Pilates

Fascial Lines

September 11, 2018 by Adrianne

You’ve probably heard me talk about the fascial lines or say the name of a line while I’m teaching, such as “lengthening the front line” and “strengthening the back line.” Let’s dive into what these “lines” I speak of actually are. (P.S. if you’re feeling clueless about fascia, no worries, I give you more detail right here).

First of all, it’s important to clear up the use of similar vocabulary. I often say “fascial lines,” however the terms “fascial meridians,” “myofascial lines,” or “meridians of the body,” are also interchangeable for what we are talking about here.

While our facial tissue is the all encompassing “net” within our bodies, there are some specific “lines” of tension that can help us navigate nagging injuries, misalignment, health issues in specific organs or help us utilize the energy transfer for greater power.

Since the body transfers tension along these lines during movement, repetitive habits, exercise or sports may leave you with more tension or shortening along a specific line. I’ve put together a bundle of fascial tissue release techniques that you can grab here to release tension along some of the lines in your body.

There are some amazing humans who study the fascial tissue that have provided us with some consistent “lines” within the body and given them names. My go to researcher is Thomas Myers who wrote the book Anatomy Trains. Below I’ll how you some of the major lines within the body that he depicts, then we’ll talk about how they impact the body:

Superficial Front Fascial Line

Superficial Back Fascial Line

Lateral Fascial Line

Spiral Fascial Line Back View

Spiral Fascial Line Front View

Spiral Fascial Line Side View

Arm Lines

Deep Front Fascial Line

Aren’t the lines so cool!!! I call them “fascia-nating!” 😂Here’s a general break down of how these lines have been used for bodyworkers, their importance for athletes, how they impact postural alignment and why full body movement is so important. Don’t forget to get my fascial bundle so you can see how to address these lines in your own body.

Lines used by acupuncturists and massage therapists.

These meridians and lines have been utilized for years in acupuncture, acupressure & massage therapy. For example, you may show up at your massage therapists with a problem in your left hip and they start massaging your right shoulder… you’re thinking “did you hear me say right shoulder?” .. but before you know it, your left hip is feeling better. These professionals are addressing issues along the same fascial line which, will free up the the tissue at your area of comlaint.

Similarly, your acupuncturist is helping you with a stomach problem and sticking needles into your foot…. what? However, you still find yourself having relief… hmm.

Varying line tension for athletes:

Let’s look at how the lines vary in different sports.

Baseball pitchers are going to utilize lines in the chest and arm that they pitch with, along with the front spiral line on the trunk as they rotate to “follow through.”
Soccer players will utilize the front line of the dominant leg they use to strike with along with the front spiral line the pelvis rotates to follows through with.
Golfers will utilize spiral lines following the trunk rotation in which they continually drive with.

How does this impact human posture?

From the very start of human life, the body develops in “fetal position,” curled up in ball. The front fascial line ends up constricted and the back fascial line lengthened. As we develop, the back line may need more attention to reverse this initial position as our body requires the balance for being upright. For new moms, this is why “tummy time” for babies is so helpful in development.

Always keep in mind, the bones of the body go where the fascia pulls them. Over time, postural deviations happen, especially in athletes when specific lines have repetitive tensioning.

Postural assessments can be particularly helpful for movement professionals and body workers. I give you the low down on my process for that right here. Additionally, I almost always include fascial release techniques using foam rollers and resistance bands to assist the correction process of misalignment in my clients. Grab my fascial bundle here to see a few different ways I address the fascial tissue.

Importance of full body movements.

Fitness professionals encourage multi joint movements that will work the body from one end of the line to the other. This could be the difference between doing a seated leg extension, verses, a lunge with rotation which incorporates the entire body. Yoga and Pilates are fabulous modalities to accomplish full body movements and many instructors will try to hit every major fascial line during class to leave your body feeling great.

We also use fascial tissue release techniques to increase flexibility and find greater ranges of motion to perform athletic endeavors better. Whether you’re a golf pro improving your game or a person who feels stiff just sitting in “indian-style,” addressing the fascial tissue is the way to go.

For the fitness lovers of the world, next time you decide to do the “same old thing” for cardio in the gym, try to switch it up so you don’t wear out the same fascial lines. Dance infused classes will really get the body moving in all directions.

Thanks Researchers!

It’s no secret these lines have been in the human body for as long as we’ve existed, but it’s become more accessible through research, publishing and education and has made a huge impact on the way we train bodies now. I’m full of so much gratitude for the researchers who give us this information so we can intelligently address each body.

How Watching 50 Shades of Grey Took My Yoga Practice to the Next Level

May 19, 2018 by Adrianne

How Watching 50 Shades of Grey Took My Yoga Practice to the Next Level.

Last night, my hubby went to bed early and it was the opportune moment to finally watch a Rom Com.

It’s been years since I read 50 Shades of Grey and saw the movie. There it was, at the top of the DVR menu, begging me to watch it again. So I went ahead and pressed play.

Rather quickly, one particular scene really struck a chord with me.

It was a message that I’ve been told many times, that I often teach, but I still find myself having to work on it.

Christian takes Ana into his “red room of pain” for the first time. In that moment she’s scared shitless while facing away from him. He tells her to hold out her hand and smacks it with a crop.

He asks “Did that hurt?” and she responds with a “No.”

He proceeds with “Most of the fear is in your head.”

My ears perked up. This is a lesson I teach ALL. OF. THE. TIME.

He continues to tell her something along the lines of “Letting go of control leads to pleasure.”

THAT also struck a chord. In the moment that he’s talking about getting freaky-deaky, I’m thinking…this is a lesson that I know well and that I’ve continued to work on.

I’ve been telling myself mantra after mantra on this very same topic for years now:

Let go.
Balance effort with ease.
Just surrender.
A flower doesn’t try to bloom, it just blooms.
Play, have fun – what’s the worst that can happen?

All of these mantras have been provided by great thought leaders and can be summed up to “let go of the control silly human.”

When we let go of the mental chains of control, our body can move freely and be in its most natural state. This is true whether we are having sex* or working on handstands.

Christian encourages Ana to be submissive and completely let go of her control because, in doing so, she will find the highest level of pleasure her body is capable of. If she continues to try to control what is happening, her natural senses will be dulled by mental distraction. For example, she wouldn’t feel the full sensation of the feather he runs along her skin if she isn’t fully present in that moment. In order to get the highest sensations, she has to trust and let go.

If you can image what a feather would feel like along your skin in your most relaxed state, you can probably imagine the climax that would be achieved in such a state… maybe why this book was a bestseller. (Pssst, you can also improve that climax by strengthen your pelvic floor, click here to read up ladies).

The similar concept in body movement is called “flow state” by sports physiologists and “movement meditation” by the yogis. Whatever you want to call it, if the athlete is trying so hard to control a situation or way they move their body, the natural state of the body will be restricted.

If we observe our own bodies close enough, we can read our body language to understand what our brain is doing. For example, while I’m practicing yoga, I’ll catch myself clenching my jaw 85% of the time. This body language is an indicator that my brain is trying really hard to control the situation. I’ll also sometimes feel like cannot fully relax a muscle in savasanna, another indicator of my mind not fully letting go.

As it turns out, like Christian was suggesting, I’m limiting my body’s capabilities by trying to have some level of control.

We already know that our flexibility is contingent on our fascial issue. If you haven’t heard about fascial tissue, you can brush up on it here. A large degree of our flexibility is tied into the mind. The fascial tissue has ten times more sensory nerve endings than muscles. Therefore, If the mind is worried, stressed or trying too hard, it appears in the body. I see this all the time in my own clients.

This was confirmed at the last conference I attended. A study was done by evaluating the differences between one group that did only stretching and one that did only meditation for a period of time. It turns out the meditation group was more flexible in the end.

With these “letting go of control” connections swirling in my head… and Christian getting busy on my TV… I started to re-evaluate my yoga practice.

I think back to last month when I was forward folding over one leg and the yoga instructor gave me a beautiful assist. While my nose is usually about a foot from my knee, she somehow folded me almost in half. So why does my body not usually find itself there, but it does when she assists me? Could I actually go there if I let go and trust that I can?

Then, I remember another yoga class I was in last week when a student asked the teacher for any tips to “jump” from down dog into crow pose. I was super stoked to hear what she had to say because I love a great teacher tip. The teacher’s response: your mind.

Most people would think, what the f* kind of a cop-out answer is that, give me a real tip lady. But I happen to know this teacher has been in the game for a loooong time. She’s kind of a big deal Pilates instructor and an insane yogi. She knew the student was strong enough to “float” her feet to her hands. Therefore, she knew the only thing limiting the student was the fear. The mind creating the fear. The same thing Christian says in the movie.

While the movie kept running, my mind was off on this tangent of how I must be holding some kind of control subconsciously in my mind while I’m practicing. I start thinking that maybe I need to trust my body more, let go of any fear and control I may be trying to have over my body and just let it flow.

Let’s fast forward to my practice this morning. While the teacher cues us to set our intention for the day, all I can think about is 50 Shades of Grey and the scene where he tells her to let go of control.

While I usually choose one of the kinder mantras for an intention, I instead said to myself, “Ok Adrianne, stop being a control freak!”

How’s that for a mantra? Doesn’t roll off the tongue as sweetly as the others but, guess what, it worked!

In class I hit about eight out of ten handstands in my flow without using the wall for assist. I also found myself kissing my knees in my forward fold. Yes, that’s right, I practically folded in half without the assist.

I mentioned before, my forward fold was less than impressive. Up until today, the handstands I’ve been working on for what seems like forever have always required at least a toe on the wall to make it happen. Not only did I find success but found it about eight times!

Every time I felt my jaw clench or my muscles overly tighten, I reminded myself of my mantra, Stop being a control freak. Stop trying to control this practice, let go and see what happens.

My body demonstrated the lessons I’ve heard over and over right before my eyes. Such as, “a flower doesn’t try to bloom, it just blooms.” Demanding that a flower control when it blooms is ridiculous and unnatural. Additionally, that a rigid mind results in rigid fascial tissue, thus limited mobility.

Isn’t it funny how an intention can be a game changer? Who would have thought 50 Shades would get me to another level in yoga? After years of handstanding and forward folding, then poof- there it is.

While the seeds are continuously planted, sometimes we just hit the perfect moment to truly experience the blossom. Or in this case, we let go to experience the blossom.

Probably in Ana’s case as well 😉

*Sex that is ALWAYS encompassed with consent of both partners, trust, safety, and respect of each other’s boundaries.

**While this film has been surrounded by debate, I’m sharing how it unlocked a “lesson” in my yoga journey and not any personal opinion on the nature of the film.

Activate Your Feet to Improve Your Entire Practice

November 21, 2017 by Adrianne

Everything starts with the feet. Therefore, it makes sense that if we activate our feet, we will improve our entire practice.

Whenever we are standing, ready to perform an exercise, our feet are actively laying our foundation. Surprisingly, a lot of awareness can and should be brought to our feet when they are on the mat.

The Foot “Ah-ha Moment”

While doing postural assessments on students for years on end, it became very apparent to me that issues with the feet turn into issues higher up the chain. For example, knee and hip problems may originate from an improper gait.

However, I was mind-blown when I learned in yoga teacher training how to activate my feet on the mat and how BIG of a difference it made in my ENTIRE practice.

Suddenly, I felt ALL of my 4 strips of quadricep muscles firing in my warrior poses.
I had a better connection with my pelvic floor and deep core in by full body movements.
I felt more “grounded” into my mat than ever before.

Since foundations like this fall through the cracks when students jump right into a group class, I created this free foundation course, so you can brush up on all of tricks like this to take your practice to the next level.

How to Activate your Feet

When you pick your foot up and look at the bottom of it, visualize an “X” right drawn across the main part of the foot (not including your little piggies). Here is an image to help you see the placement of the “X.”

1) Press down with 4 corners of the “X.”

While performing standing exercises activate your feet by placing all 4 corners of the “X” firmly on the mat.

Avoid loosing the placement of the “X” even if you are in a wide, standing pose. For example, in a Warrior II, it is common for the pinky-toe side, of the back foot, to begin to lift off the mat. Instead, think about placing all 4 edges of the “X” of that back foot down on the mat with intention.

2) Press into the Length of the spread out toes.

Activate your feet by pressing into the length of your toes. Always spread the toes out really wide (one day hoping to see the color of the mat in between each toe.) After they’re as wide as you can make them, press into the length of the toes.

You can image that you have a piece of paper under your toes and someone is trying to slide the paper away from you, but your toes are pressing with all of their length to hold the paper still.

3) Activate the center of the “X.”

Activate your feet by lifting your “X.” Lift the “X” by visualizing the center point of the “X” (where the 2 lines cross over) as a suction cup pulling upwards into the foot.

You can imagine that the foot were going to draw your mat right up into your foot at the center of the “X,” which ends up being right around the center of the arch of the foot.

Continue to press into the length of the toes (discussed in #2 above) to aid in the activation of the “X.”

If you try this in a traditional standing position on your mat (mountain pose), you will notice an activation of the muscles on the bottom of the feet and a feeling of creating a higher arch (without supinating, which is rolling the feet towards the pinky-toe side of the foot). After the feet activate, the muscles around the ankles and lower leg begin to engage as well.

With continued practice, the adductor muscles (inner thighs), pelvic floor and transversus abdominis will also “activate” with this connection.

Try it in your practice.

Give this foot activation a try during your next practice and observe the different muscle activations you feel. Notice the organic energy you can feel inside the body within each pose you perform and the deeper full body connection.

Let me know in the comments how it feels for you!

VMO Strength and the BEST Exercises to Light it Up!

October 11, 2017 by Adrianne

VMO strength is your secret weapon for strong knees! VMO strength will ensure proper patellar (knee cap) alignment and knee tracking while your leg is extending (straightening out).

A strong VMO becomes even more important for women due to our naturally wider hips, which creates a wider Q angle.

Q Angle for Women

The femur (thigh bone) starts at the hip joint and goes down towards the knees. When the femur meets the lower leg bones to create the knee joint, it creates what we call a “Q angle.”

With the femur going into the knee from a wider point (wider hips), the Q angle becomes larger. The bigger the Q angle, the greater the risk for mal-tracking in knee joint.

You can think of a strong VMO helping in two major ways:

The VMO sits right above the inside of the knee, so you can almost think of the VMO as a stopper for the diagonal line at which the femur some down to the knee joint.
When the quadriceps (“vasti”) fire they should pull up on the knee cap evenly. A strong VMO will insure even pull on the medial side (inside) of the knee cap. Which is what most of us need these days with such tight IT bands on the lateral side (outside) of the knee cap!

What is the VMO?

The VMO stands for the Vastus Medialis Oblique. The Vastus Medialis is one of our Quadriceps muscles (the thick muscle on the front of the thigh). We learned about the hamstrings being 3 different muscles, here. The quadriceps are actually called “quad-” because they are made up of four muscles. Here is an image below.

*Note: the vastus intermedius shown on the other thigh in the image below because it is underneath the three muscles shown on the opposite thigh.

The vastus medialis is the most medial muscle of the four. The muscle goes down towards the knee and the muscle fibers start to get a little bit more diagonal, where we refer to the muscle as the oblique part. (Same reason your abdominal obliques are called “obliques,” because they are diagonal fibers.)

The BEST Exercises to Strengthen Your VMO

Through all my years of body movement, nothing has fired up the VMO quite as well as the Pilates Reformer. In the video below I demonstrate 4 footwork variations that will light up your VMO 🙂

Remember, to do ANY Pilates exercise correctly, the foundations MUST be applied to every. single. exercise. Here’s my free foundations course if you need to get up to speed.

After adding these exercises into your workout regularly, observe your VMO during other lower body exercises. You’ll want to be sure it is firing up during your classic footwork, lunges, squats, etc. to be sure you have stellar patellar tracking 😉

How to Strengthen Your Multifidus

September 28, 2017 by Adrianne

The multi…whhhat? Yes, you have a muscle called the multifidus, and I’m going to teach you how to strengthen it!

About the Multifidus

The multifidus is technically a bunch of tiny muscles that create one, long, ribbon-like strip down each side of the spine. The entire length is considered the multifidus. When we are referring to one strip, on one side, it is sometimes called the “multifidi.”

Here is a back view of the multifidus for a better visual understanding:

When it comes to properties of the multifidus, you’ll notice similarities among the transversus abdominis and the pelvic floor. (That’s because they are all our deep core muscles, which you can learn all about in my free foundations course, here.)

The multifidus gets stronger with lighter loads.
The multifidus likes to fire up on the exhale.
Multifidus should be able to engage with a mind-body connection first…
Then strengthen with low loads after there is a good mental connection.
Integrate into your full body movements.

The Job of the Multifidus

The multifidus is a big player when it comes to stabilizing the spine, pelvis and helping support the SI Joint. The multifidus should come into play when there is a unilateral load applied to the body.

How to Fire the Multifidus:

The mutifidus is challenging to mind-body connect with at first. Practice with patience until you have the hang of feeling the multifidus fire.

Do these exercises below to learn how to mind-body connect with the lower back multifidus muscles. While performing them, place your hands on the multifidus muscle to feel the activation.

In the picture below, the pink squares indicate where to place your fingers in order to feel the engagement. The yellow line indicates the line across the back to help you determine where on the lower back to place the hands. The yellow line is simple the line from the top of one hip bone to the other. To find it, poke into the sides of your lower trunk to feel where the tops of your hip bones end, that is where the yellow line is displayed across the back. You can then place your hands on each side of your spine, on that line or just above, as shown in the picture. By placing your fingers in just that spot, you’ll be able to feel the activation under your finger tips when you fire the multifidus.

With your fingers at your lower back, lay on your back, with your knees bent, feet hip width apart.

Image that you are going to draw the two back edges of the hip bones together, on the exhale, while feeling to see if the muscle fires up. (See the teal arrows in the image above that demonstrate this imagery). Engage for 3 seconds then release. Repeat about 8 times.
In order to isolate from left to right, imagine that you are drawing your left femur deep into the left hip socket, on the exhale. (This will fire the left Multifidus: repeat on the right). Engage for 3 seconds then release. Repeat about 8 times on each side.

For both of these firing techniques, be sure to keep the pelvis neutral and avoid clenching the glute or hip flexor muscles.

Start to Strengthen:

Once you can “fire” your multifidus with a mind-body connection, begin to add light resistance to the muscle. Continue to place your fingers on the lower back to feel the multifidus firing during these movements.

Laying on your back, with knees bent, begin to let the left knee fall to the floor then return. Repeat 8 times with each leg.
The same exercise above can be done laying on your side (this is called “clams’). Lay on your side with the knees bent, begin to lift the top knee towards the ceiling, keeping your ankles together. Repeat 8 times with each leg.
Lay on your back, with the knees bent, begin to slide one leg straight out away from you on the floor. If you’re getting an engagement there, you can make it more challenging by lifting the heel off of the floor. Repeat 8 times with each leg.

Integrate the Multifidus

Once you have followed the steps above: the multifidus is able to fire with the mind-body connection & you have worked on strengthening the multifidus with the exercises above. You can then be mindful about the multifidus firing when you are doing your full body movements.

3 Eccentric Hamstring Exercises

September 20, 2017 by Adrianne

One my of favorite things about the Pilates reformer, is that it constantly requires the body to do a variety of unique, eccentric engagements. In this post, I’ll be demonstrating 3 easy, eccentric hamstring exercises that you can do on the reformer to soak up all of the benefits!

What are some of these amazing benefits of eccentric hamstring strength, you ask?

Prevention of ACL tears.
Reduced hamstring tendon injuries.
Increased flexibility.
Stronger connective tissue.
Bigger strength gains with less energy output.

Eccentric Strengthening

Eccentric strengthening is when you apply resistance to a muscle while it is lengthening. Simply put, you can think of the eccentric phase as “putting on the brakes.”

When you’re driving in your car and you need to stop at the bottom of a steep hill, you’d like some good breaks, right? Same with your muscles. When you need to call upon your eccentric strength, in a quick second, to put on the breaks, it’s best if you’re strong. If not, injuries occur.

When Eccentric Strengthening Occurs

There are 3 major types of muscular engagements that happen when we are exercising: concentric, eccentric & isometric. As a quick overview you can relate these three engagements to a simple biceps curl (Popeye’s move).

Concentric is when the dumbbell is coming towards you, in the upward phase, and the elbow is bending.
Eccentric is when the dumbbell is moving away from you, in the downward phase, and the elbow is extending to a straight arm again.
Isometric would be similar to holding the dumbbell still while the elbow is at a bend and no movement is happening. (Being sure to breathe the entire time in order to level out your intra-abdominal pressure during ANY isometric exercise!)

Here’s the Science

While we can physically see the movement in the elbow, there is a lot going on at the microscopic level of the muscle fibers. The very smallest section of muscle fibers is what we call a sarcomere.

The sarcomere is a tiny section of muscle where we have some important strands of “worker bees:” myosin & actin. The myosin & actin electrically connect to one another, pulling along to create a sliding motion until the strands have moved over each other. The connection is called cross bridging and the sliding is called the “sliding filament theory.”

When each sarcomere is concentrically contracting, the myosin & actin are sliding over each other so that each edge of the sarcomere ends up closer together (shortened). When the sarcomere is done concentrically contracting, it needs to lengthen back out again. When the sarcomere is lengthening back out and resistance is applied here, eccentric work is happening.

Why Hamstrings?

I chose to show you how to eccentrically strengthen the hamstrings because they are such big muscles in the body and can prevent some serious injuries if they are eccentrically strong.

Quite often in our workouts, the quadriceps, the muscle group on the front of the thighs, get a lot more of the strength development than the hamstrings. However, it’s important to keep it even 😉

Here’s an image to help you visually see all that is entailed when we simply say, “hamstrings.”

Hamstrings = 3 per Leg

The hamstrings are located on the back of the thigh. The picture above is depicting a back & side view of the right hamstring.

When we say “hamstrings” we are actually referring to a grouping of 3 separate muscles on the back of one thigh: the semimenbranosus, semitendinosus & biceps femoris. All three muscles help to flex the knee (bend the knee); however, they each provide a little something extra:

Semimembranosus: Helps with hip extension, knee flexion and internal rotation of the knee joint and even helps with stabilization of the pelvis. As you can see in the picture, it inserts into the medial side of the knee.
Semitendinosus: Does almost identical movements as the semimembranosus mentioned above: hip extension, knee flexion and internal rotation of the knee joint and even helps with stabilization of the pelvis. The insertion and origins on the boney structures differ slightly for the semimembranosus & semitendinosus, but they are relatively close.
Biceps Femoris: Having two heads, this muscle can almost be considered 2 in 1. There is the long head and the short head of the biceps femoris. The long and short head of this muscle originate in different areas, with the long head inserting up at the ischial tuberosity near the 2 “semis” mentioned above and the short head originating way lower on the back of the femur. The side view above is a great place to see the short head of the biceps femoris. Unlike the two big hamstring muscles, the biceps femoris aids in lateral rotation of the knee along with flexing the knee. You can see from the back image that the muscle inserts to the lateral side of the knee.

3 Eccentric Hamstring Engagements on the Pilates Reformer

Now that you have a deeper understanding on both eccentric engagement and the anatomy of the hamstrings, you can try out the 3 easy reformer exercises in the video below!

To perform the exercises correctly be sure you’re applying all of the foundations.

Notice the medial and lateral rotations in the video really help with isolating the different “strips” of hamstring muscle with their specific actions. You’ll also get that feeling of “putting on the breaks” while you are performing these exercises.

Enjoy & comment below to let me know what you think of the exercises and the info on this post! If you haven’t signed up for my free foundations course, you can click here to get the first lesson in your inbox today!

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