Strength Basics

Getting stronger, fitter, and healthier by sticking to the basics. It's not rocket science, it's doing the simple stuff the right way. Strength-Basics updates every Monday, plus extra posts during the week.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Interesting yoga article

My sister forwarded this article about Iyengar Yoga to me. It's a bit froo-froo in its description, but I especially appreciated this:

If a person would benefit from an asana -- at physical, organic, or mental levels -- but is unable to assume the pose because of lack of ability or strength, a prop can be used for support. With props, even a person who is disabled or very sick can benefit from the asanas.

Okay, I'm not sure what "organic" means to them, even after reading the article. But sometimes what gets lost in "you must squat" and "running is a natural movement" and "deadlifting is just picking things up off the floor the right way" is that some people just can't. This may be due to weakness, injury, disability, or just lack of training. You can, should, and indeed must modify exercises to allow a client to work up to the full version.

If someone can't squat all the way down, does this mean you can't squat them? No, just that you modify the exercise so they still get some benefit. You use props - balance poles, higher benches, lower weights - to progressively work people up without denying them movements they cannot just "do" from the start.


(Sorry this is late - I'm not sure why it never went from queued to published)

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