All for one and one for all!Pilates class today was OMG so different! And not in a bad way, either. The man brandishing the green mat is Sabatino, our sub today (Kim had to be elsewhere), and he is the head of a dance troupe.
He really had us focus on careful form and counted a lot of things off in eight-counts the way dancers do. He also didn't hesitate to lay hands on us to correct our position. Since there were only three of us there today, we got lots of individual attention.
Sabatino also knows a lot about anatomy and mentioned some very useful things to think about--like that the body has five curves (neck, lower back, back of the knee, heel, and arch of the foot) and five opposing surfaces that must lengthen every time one of the curves contracts: the throat (and sternum to some degree), the abdomen/core, the front of the knee, the shin, and the top of the foot.
Also, he kept telling all of us to have a "long neck." By keeping your neck tall, you hold your head up straight instead of dipping it forward, which in turn makes your shoulders and sternum crumble inward. So a tall neck means an assertive, open stance and a better-aligned spine. He actually stuck his fingers behind my ears and applied some upward pressure so I'd feel what he meant.
I also finally learned the name for the muscles on the inside of my thighs that are still a little sore after Saturday's race. They are called the sartorius muscles. Sabatino showed me some stretches to try to loosen them up a bit.
At the end of the class, he had each of us walk around the room a few times, and then walk away toward a wall and then back up toward him and our classmates. I went first, so I was the guinea pig. He and the other ladies watched my gait and noted what they were observing. I was told I had a nice arm swing and good rhythm between my arms and legs, but that my right foot winged out more when I walked backward, indicating my right hip is probably stronger than the other one. He also said my clavicle wasn't perfectly level and that my right shoulder seemed lower than my left one. Clearly, he said, I was carrying some tension in the right side of my neck and shoulder. I spent the day mouse-clicking the heck out of a PowerPoint file I was working on (with my right hand), so it was no wonder that side was tense! I was quite impressed that he was able to observe so much. When it was my turn to observe the other two ladies, Sabatino pointed out a bunch of interesting things about them, too.
I like Kim a lot, but Sabatino was really interesting. I'm glad I got to experience his particular brand of Pilates today.
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