Previously, I addressed a client question regarding the "tuck", or posterior pelvic tilt position, outside of exercise sessions.  Click HERE to read Part 1:  "Is It Possible To Tuck Too Much?".

More on pelvic tilts and tucks

The backward, or posterior, pelvic tilt referred to by my client in Part 1 is an exercise position common to several rehabilitative-type workouts.  This position is meant to counter an exaggerated anterior pelvic tilt, where the top of the pelvis tilts forward.

Anterior pelvic tilt, or specifically the top of the pelvis tipping forward, is actually a quite normal postural position. The problem is an excessive anterior pelvic tilt.  Rehabilitative exercise works to counter the excessive tilt with consciously tilting the pelvis in the opposite direction.

Excessive anterior pelvic tilt can contribute mightily to postural dysfunction. It can set a chain of discomfort events into motion: with the deepening anterior tilt, the thigh bones rotate inward, placing increased stress on the inner knee.

This inward rotation of the thigh bone, results in increased weight bearing on the inside of the foot, which puts extra stress and strain on the muscles that roll the inside of the foot down and turn the outside of the foot out. Think fallen arches, and you’ve got the idea.  By the way, this problem can also start with the foot and work its way up to a pelvic tilt.

But the problems with excessive anterior tilt don’t stop there.  They have a way of working their way all the way up the rest of our posture. When the pelvis tips too far forward, the arch in the lower back increases. As goes the low back, so goes the neck.  So the next place for this postural dysfunction to show up is at the neck, resulting in what is called “forward head”.

The prescriptive posterior pelvic tilt

This explains the driving factor behind practicing a posterior pelvic tilt during exercise.  Actually, it takes a combination of strategies to correct the problems of the excessive anterior pelvic tilt, to be addressed in another article.

The point here is that though excessive anterior pelvic tilt is a problem that needs to be dealt with specifically to create good posture, overdoing a posterior tuck and countering the natural curves in the back can create problems of its own.

Watch for Part 3 of "Tuck" and Pelvic Tilt Talk:  6 Strategies For Correcting Excessive Anterior Pelvic Tilt

© Lani Muelrath, M.A. 2010 All Rights Reserved

Recently, the following question was presented to me by a client regarding implementation of the "tuck" position outside of exercise sessions.  As a topic that has needed addressing, no time like the present.

Q.  Lani, today I'm having a soreness in my lower back that I usually don't have. I've been trying to really connect with "curling my core and keeping but" tucked during the day….not just when I exercise. I just started noticing this today….Today while doing my workout, on the curl up with hands on knees it really hurt. Any thoughts? Thanks a bunch.

My reply: If I understand you correctly, the "curling the core" is a reference to the pulling of the front of the torso in, while pressing the low and middle part of the back in the direction of the space behind you. And the tuck means the backward tilt of the pelvis that comes with a tuck of the tail.

In my practice, I teach that while these positions and exercises are important for correcting muscle imbalance, these are exercises not to be duplicated with intensity all day long. You should NOT be taking the deep tuck into all walking and standing movements. Rather, pull in the abdominal wall (as in 7 Seconds to a Flat Belly) which facilitates muscle balance through the waist, hip, and low back area, and provides a slight corrective direction to the tilt of the pelvis. It stabilizes the area and activates many of the core muscles in a functional, fluid manner. Save the deep tuck stuff for your training workouts.

Likewise, the pressing to flat the back, meant to counter an exaggerated curve in the back, should not be fought for all day long. We have a natural curve in the lumbar area of the back (see image, left) and we should not be maneuvering to get rid of it.  The natural curves in the spine are designed to effectively cushion and distribute impact as well as facilitate functional movement.  By no means should we be trying to eradicate them with excessive exercise.

Too much prolonged tuck and pressing the low back place a stress on the lumbar area and overwork the muscles at the top of the hip in back. This resulted in the soreness that you are experiencing. Some good training moves, but not meant to be sustained 24/7. Physical therapy is for building strength and countering imbalances, but not always for intense movement all day long.

I know that there are those who will disagree with me on this one, and who suggest that you should be implementing this movement intensely all day long to counter effects of gravity. I say no, because of just what happened to you.

Do the work during workouts. Combine it with strengthening the muscles through the middle and upper back, hips, abdominals and backs of the legs. Let it train you to walk erect , with stronger back muscles, stronger glutes and abs, and shoulders rolled back into open chest position. Then let the awareness of functional posture and strength of muscles gained during workouts carry you forward into beautiful movement.

You want to dance and flow through life, for heaven's sake -not be crimped and tucked!

Go to Part 2 of 5:  More Pelvic Tilt Talk:  Anterior Pelvic Tilt

© Lani Muelrath, M.A. 2010 All Rights Reserved

Chronic inflammation spells bad news for our health, plain and simple.

And though inflammation is a natural and necessary way that the body stimulates healing,  when inflammation becomes continuous and chronic, it becomes damaging.  The most common causes of inflammation in the body are physical inactivity and diet.

And until recently, high-intensity exercise has been considered a factor in inflammation as well.

However, new information tells us we've only been seeing a part of the picture.  This is good news!

Microscopic view of cell inflammation

Exercise scores again:  a new look at the evidence

For some time, high intensity exercise has been seen as a source of inflammation to the body.  By high intensity, we're talking something that pushes the muscle to perform and makes you reach deep to build new muscle:  interval training, intense resistance training, long distance running.

The kind of training that you know from the burn you feel in the muscle that the muscle is breaking down a little bit.

Yes, this natural response is inflammation at the muscle as the body scrambles to repair and build new muscle (see Taking the mystery out of how muscles are made).

However, that's just a piece of the puzzle.

This "pro-inflammatory" view has also been adopted also due to the detection of  the release in the body of myokines, a type of cytokine, as a response to muscle contraction.  And cytokines are seen as pro-inflammatory markers.  One cytokine that has been correlated with high intensity muscle demand is one known as IL-6.

But hang on a minute. This IL-6 release in response to intense exercise is evidently not the whole story.

Though the release of cytokines as been lumped together as pro-inflammatory when detected in the system, evidently it makes a difference what the cause of the cytokines release happens to be.

Are you still with me here?  Let's take a closer look.

Whenever we move, our bodies release signaling molecules that communicate to the rest of the body.  Muscle, like fat, has been proven to have endocrine properties. When it comes to muscle, myokines are released in response to voluntary contraction of the muscle.

These myokines give instructions to the body about how to function, and they hold the key to controlling chronic inflammation. The most important myokine related to muscle and inflammation is Interleukin-6 (IL-6). When muscle contracts, IL-6 is released. (4)

The myokine IL-6 has previously been linked with a pro-inflammatory response in the body.  It was thus concluded that intense muscle workload, stimulating the release of IL-6, was inflammation inducing.

But as it turns out, intense exercise is good anti-inflammatory medicine. What we're finding out is that when IL-6 is released during intense muscle workload, it is unique in that as part of this response, major anti-inflammatory inhibitors are released as well.

Thus, seeing the complete picture (anti-inflammatory cascade) rather than part of the picture (IL-6 release) makes a huge difference in how we can classify the effects of intense exercise.

IL-6 is a well-known cytokine and has long been thought to be inflammatory in nature as part of what is known as the inflammatory triad: TNF-alpha, IL-1, and IL-6. However, like people, IL-6 seems to behave differently depending on its origin, amount, and other cytokines around with it. When released from muscle, and in high concentrations without TNF-alpha and IL-1, IL-6 is anti-inflammatory. In fact, IL-6 acts to reduce the amount of TNF-alpha and IL-1 in circulation by increasing the cytokine inhibitors IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-lra) and soluble TNF receptors (sTNFR). IL-lra antagonizes the IL-1 receptor, decreasing IL-1 effects, while sTNFR binds up TNF-alpha before it can react at its target cells. At the same time, IL-6 triggers the release of the major anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10.

Properly performed exercise releases signaling molecules that stimulate a unique healing response that couples both inflammatory and anti-inflammatory mechanisms to repair, regenerate, and grow stronger tissue.  Unlike drugs, which have single targets and ignore the web-like interactions in the body, exercise works with the body's innate intelligence to produce broadly beneficial effects that improve whole-body function. High-intensity, short-duration movement that is tailored to the individual, uses short rest periods… may be the chief means of attaining anti-inflammatory effects from exercise. (4)

Background

Increasing evidence demonstrates that persistent, low-grade inflammation is a predictor of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.  Not only that, but experimental evidence shows that markers of chronic inflammation, such as the proinflammatory cytokine [interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-)] and the acute-phase reactant C-reactive protein (CRP) play a direct role in the atherosclerosis and insulin resistance.

More about IL-6

Initially, IL-6 was thought to be a pro-inflammatory cytokine but recent results have suggested that IL-6 has an inflammation-controlling role and is important to the return to homeostasis after an inflammatory challenge….Interestingly, recent findings have shown that strenuous exercise is also a powerful inducer of elevated concentrations of IL-6 in plasma

The finding in two longitudinal studies that regular training induces a reduction in CRP level suggests that physical activity as such may suppress systemic low-grade inflammation.

Exercise and Inflammation

The health benefits of exercise are far – reaching: disease prevention, improved immunity, stress reduction, and improvements in sleep, mood, coordination, flexibility, bone density and insulin regulation.  Yet exercise that challenges the muscle also causes tissue damage, which causes an inflammatory response as the body's resources scramble to repair and build the damaged area. At the same time, though tissue damage turns on inflammation,  inflammation also promotes necessary growth and renewal, which is a positive effect.   It is, in fact, the only way to build muscle.

Making more muscle cells via regular exercise is good for you in a lot of ways. In each new muscle cell, there is an increase in the size and number of mitochondria, the "powerhouse" components of the cells that provide energy.  And trained muscle cells become more efficient in their uptake and use of fats and oxygen from the blood.

Exercise also increases the proportion of energy derived from fat and lowers lactic acid production as they develop endurance.

Acute exercise

In conclusion, regular exercise protects against diseases associated with chronic low-grade systemic inflammation. This long-term effect of exercise may be ascribed to the anti-inflammatory response elicited by an acute bout of exercise, which is partly mediated by muscle-derived IL-6.

Physiological concentrations of IL-6 stimulate the appearance in the circulation of the anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-1ra and IL-10 and inhibit the production of the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-. Moreover, IL-6 stimulates lipolysis as well as fat oxidation. The anti-inflammatory effects of exercise may offer protection against TNF-induced insulin resistance. Recently, our group proposed that IL-6 and other cytokines, which are produced and released by skeletal muscles, exerting their effects in other organs of the body, should be named myokines. Here we suggest that myokines may be involved in mediating the health-beneficial effects of exercise and play important roles in the protection against diseases associated with low-grade inflammation. (3)

In English?

Several studies conclude that the levels of  IL-6 ideal for the anti-inflammatory response are best stimulated by exercise intensity.  Intensity that allow for periods of recovery within the session, such as interval training. Positive correlations have also been found between glycogen exhaustion of targeted muscles as a stimulus for the IL-6 anti-inflammatory cascade.

In other words, the kind of  exercise that uses short bursts of all-out effort that significantly alters muscle and dips into liver glycogen stores.  Such as when you dig deep into your reserves to work a muscle to its limit, pause to recover, then target another muscle or group of muscles.  Or when you do supersets, alternating muscle and muscle group activity.

This ushers coveted muscle workload interval workouts into the anti-inflammatory winners circle:  Interval training, Fit Quickies circuits, Supersets, and Bar Method.

There are other reasons that this type of activity is of benefit. Short intense bursts of exercise also stimulate growth factors – factors that offset chronic inflammation.  This is also the type of exercise that:

…creates a hormonal environment that produces sustained fat-burning as well as muscle growth.  The amount of glycogen reduction is directly correlated to IL-6 release, and high-intensity exercise is shown to increase IL-6 and catecholamines together.  Catecholamines have their own independent effect in lowering TNF alpha and IL-1, synergistically enhancing IL-6. Combining these known effects with techniques that can deliver the same benefit in less time presents the opportunity to supply these anti-inflammatory effects in short time periods.

Related studies conclude that any exercise, irrespective of the intensity and the individual's cardiovascular fitness, will elicit an acute anti-inflammatory response. (5)

Obviously, more data on the effects of different modes and intensities of exercise on inflammation is in demand.

But if you have been concerned that the localized inflammation of muscle that occurs when challenging it to change via resistance,  apparently you can rest assured that this inflammatory response is not only necessary for muscle to grow, but a stronger anti-inflammatory response comes along with it, hand in glove. Previous limited views of the IL-6 factor have been preempted by this discovery only recently.

There's more! Exercise induced IL-6 has multiple other positive effects on cortisol, adipose tissue, and insulin resistance.  The door has just been opened on this one.

There are several forms of exercise that by their nature perhaps have diminished IL-6 factor response in the first place, yet by their very nature of moving the body are powerful anti-inflammatory tools.

But as now know, the anti-inflammatory exercise window is bigger than we thought.

Note: In patients with a chronic inflammatory disease, both acute and chronic exercise might elicit different inflammatory responses (i.e., exaggerated after acute exercise & attenuated after training) compared to healthy matched controls. However, the results reveal a major gap in our knowledge regarding the effects of acute and chronic exercise on inflammatory markers in patients with a chronic inflammatory disease. Results are often inconsistent, and differences in training programs (intensity, frequency and duration), heterogeneity of disease populations studied, and analytic methods may be just some of the causes for these discrepancies. To optimize exercise prescriptions and recommendations for patients with a chronic inflammatory disease, more research is needed to define the nature of physical activity that confers health benefits without exacerbating underlying inflammatory stress associated with disease pathology. (7)

© Lani Muelrath, 2010

Resources:

1) Ostrowski, et al. "Physical activity and plasma IL-6–effect of intensity of exercise". European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2000;83:512-515.

2) Pederson, et al. "Searching for the exercise factor: Is IL-6 a candidate?" Journal of Muscle Research and Cell Motility. 2003;24:113-119.

3) J Appl Physiol 98: 1154-1162, 2005; doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00164.2004  8750-7587/05

4) Jade Teta ND, LAc, CSCS "Exercise is medicine: the anti-inflammatory effects of high intensity exercise"

5) Fletcher, Emma; Betts, Jeffery J.; Harrison, Michael; Moyna, Niall M. FACSM; O'Connor, Paul; Visich, Paul S. Effect Of "Exercise Intensity On Pro-and Anti-inflammatory Cytokines In Trained And Untrained Men": 743: May 28 1:30 PM – 1:45 PM

6) PubMed: Epidemiology. 2002 Sep;13(5):561-8.

(7) Ploeger HE, Takken T, de Greef MH, Timmons BW. Exerc Immunol Rev. 2009;15:6-41.
"The effects of acute and chronic exercise on inflammatory markers in children and adults with a chronic inflammatory disease: a systematic review."

Ah, the dreaded weight loss plateau.

Actually, you should embrace the plateau for many reasons.  But that's the topic for another day.

For now, we'll concern ourselves with breaking a weight loss plateau.

Has this happened to you?

You've been puttering along with your usual dietary plan and fitness routine.  Then progress seems to slow, then seemingly halt.  You feel like you are at a standstill.  You've hit a weight loss plateau.

The shape won't shift, the pudge won't budge.  Now what?

Ally's story

Ally wrote to me 3 weeks ago with this same dilemma.

She was 5 lbs away from achieving her 20 lb weight loss, 2 sizes down body shaping goals.  She'd been "stuck" there for the last month.

First, I assured Ally that plateaus are a natural part of the adaptive process of the body.  It can decide its own pace of change at times. Sure,  that can seem most inconvenient to us.  Yet our body has its wisdom.  As I often say, our bodies do everything for a reason.  Even with the weight loss plateau.

At the same time, if the situation persists, it may be time to take a closer look and shake things up to get them moving again.  This is what I suggested to Ally.  She implemented a few of my suggestions and now, 3 weeks later, her weight loss plateau has broken and she is down another 1  1/2 pounds.

Time to budge your plateau?  Then it's time to exceed your reach!

Actually, this is just like it is with life.  What do you do in life when you have stalled, lack of creative energy, and a slip from your ideals?  You exceed your previous reach.

Reach past what you've done before.

For actually, when you are not reaching beyond your comfort zone and presenting yourself with continuing challenge, whether in fitness or in life – you are slipping backwards.

It's called a "stretch".  You can do the same with a weight loss plateau.

Focus on six areas of improvement and change

If you find your fitness stalled at weight loss plateau, there are several avenues you can take to get things going again.  All you need to do is shake things up.  Disturb the status quo.  Make your body sit up and pay attention.

1)  Vary the speed: if you are walking, or biking, hiking, or swimming as part of your fitness rotation, pick a couple of your sessions during the week and pick up the speed a little.  Keep safety in mind and focus on correct alignment, and you will present a new challenge to the body to which is necessarily must adapt.

2)  Amp up the strength challenge: are you doing any kind of resistance training as part of your weight loss or fitness program?  If not, you should be.  And if you are, now may be the time to increase the strength challenge.  That doesn't mean you have to lift more weight, necessarily.  Strength challenge can be increased by cadence.  You slow it down, you can keep the use of lighter weights and changes in strength and shape will follow.  Either way.

3)  Add more time to your workouts: Are you used to pooping out at about the same time every session, week after week?  Your body may be just used to it, like getting restless after 27 minutes of programming because the TV show ends at the half hour.  Catch your body by surprise by adding a little more length to a couple of your workouts during the week.

4)  Vary the intensity of your workouts: This is a big one for mixing things up.  Research has shown that building intervals into your training – with the use of interval training in whatever type of workout you do – is a powerful way to increase strength, endurance, and fat loss.

5)  Shake up the balance: Maybe you need MORE time stretching and less time lifting weights?  More comprehensive, multi-joint exercise, as in the T-Tapp Wellness Workout?  An increase in targeting body sculpting, such as the Bar Method?   Sometimes playing with the balance makes your body scramble and step up to the challenge, resulting in visible results in your physique.

You can't out train a bad diet

6) Last but not least: improve your nutrition. Take an honest look.

• How many times in the past 2 weeks have you had dessert?  Keep in mind that includes pastries, energy bars that masquerade as cookies, cakes that masquerade as muffins.  You get the idea.

• How much fatty or oil-based dressing are you really putting on your salad?  1/4 cup of bleu cheese adds up to a whopping 30 plus grams of fat and 320 calories.

The easiest way to improve your diet is to eat more vegetable, whole grains, and fruits and reduce fat, oils, and the foods that contain them in your diet.  You can eat a lot more, get a lot more fiber, have improved satiety, and encourage fat loss.

Pick 1, 2, or more of these areas for putting a new "stretch" into your weight loss and fitness routines and see if you, like Ally, start to see yourself pull out of the weight loss plateau station and move forward on your weight loss and body sculpting goals.

© Lani Muelrath 2009 All Rights Reserved image: michael.seth, mporter

Cindy put a new tweak in my pretzel today.

Oh boy. Just when I thought I'd run out of variation on this theme.

Don't get me wrong, I love, love the pretzel! It effectively:

• smooths the back of the waist, effectively making the back "flow" into the seat – me likey!  Think of it as the love without the handles;  the muffin without the top.
  
• builds back strength
• lifts the seat
• creates an adorable dent in the side of the seat, slimming the hips
  

Here's what the "basic" Bar Method pretzel twist looks like:

Burr Leonard, founder of the Bar Method, demonstrates the pretzel

Note key elements: the square of the front knee to hip, the forward tilt of the hips and the back knee pushed back to position BEHIND the hip.

The effort to keep that back knee lifted off the floor while holding the protective positioning alignment brings the intensity. If you can lift it more than an inch or so off the floor, then challenge yourself to roll that back hip forward even more.

Just holding this position and doing the tiny presses into the lift creates the workload through the back of the waist, gluteus medius, and gluteus maximus.

But Bar Method instructors find all kinds of ways to mix this move up and keep it fresh.

And though I enjoyed personal instruction on this move from Bar Method founder Burr Leonard herself (see this short video – evidence!) there seems to be an endless variety of "twists" to this move that Bar Method instructors relish.

Here's the tweak Cindy, owner of the Bar Method Marin Studio, added to my pretzel twist arsenal today:

1. As pictured at the top of the page, once in position, place your hands on top of a rubber ball place in front of you. Once your body has adjusted to the position, try picking it up with one hand. Then two. Oy. Then try raising it over your head. Double oy. And I don't even use the word oy.
2. Pull the heel of the leg in back as close as you can do your seat. You'll feel this set the hamstrings on fire.
   
3. While doing #2, curl the back leg inward by trying to spiral the toes of the back foot around. In other words, rather than lifting that back leg or pressing the toes of the back foot to the wall behind you, press the toes to the back wall.

Careful. You might get as addicted to this move as me

Do you have a favorite tweak on the pretzel twist? Tell me about it in comments below!

Note: Burr Leonard will be my September 8  TeleSeminar guest.   Sign up HERE.

If you haven't yet had the chance, be sure to view the up-close-and-personal video experience with the Bar Method creator Burr Leonard:  Raising the Bar on studio workouts:  the Bar Method.

Not only will you see clips from a live class taught by Burr, but you will also see my private lesson in one of my Bar Method favorites, "the Pretzel".

What follows here is Part Two of a series of excerpts from an interview with Burr;  you'll find the transcript of Part One here:  the Bar Method Studio Experience:  choreographic genius.

Here, Burr elaborates upon the reason behind the extraordinary body-shaping power of the Bar Method technique.

Lani Muelrath: I know that we could have plenty of conversation about the process of  how you're teaching.  But I also wanted to cover some of the other items, like the physicality of it.

What is it about the Bar Method that shapes women's bodies as it does?  Because you can walk into a Bar Method class and either everybody who has that body shape is coming to your classes, or they get it because they come to your classes.  So what is your explanation about how it targets body shaping so well?

Burr Leonard: Well, we target the muscles that play the biggest role in changing the   shape of the body.

We recognize that shaping is a positioning activity.  It's…if you're not in position, you're not getting the results, and therefore it's impossible to teach a whole class and just go "rahrahrah!"  You have to have the teaching technique in place and help teach the students how to isolate the muscle, find it, and use it.

And as we've been discussing, we developed that teaching technique around our exercise workout, so that all the students get a chance to find those muscles.  And especially the muscles in the back of the body.  We're talking about muscles that not only play a great role in changing the shape of the body – some of our largest muscles are in the back of our body:  the triceps, the glutes, the hamstrings, and the calves.  A lot of systems kind of play lip service to them because they'r on the back side, so out-of-sight out-of-mind.

Number two, because we evolved from 4-legged creatures and stood up straight, and became very visual, we are intrinsically out of touch with these muscles.  I can, ah, tell a student to pull with the seat and they'll pull with something completely different!  Because they can't see their back sides, they can't find the muscle.  And so we use, again, our teaching technique to help students discover that muscle and wake it up – and change it.

Number three, level of intensity.  Level of intensity is something that the exercise world is recognizing more and more.  It's important in fitness.  I think years ago we thought walking was fine, because it burned calories.  But intensity stimulates the body to generate youthfulness, growth hormone…intensity is important.

So again, what we do is positioning.  Intensity can't be achieved by just doing more reps or making the music louder or making it more aerobic.  It has to be achieved by getting into that muscle, using the rest of the body as an anchor, and holding onto that muscle until it's shaking and burning.

And going back to our technique of teaching people how to get into that muscle and then guiding them both mentally, physically, and emotionally through that experience gives people the ability to change their bodies really very quickly.

© Lani Muelrath 2009 All Rights Reserved

Burr Leonard (l) with Lani Muelrath

I've never had a bad Bar Method Studio workout experience.

As it turns out, there is a choreographic genius to the orchestration of the Bar Method Studio workout, and you recognize it from the drop of the first downbeat.

And the effect is intentionally designed.

The birth of this brilliance? In the mind of Bar Method creator Burr Leonard.

Choreographic genius

Each and every opportunity for me to work out in a Bar Method studio has been anticipated and enjoyed not for just the workout that I get, but for additional reasons.

Reasons for which you can describe the effect, yet not always nail the reason.

In brief, Bar Method Studio workouts leave you feeling:

1. thoroughly worked out, head to toe
2. strong
3. stretched
4. centered
5. focused
6. like you effectively used every minute
7. complete, as a well-balanced meal.

A conversation with Burr Leonard

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak at length (right after attending a class taught by her) with Burr about the Bar Method system.  I asked her about, among other things,  the design behind the scenes.  The choreography of the workout and the delivery of instruction that result in such a positive and powerful experience for those in class.

As a matter of fact, though our conversation addressed many questions, that was where I started.

Which, as you'll see from the interview notes, pleased Burr enormously – as that is her favorite topic of discussion and ongoing development within the Bar Method programs itself.

It is fascinating to see the intention behind the design of these workouts.  A deeper appreciation of the process – and effect – is the inevitable result.

This interview excerpt (part 1 of a series)  is from that part of our conversation.

Lani Muelrath:  I've never had a bad Bar Method experience.  Your system – and I think that's your signature – besides the way you put the workout together – is the way your workouts are choreographed.  You feel like you get to put all the attention on the exercise and YOU (the instructor) creates the space -  the delivery of the mats, for example – how did you come up with all of that?

Burr Leonard:  Hmmm.  Well, you're asking me about my favorite subject.

There are really two elements to the Bar Method that I think are unique among barre-based workouts.  And one is that we've designed the workout – we've worked it logically to be as safe and hard as possible.   And as we worked on getting it safer and harder, we realized that those two aspects – components – actually go together.  The safer it is, the less it hits the joints and the more it hits the muscle.

I mean, a very simple example would be reverse push-ups.   When I inherited reverse pushups from the Lotte Berk Method, they were performed with the shoulders forward of the hands, and the legs straight.  And our physical therapist told us that separating the arms from the shoulders and putting the weight on the arms is not good for the shoulders.   And then we discovered when we brought the arms next to the back in alignment, our body weight fell right over the muscle and made it much harder.  So in that exercise and many others, we've tweaked the exercises to be better and harders.

And then second, we worked on getting all the "holes" out of the class.  The little places where people yawn, and adjust their ponytail and take a glass of water, look at the clock, and think about lunch.   Our goal is to involve people's minds 100% in the workout, from moment one to moment…you know, the last minute.  And they kind of wake up, and say "Wow! That went by fast!"

And so we work -  part of the [instructor]  training is called "flow".  And there are really two components to "flow".  One is transitioning the exercises,  so that the last beat of one exercise is the first beat of the next exercise.  So there's no looking around the room waiting for the next thing to happen.   You may notice that one key moment is the transition into thigh.  So  as soon as the stretch at the bar before thigh ends, we train our teachers, as that second leg is coming down off the bar, you push the button, and the thigh music begins…

Lani Muelrath: So you're fully engaged….

Burr Leonard: …the music is going bang, bang, bang, so you're (breath in) " wow!  We call it interlinking.  Interlinking the sets.

And the second way we do that is in between the sets we have a counting rule.  We have 13 or 14 counting rules, counting technique.  So it keeps the students involved.  The counting rule is to interlink the subsets.  And the subsets are the ten slow, the ten medium, and the ten fast.

So, the ten slow would be 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8.., next ten faster, the last 20 really fast.  So we don't say "9. 10. and…"  Now when your thighs are burning, shaking, and dieing, we don't want to hear "9. 10. AND …uh oh!  That little…when you're in that zone of challenge, the least little second is going to feel like forever.  So we never, we never LEAVE them for one second.  We're always  with them every second.

And this is moving into the teaching technique that we've developed over the last, almost 20 years.  And, um, there are other elements.  Orientation – we have 14 "orientation rules" we call them.   And we teach the teachers to always face the students.   I mean more that face the students, eye contact.  Always looking around the room.  So even when we're demonstrating an exercise that calls for facing into the bar, we're not facing into the bar. We're facing them.

Watch for part 2, coming soon!

© Lani Muelrath All Rights Reserved

From your first step inside a Bar Method studio, you become aware that there is something different about this workout.

It's not just the soothing, serious colors and beautiful photographs on the wall.

It's not just the sculpted, lovely shape that the women (and yes, sometimes men) who come to these classes seem to have in common.

As if this isn't enough!

Rather, it's after the workout begins that you sit up and take notice.

And for an investigative mind such as mine when it comes to all things fitness, here is where the inspection begins.

Consistent delivery of solid, sound instruction

I've never, ever had a bad Bar Method studio experience. That includes those at this San Francisco location (How Kate kicked my butt in Bar Method class) and the studio in Walnut Creek.  There are several in the San Francisco Bay Area.

How many have there been for me?  Probably under 20.  Yet that is enough time to have experienced no less than 7 instructors.  And the consistency of quality hasn't waivered – not once.  It's like the Starbucks of studios – you know you are going to get exactly what you came for, with no compromise in the quality or standard of delivery.

As it turns out, this is no accident.

The intention behind the method.

The Bar Method truly IS a method, on mulptiple levels.  Physical, mental, and emotional.  This is because the choreography of the workout flow is holistically designed to engage not only the body layer by layer but also to keep the mind focused.

The choreography here is more than the sequence of steps.  Let's get that clear.

Physically, the Bar Method workout incorporates and well-thought out – and planned – sequence of instruction.  The workout builds from simple warmup, weaving in stretches and isolation work to intentionally alternate between comprehensive (all body) work, isolation work to work deep into the muscle  for superior body shaping, and stretching to create greater flexiblity, strength, function, and beauty.

Mentally? There's no down time.  Every minute of the 60 minute (count on precise start and end times, a real plus)  sessions is planned and presented in a fashion to keep moving things forward.  There's no time for glancing at watches or catching a quick chat between sets.  The workout keeps advancing, building with the creative force of instructional detail, counts, and the music.

Emotionally one emerges from this well-planned experience refreshed not only in body, but spirit.  The hour is meditative due to focus and orchestration.

A conversation with Burr Leonard:  more to report!

The Bar Method delivers this experience, of course, without you knowing exactly why or what the plan is, and that's just fine.

Yet as a teacher, fitness coach and pro for a few decades myself, and as one always looking to investigate what works and what doesn't,  it was a treat to experience  having the design behind the workout explained personally by Burr Leonard, it's creator, herself.  Perceptions were confirmed, as enlightenment about more of the details of the workout took place in our conversation.

So, consider this Part 1.  More to report as interviews are transcoded.

What's on the video?

For now, enjoy the video of a day at the Bar Method Studio, including:

• clips from a mixed level class taught by Burr Leonard, Bar Method creator
• private, one-on-one instruction from Burr in a favorite, signature Bar Method exercise:  the Pretzel!
• a glimpse inside the San Francisco Marina studio, the Bar Method flagship location

And stay tuned for Part 2.   Find the studio nearest you here:  The Bar Method, where you can reserve class space in advance or pick up a video for home practice.

© Lani Muelrath 2009 All Rights Reserved