This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Using the Elliptical Trainer, is published on this website in a PDF format. It is very detailed and practical, and it will give you the physical tools you need to take the limits off of your ability to create an effortless elliptical technique.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
WHEN YOU DO AN ACTIVITY LIKE PLAY A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, WALK, PLAY GOLF, OR LIFT WEIGHTS, IT IS THE MUSCULATURE THAT IS NOT LENGTHENING OR SHORTENING THAT IS CREATING SUPPORT FOR ALL OF THE MUSCULATURE THAT IS IN MOTION. THE MUSCULATURE THAT IS NOT SHORTENING OR LENGTHENING IN THE ACTIVITY IS CRITICAL TO GREAT POSTURE TO ALLOW FOR GREAT TECHNIQUE.
A few days ago I was working out in the gym. I was weightlifting. There was a guy using a Smith Machine, which is a bar with weights on it mounted on vertical rods on both ends, so that the user simply moves the bar up and down without concern for keeping the bar and weights aligned in place. He was on his knees, folded at his hips. He then unfolded moving the bar upwards.
It was an unusual movement. When I see an unusual exercise or any repeated activity, I analyze which musculature is primary in moving in the movement. In this exercise, it was the hamstrings, the back of the upper legs that were shortening as he unfolded and moved upwards. When he descended it was the quadriceps, the musculature of the thighs that were lowering him.
He had a personal trainer training him and I talked to the trainer about this exercise, and we agreed on the musculature being used. I also mentioned that there was an exercise machine that is considered a back exercise by most, that I thought most users misunderstood. You sit on a seat folded at the hips. There is a pad up against your upper back, which is weighted, so you can make it heavier or lighter. You unfold at your hips pushing the weight backwards with your back.
I said to the personal trainer that this was primarily a hamstring exercise, because the hamstrings were shortening, when you pushed the bar back, and lengthening when you folded forwards.
She disagreed with me and said it was primarily a back and abdominal exercise. I told her I was an Alexander Technique teacher. She didn’t know what that was and reiterated she was a personal trainer, which put an end to the validity of what I was saying. I stopped talking and went about my exercise routine. (For the record, a certified Alexander Technique goes through 3 years of training, at least 1,600 hours towards being certified. A certified personal trainer does a 10 or 20 hour weekend workshop. I’m also a certified trainer.)
I was really bothered/motivated by our conversation, and I wanted to know why. There was one reason I was bothered. She assumed that I didn’t know what I was talking about, which never feels good. What motivated me is she got me thinking/questioning how I perceive the body in an activity.
I REALIZED THAT TO THE AVERAGE PERSON THE MUSCULATURE MAKING THE MOST NOISE ARE THE MUSCLES THAT ARE EXPERIENCED AS DOING THE MOST IN AN ACTIVITY. What do I mean?
When someone does the back machine, they tighten the abdominals and back musculature to meet the load of moving the weight, but don’t experience the hamstrings shortening or lengthening to push or release the bar behind the back. Why is this?
The main reason is EXCESS TENSION. This means the person exercising tenses the abdominals and back as rigidly as he or she can for support to push the weight. So, because the stabilizing musculature that neither shortens or lengthens during the exercise is making so much noise from being rigidly tense and is being focused on, the musculature actually moving the weight isn’t experienced.
NO MATTER WHAT THE ACTIVITY IS, FROM THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE PERSPECTIVE, THE WHOLE BODY IS INVOLVED – FROM WEIGHTLIFTING, TO PLAYING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, TO PLAYING GOLF. IF CERTAIN PARTS OF THE MUSCULATURE ARE NOT USED IN THE ACTIVITY TO CREATE MOBILE SUPPORT AND POSTURE, WHILE THE OTHER MUSCULATURE IS LENGTHENING AND SHORTENING, THEN YOU ARE PROBABLY DOING WHAT YOU’RE DOING WITH REALLY POOR POSTURE. This means you are hunkering down, shortening the spine with rigid support.
What do I mean by “mobile” support? A very basic Alexander Technique principle is that the whole body is always in motion, visible or not, and that the supportive musculature in an activity is not immobilized, not rigid.
This is where the Alexander Technique is so extraordinarily unique in activities. We treat the musculature that is not lengthening or shortening, as muscles that support the body with lengthening mobile balance, giving the musculature in motion the freedom to do what it is doing with ease.
An example is a standing performing violinist. An Alexander Technique teacher would teach the violinist how to use the least amount of tension in the stabilizing musculature to be fully upright in great posture with internal movement, freeing the arms to be in constant motion playing the instrument.
THIS MEANS THAT THE VIOLINIST IS TAUGHT HOW TO BE AWARE OF WHAT THE WHOLE BODY IS DOING, WITHOUT CREATING EXCESSIVE TENSION IN THE LEGS, OR IN THE RIGHT ARM AS IT MOVES THE BOW.
If I return to the opening of this essay, what bothered me most of about my conversation with the personal trainer was how we experienced the body in activity as polar opposites. As an Alexander Teacher I am taught to be keenly aware of the whole body musculature in any activity, and to distinguish between which musculature is supportive (without being locked down), and which musculature is the primary mover in the activity. Alexander Technique teachers teach the student how to do any activity with minimal tension, great posture, great technique, internal movement, and coordination.
