One at a time

In Pilates, we learn that we can only do so many things at once.  This applies in lots of ways, but the way I’m thinking about right now is about how our spines move.

Our spines move, roughly, along three axes.  We can flex and extend our spines (bending forward and back).  We can side bend left and right.  We can twist.

 

The interesting thing is that we have the greatest range of motion along any of those axes when we are only moving one way.  That is, we can bend forward and back more when we’re not also trying to side bend or twist, or we can twist more when we’re not also bending to the side, etc.

 

So if we are trying to increase our ability to move in a particular direction, we will do best if we work on just that one thing at a time.  We can add the other fancy stuff later, when we’ve achieved our range of motion goals.