Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be able to do a cartwheel.
Older kids would just say you have to get over your fears than you will be to do it.
Not so fast, Tony Robbins.
First off I am not going to walk over burning coals. Clearly we have pain receptors in our feet that will signal that they are burning. Second I don’t believe in the Goddess of victory, Nike, and her motto, Just do it.
What I do believe in and I hope you do too, is listening to your body and not pushing it into painful situations.
Placebo and hypnosis don’t work on me.
I’ll look around the room and be like, am I the one out to lunch here?
I would rather understand than to hand over my athletic pursuits to a motivational speaker.
To do a cartwheel is to have shoulder stability.
Without it, your shoulders and neck will be burning.
With your arms out in front of you at shoulder height at 90 degrees, your scapulas (shoulder blades) are not in an elevated position. They are still relatively neutral. Once they begin to lift up above your head they begin to rotate. The superior medial point (top inside corner) begins to angle downwards, as the superior lateral point (top, outside corner) , elevates pointing upwards, and the inferior medial point (bottom inside corner) elevates and moves laterally. The shoulder blade allows you to reach your arm overhead. For many a people this overhead movement is uncomfortable and unstable. A lot of the time it’s because the upper trapezius takes over as the person is rounded in the upper back and the lower stabilizing muscles are weak. Think a person whose shoulders are always by their ears, like a turtle.
The shoulders are not stable.
If they cannot draw down towards the waistline and are fixated in this elevated position how could they ever be stable when you are turned upside down in a cartwheel position supporting all that weight. When the arms are overhead, your shoulder blades should not be fully depressed but rotated to allow interplay between a bunch of muscles to create stability.
Two stable shoulders make the cartwheel much more possible than two words: DO IT.
I could climb trees before I could do cartwheels but I had to do ring work before I could climb trees.
There is a method to the madness of creating balance in muscles.
Pilates is the method.
Climbing trees in my 40’s is satisfying, doing cartwheels is crossing things off my bucketlist, working towards a wide grip pull up is the ultimate test of where pilates can take me.
You are never too old to learn something new and listen to your body.
The first step is to understand. Once you understand then it’s easy to believe. The hard work is just being consistent in what you do and eventually enjoying the fruits of your labour.