A Response to Michael Boyle & Ryan Lee

I am impressed with the personal training work of Ryan Lee and Michael Boyle. Here I respond to an article in the new Ryan Lee newsletter... [My responses are in brackets.]

This was originally published at Mike Boyle's site.

“I personal train a couple of pilates instructors. It's a great learning experience for all of us. One of the discoveries that I found with the pilates instructors that I work with is that they have over activated abdominals and hip flexors and under activated glutes and hamstrings.

[That is typical of Pilates teachers who do not understand body balance and strength training principles. Pilates itself is full of exercises involving Russian squats and single leg squats while standing and sometimes on a sliding reformer carriage with resistance from springs.]

I'd bet that very few pure pilates/yoga people could do a good single leg squat or dead lift. They just don't get the hip stability work on a machine or lying on the floor. It's also pretty tuff to realistically activate your extensor chain while on your back.

[Again, Pilates does not need to be about flexion and supine. Lots of exercises in extension, rotation, standing, sitting, kneeling, prone. This imbalance in training is an issue with the teacher, not the method.]

I feel like the commercialization of pilates as well as yoga for that matter has narrowed their minds. They’re trying so hard to differentiate themselves and sell it as a strictly pilates/yoga package that they leave out many other important movement variables like speed, power, agility, etc. I think over all it's a great complement to any training program you do. It's just too stationary for my taste.

[Most of my clients cross train, but many choose to stick only with Pilates. For those clients we do more with weights (including body weight). The PhysicalMind Institute developed Standing Pilates mat to address balance issues, back stability, and extension. Again, Pilates can offer as much as the teacher is prepared to deliver. I have a client now who is retired and plays rugby and golf several times a week. His issue was hamstring strain as a result of underactivated glutes and extensors. Within 5 specific mat classes (I do not do only flexion) his strains stopped as he was using his glutes!]

“I was training another pilates person today. We we're doing isometric back extensions on the ball while I was holding her legs. My points of concentration to her were hold your body straight with your butt and hams completely contracted. Then hold your back in a neutral position. When she got up I asked her where she felt the tension and which muscles were working. She told me that she felt her hamstrings, butt, and quite a bit in the abs. I replied, Really! The abdominal contraction thing had been taught so much that it was actually interfering with normal abdominal stabilization.

[I teach this ball exercise in my classes. Remember that Pilates people are trained to tune in to our abs working as both movers and stabilizers, in all types of contractions. Could it be that she felt the abs bracing to stabilize her torso? Remember that the abs are three dimensional and wrap around the torso. They are not simply responsible for forward flexion.]

Could you imagine a sprinter running while flexing his abs like a body builder. I wonder how many people are so in to their pilates gimmicks that they start interfering with functional muscle contraction patterns. Talk about not being able to see the trees because the forest is in the way.”

[I could say the same about your comments here.]

Tags: news, pilates, ryan lee, michael boyle, lynda lippin