Does this sound like you?
- When you bend over to pick up your cat, Mr. Whiskers, your hamstrings feel as tight as strung violin strings
- You think to yourself, “I need to stretch more to improve my flexibility! Mr. Whiskers’ happiness depends on it!”
- You stretch, stretch, stretch, and stretch, and stretch a little more
- You watch Mr. Whiskers clean his behind and think to yourself, “Wow, so flexible.”
- Your hamstrings do not feel any better when picking up Mr. Whiskers, even after months of stretching
- You begin to notice more than just your hamstrings feeling stiff and tight
- You think, “Maybe I need to surrender Mr. Whiskers to a shelter.”
Don’t worry, this scenario describes a lot of people, whether they're into cats or not. This describes the owners of Pilates in Common at one point or another before discovering Pilates and the true meaning of flexibility.
Flexibility is not inherently “bad” or “good.” It's simply the ability of a given muscle (or muscle group) to lengthen in contrast to its ability to shorten/contract (which we could call “strength”) in contrast to its natural “resting” state. One quality of flexibility is not mutually exclusive from another. In order for a muscle to stretch well, it must contract well, and it also must relax well. Make sense?
This might mean that you need to stretch your hamstrings in order to pick up Mr. Whiskers with more ease. But, it might also mean that you actually need to strengthen/ contract your hamstrings. Or, to really throw a wrench in here, it might not be your hamstrings at all, but actually your abdominals that need the attention and your hamstrings just happen to be the messenger. Just as one quality of flexibility is not mutually exclusive from another, the flexibility of all of our muscles are not mutually exclusive.
Ideal flexibility (or mobility or range of motion) can only be realized when our muscles have a balanced level of strength, flexibility, and control, and further, are able to lengthen or contract in harmony(balance) with their neighboring muscles.
While it might sound like a LOT of laborious effort is required to achieve this goal, Pilates can get you there efficiently.
Why Pilates?
Perhaps the chief goal of the Pilates method is what Mr. Pilates called “uniform development.” Thus, every exercise in Pilates is designed with uniform development in mind – balanced strength and flexibility – at its core.
Unlike traditional flexibility training methods which often emphasize holding positions at specific joint angles, Pilates addresses uniform development of the whole body. Following Joe’s teachings, Pilates in Common emphasizes compound multi-joint movements (like Double Leg Kick) over single isolated contractions (like hamstring curls) so that deeper stabilizer muscles activate. This results in controlled motion through greater ranges and improved coordination/cooperation of our muscles groups.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, so the saying goes, and we cannot develop contortionist level flexibility in a day either. But the Pilates method is one of the best ways to progressively improve flexibility (for Mr. Whiskers!!) safely and efficiently, without neglecting our overall strength, balance, fitness, and health.
Did we spark your curiosity? Book a session with us so that we can help you learn what might be making you tight and how to address it!
By: Keegan Hafner
Image by: Pavel Laenik
