to say, everyone. It is not necessarily a book that you set aside an afternoon and read cover to cover in one sitting. You could if you wanted to though. I myself haven't completed it. Although I have thumbed through it in its entirety a few times as I continue on my journey of reading it cover to cover.

Filled with wisdoms and clear and helpful photos, Supple Leopard addresses the basics of human movement. The basics of how one stands, sits, bends or squats and its implications for the mechanical health of the body of the office worker to the elite athlete. Starrett works a great deal on the basics with the full spectrum of human movement in mind. He has worked with all kinds of athletes, including dancers and MMA fighters, as well as fire fighters, military personnel and law enforcement officers. His book is written for the movements that humans must do to function as well as the amazing physical feats humans are capable of. Given that, it is a book that I think critical for trainers and coaches. But again, it's not solely for those in the Phys. Ed. Dept. Starrett spends a lot of time describing ways that we all can diagnose flaws in our functional movement technique, and then set about trying to correct them.

One aspect that I have found amazing, enlightening and helpful is his cue of the vertical shin in the basic squat. The vertical shin refers to the alignment of the knee over the ankle during a squat. The chain of the hips, knees and ankle are aligned so the shin remains vertical throughout the squat. Starett claims that this revelation is worth the price of the book, and I concur. But don't let my paltry explanation be a substitute for what is contained in Supple Leopard. There is so much more. Get the book! The book doesn't just focus on squats, but the whole body, and chains of movement that affect the whole body.

Vertical shins and squats brings me to how I must now change one of my favorite cues. For quite a while I have cued shifting weight towards the heels during a squat, especially an unweighted squat (using only one's body weight as resistance).  Not necessarily completely shifting weight to the heels, but a considerable amount. From reading Dr. Starrett's book, I now understand that I need to move away from that and shift the focus to centering the weight through the ankles and down through the floor. It is not a complete shift to the front, or balls of the feet, but rather "screwing" the weight down through the floor via the more central section of each foot. Which of course makes perfect sense when one must execute a movement on one leg (think pistol squat) or is doing a weighted squat (back, front or overhead). He has a great three-squat series of unweighted squats that each have a different position for the arms, which in turn affects the alignment of the upper body in relation to the lower body during squats. The back squat, front squat and overhead squat are each represented. Wanna see it? Get the book. Ha!

Live, learn, improve and pass it on.

Get the book already, will ya!

Thanks for hanging out.

Enjoy the dance that is life!

Technique Tuesday; Pelvic Alignment In Second Position Plie.

A few weeks ago I posted a Technique Tuesday about pelvic alignment for plies in first position. You can review it here.


This Tuesday's tutorial is super short. Everything from the first position plies apply.

Pull the belly button towards the spine
Feel the glutes "wrap around" and gently squeeze

As the knees bend, imagine the back of the pelvis is sliding up and down an imaginary wall.

Knees stay opened out over the tops of the feet.

As you straighten the knees, feel those glutes do that wrap and squeeze.

 

Because second position puts you in a wider stance, it gives a great opportunity to feel those thighs stretch out to the side, making sure to keep those knees over the feet.

 

In the video I start off by showing the pelvis out of proper alignment for plies, by showing the hips go behind the feet. When doing a squat you want the hips to go behind the heels, but not in a turned out plié.

Doing properly aligned plies in second is, of course, a necessity for classical ballet technique, but it is also a great move to add to any fitness regiment where you do squats. I'm a big fan of the squat. I do them all the time and I have my young dancers do them as well. Knowing how to properly align the pelvis for various moves can only make you stronger and more agile.

Thanks for hanging out and reading.

Enjoy the dance that is life!

~Erin

Technique Tuesday; Pelvic Alignment In First Position Plie.

The plié is probably the most important step in classical ballet, if not in most of the dance arts.

What makes a plié different from just a knee bend? For the most part, the alignment of the body.

A squat has a knee bend, but the alignment of the torso and pelvis are very different. As the knees bend, the hips go back behind the feet and ankles. The torso angles into more of a folding over position in reference to the thighs. Weight is transferred to be predominately in the heels.

I'm a big fan of squats. They are a great exercise for the glutes, quads and , if done wisely, the back. They are a very functional movement for human bio mechanics. But if you try to do a pirouette from a squat you will learn some unwelcome lessons about basic physics.

As well as making certain dance steps possible, plies, if done properly, offer a great lengthening component to building strength in the muscles of the legs. The muscles of the core are also engaged through the execution of a plié.

I have often found that focusing on the placement of the pelvis can aide in the proper alignment of a plié.

Towards the bottom of this post is a short video tutorial. You can scroll down, or hang out for the pictorial tutorial first.

Start by finding your natural range of motion for outward rotation (turnout).
Toes pointing forward
Bend knees, weight is evenly displaced down through each foot
Pull belly button towards spine and imagine that the back of the pelvis is sliding up and down an imaginary wall

Shifting the weight to the heels, open up the feet as you straighten the legs.
Evenly displace the weight through the feet again
You are now in first position.

 Often when people first learn to do plies, they will have a tendency to send the hips behind the feet as the knees bend, as well as bring the upper body forward over the thighs. This is because this is how we normally move throughout our daily tasks. For the purposes of a plié, we are going to move counter to that.

 Pull the belly button towards the spine
Feel the glutes "wrap around" and gently squeeze

 

 

As the knees bend, imagine the back of the pelvis is sliding up and down an imaginary wall.

Knees stay opened out over the tops of the feet.

As you straighten the knees, feel those glutes do that wrap and squeeze.

 

Here's a short tutorial video-

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for watching!

 

Enjoy the dance that is life!

 

~Miss Erin