Writer: Lucia Farina
When we talk about muscle tension we are really speaking about the rigidity in the muscle that could limit you from accessing your full range of movement. This blog is about the fact we all hang on to a lot of unnecessary tension which actually inhibits us in many ways, and i will mention also, tension can cause pain, which nobody wants.
Firstly, we had an instagram post on the 18th October, which starts “CORE STRENGTH” that touches on what you’re about to read. Also, I’m picking up from the last blog, the very last sentence of the blog to be precise.
It was about your spine only being as young as your brain functionality. That’s just a little concept of mine which I’m happy to unpack a little with you now.
Our body has 2 layers of muscle. Deep muscles (these lay next to our bones and internal organs, the ones I say kind of hold our skeleton in place) and superficial muscles, (the outer muscles that sit right under the skin and form our shape pretty much).
The deeper muscles are smaller than the superficial ones, therefore only require a small movement to be worked efficiently. A slower pace when we strengthen them is also sufficient to get the job done. Along with this, I’ll state a fact that larger muscles fatigue quicker, which leads me to believe that the smaller the muscle is, the more adapt for endurance. Which would make sense considering they’re closer to the bones, supporting our skeletal structure, so not exactly muscles that we would appreciate getting tired. Imagine that! Actually let’s not, it sounds disastrous!
When we work with fine motor skills (using zippers, doing/ undoing buttons, writing) using our hands or any other part of the body (which all have smaller muscles funnily enough) there’s a strong brain nerve to muscle communication or let’s say “connection”, (it’s actually about neuro pathways but we can delve into that another day).
So in relation to Pilates, which also is strongly about working those deeper muscles that require a lot of concentration in order to be able to control movements from the deeper parts of our bodies, we are also developing that pathway of language from our brain to our muscles.
If Pilates encourages us to practice using our fine motor muscles, can we transfer our focus to that area and away from our superficial muscles?
I’ll explain what I’m getting at.
When we have tight / tense/ rigid muscles, these are usually the superficial ones. If your deeper muscles are, say, (based on my theory) endurance muscles, they wouldn’t become tense, because they are made to cope all day with their workload.
Tension is very much related to straining muscles / overloading them / wearing them out, but what if we could somehow transfer that effort to our internal body (deeper muscles) which are (sorry to say, superficial muscles) just actually a bit more badass??
The question is, how would we go about doing this?
Believe it or not, (from my experience) it’s about talking to your body and having a quiet word. Literally, by consciously observing if you have become tense throughout a movement, and checking in.
Hang on, tension. I see you (or feel you rather) and I acknowledge you but, do I need you to be here right now? Sometimes it does need to be there, but oftentimes, it really doesn't.
If you do notice tension, where it’s not needed, can you then try to let it go? You might surprise yourself….
We tend to not be able to let go of external tension if we’ve been a tad too ambitious in an exercise and our deeper muscles aren’t connected enough to that movement, so we get a bit grippy with those bigger muscles. That’s natural when the body is trying to achieve something and our desire and / or ego (maybe) wants to take us somewhere we aren’t quite ready for.
When we are able to chill those superficial muscles, and go deeper to initiate our movement, the work can feel more intense and you have less to rely on. It’s faaaar more rewarding though, I promise you that. You end up getting more range of movement in a relaxed way, to the natural place your body whats to be at. Forcing yourself or using brut force will not serve you around here. You'll get nothing from it, apart from tight and irritated muscles.
LESS IS MORE rings very true right now.
So, take the time, check in, ask yourself questions and let go of what you don't need. Not everyone needs to be invited to the party, remember that.
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