From Cat stretch to Chicken wings to Chest Expansion
From Cat stretch to Chicken wings to Chest Expansion
There is a slightly tongue-in-cheek idea behind this enquiry: all Pilates is Cat stretch in one way or another. It is a reductionist heuristic, rather than a literal description of every movement. The useful question is what that familiar movement helps us notice when the position, connection or instruction changes.
Start with a reference
Cat stretch allows us to see the person’s spine move in a context where the load is nominal and the surrounding joints, shoulders and hips, are in a comfortable mid-range position. It gives us a reference before we add load to the movement.
WATCH: Cat stretch before adding load - the existing 53-second teaching extract.
Watch Cat stretch before adding load
Change the connection
In Chicken wings, the hands are behind the head, with the fingers interlaced and the webbing of the hands connected. As the elbows close, we look down; as the elbows open, we look up.
What we have changed is the connection: the upper body is no longer fixed through the hands supporting it. Here, I describe that as opening the kinetic chains. The relationship to Cat stretch is useful, but the changed connection is part of the enquiry. It is not a claim that both movements have identical demands.
People can interpret the same instruction in different ways. In the opening movement described here, some attempt to put their forehead on their knees; others drop their chin towards their chest. At this stage of the group-class example, the task is to establish the basic movement before expanding the explanation and refinements. That starting point does not settle every later teaching decision.
Follow the relationship through the movement
The thing that makes Chicken wings relate to the original Pilates repertoire is what it makes the shoulder blades do. As I put it in the existing teaching extract, we are, “in a sense”, practising the skill and developing the range of motion at the shoulder, integrated with the spine, for other bigger backbends.
When we go to a high-kneeling Chicken wing, we are adding the hip to the spine and shoulder. The enquiry becomes how the parts contribute together, rather than looking at only one section of the movement.
WATCH: Chicken wings - shoulders, spine and hips - the existing 92-second teaching extract. I also explain in the recording that my back does not bend in extension very well.
Watch Chicken wings — shoulders, spine and hips
Now ask what counts as success
The connection to Chest Expansion is where the choice of instruction becomes particularly interesting. In this instance, I am teaching with a specific movement sequence, and it has a specific rationale. That is different from the way I would normally present things, where the actual sequencing should not matter too much.
So why is that, right?
If we say that the constraint or success condition of Chest Expansion is to press the straps back as far as possible, people will find a way to make the straps travel. In my example, if I protract my shoulders and even flex my upper back, I can get the straps to travel further back in space.
My hands would finish further behind my hips. But I have not actually changed my shoulder and spine in the way that the movement would seem to be organised around.
That is why the sequence matters here. The cue I set out is:
Shoulders back, big chest, press the straps, hips forward.
The shoulder and chest movement is something we have already been investigating through Chicken wings. It becomes a skill we can refer back to when the hands are in the straps. The choice of order has a reason in this example; it is not a new universal rule that the shoulders must always move first.
Take the question into your teaching
Choose a familiar movement you already teach. What does your instruction ask the person to achieve? What would you look for to decide whether that is what happened? Could the visible result be achieved in another way?
Those are questions for observation, not a demand to add a new spring setting, a particular amount of movement or another exercise. Cat stretch, Chicken wings and Chest Expansion give this enquiry a concrete place to begin.
Continue the enquiry
The next HLP Project is Cat stretch and Chicken wings - the secret to teaching backbends in group Reformer. It starts Monday 9 November. Opening lectures are listed for 9 November at 19:00 GMT and 11 November at 08:00 GMT; Q&A is on Tuesdays at 19:00 GMT during the cycle.
Projects is ÂŁ65 per month, with a one-month, one-payment-cycle minimum and automatic monthly renewal. It is for qualified Pilates instructors and instructors in training; no previous HLP training is required. Practitioner-only sessions are separate. Existing Projects subscribers do not need to join again.
