Movement Logic: Strong Opinions, Loosely Held

In this episode, Laurel and Sarah discuss bracing and breathing. Why are we all so confused about our breathing mechanics and convinced we’re doing it wrong, no matter what we’re doing? When is the right (and wrong) time to brace when lifting something? What’s the difference between bracing and bearing down? And is navel to spine even doing what we think it’s doing?You will learn: Is there a right and a wrong way to breathe How social media influences our sense of right and wrong breathing Breathing vs bracing in yoga, Pilates, and strength training Common postural tension that can impact breathing Sarah’s favorite injury How Sarah teaches breathing in the clinic Anatomy of breathing What bracing for a heavy lift actually entails (hint: it’s not bearing down) When to use bracing in strength training The value of trunk stability and what navel to spine is actually doing Whether pranayama techniques should be done all the time How to cue diaphragmatic breathing Whether pranayama is the most efficient way to challenge the cardiovascular system and increase breath capacityAnd more!Sign up here for the Live Strength Training Webinar on Sept 14th 10am PT/1pm ET with 30 day replaySeason 1 Episode 10 Is there a Right and a Wrong Way to Breathe?Season 1 Episode 19 Oh NO! Nose Breathing and Nitric OxideEmail Apnea article

Welcome to Season 3 and Episode 49 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this episode, Laurel and Sarah discuss the common tendency for people (not just women) to under load when lifting weights to build muscle and strength. In fact, it’s likely a slight majority of people in the gym are either not lifting heavy enough or taking sets close enough to failure to make changes to their muscle mass or strength!You will learn: If left to their own devices, the average lifter gravitates toward sets of 10 with 50-55% of a 1 repetition max, which would not be stimulating enough to make a change to muscle mass or hypertrophy. That research has shown people are likely to leave too many reps in reserve (ending the set too soon) and why this will not make your muscles bigger or your body stronger. That research has shown that a slight majority of people select weights that are too light for a given rep range and why this will not make your muscles bigger or your body stronger. That if a slight majority of people with access to a fully equipped gym are prone to underloading, then people working out at home with more limited equipment might be even more prone to underloading. How heavy, moderate, and light loads are defined according to exercise science. A working definition of “serious lifters” which is people who track their workouts and correctly apply the principle of progressive overload to their training protocol. AKA, people who see results from their training! How laundry detergent can explain why people are so stuck on doing 3 sets of 10. How strength training is a lot like yoga in that it is literally ALL about listening to your body. How feelings can explain the tendency to underload, like avoiding feelings of discomfort or avoiding feeling embarrassed if you cannot lift a weight successfully. Getting close to failure is key for success in strength training. That healthy boundaries for women includes learning your no, but also learning your yes, especially when it comes to saying yes to loading sufficiently to build muscular strength and bone density.Sign up here for the Live Strength Training Webinar on Sept 14th with 30 day replayArticle by Stronger By Science - Most Lifters Train Too LightSelf-Selected Resistance Exercise Load: Implications for Research and PrescriptionAre Trainees Lifting Heavy Enough? Self-Selected Loads in Resistance Exercise: A Scoping Review and Exploratory Meta-analysisEpisode 32: Load & Volume: When is Enough Enough? When is it Too Much?Episode 39: RPE, 1 RM, 3 sets of 10, oh my?

Welcome to Season 3 and Episode 48 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this episode, Laurel and Sarah discuss dogmatic beliefs and myths around the pelvis from the yoga, Pilates, and strength training worlds. We also discuss how correlating pelvic position with safety or pain is not backed by research, and thus what value teaching pelvic alignment may or may not have.You will learn: Natural variations on the AFAB and AMAB pelvises How there’s a variety of ideas on where neutral pelvis is, which tells us that nobody knows what a neutral pelvis actually is That anterior pelvic tilt is not a pathology and we need to stop acting like it is Alignment cueing has value - let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater What place does mula bandha have in our pelvis Literally, where is mula bandha as there seems to be no agreement Is “butt wink” a bad thing or an inevitable thing? What does “navel to spine” actually do to the pelvis Ultimately, how should we be thinking about our students’ pelvic alignment and how much do we need to be doing about itSign up here for the Live Strength Training Webinar on Sept 14th with 30 day replayLaurel's Body of Knowledge CourseMovement Logic Hip and SI Joint TutorialMovement Logic Pelvic Floor Tutorial4 Types of AFAB PelvisPaul Grilley Bone ImagesIG post comparing Sarah and Laurel’s internal and external hip rotation Matthew Remski’s  Practice And All Is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics, And Healing In Yoga And Beyond uncovers rape and sexual assault by Ashtanga Yoga’s creator Pattahbi Jois on his teachers and studentsStudy showing 75-85% of people have anterior pelvic tilt and no painAnterior tilt not correlated with low back painLumbar lordosis not correlated with low back pain

Welcome to Episode 47 of the Movement Logic Podcast—our last episode of season 3!In this episode, Laurel and Sarah reflect on their most cringe stories from the teaching trenches and the big and small lessons they learned from them. You will belly laugh at their mistakes, and also learn vicariously through them!.DISCLAIMER: the language in this episode gets a little salty so you may want to listen when there are no children around.You will learn: That making mistakes is a crucial part of getting better at something, and in fact if you aren’t making mistakes, you probably aren’t learning as much as you could be. Why Laurel dislikes the phrase “in the trenches” to describe teaching weekly classes or privates. Why the only way to learn how to teach skillfully is to teach—and there will (or must be) mistakes! The difference between people who are excellent versus mediocre at something often comes down to how many mistakes they made—people who are excellent at what they do have often made a lot of mistakes and have learned from them! What Sarah’s oopsie taught her about what she was looking for in a studio to teach for, as well as what kind of teacher she actually wanted to be. How the concept of somatic dominance helps both Laurel and Sarah better understand their mistakes in retrospect, and how much the yoga and fitness community has changed (and hopefully continues to change) on a systemic level since. Mistakes often involve multiple different lessons, some of which can be learned immediately, and others that might take years or decades for us to realize. That shame is a normal human emotion, we can experience shame while also not letting it shape our identity and prevent us from learning and growing. The mistake that taught Laurel she was teaching people not poses. How making big mistakes can sometimes fast track really important lessons that might have otherwise taken much longer to learn. How story-telling can transform shame and help you process what happened in a healthy way.Episode 36: Somatic DominanceGet our Free Bone Density Mini Course — OFFER ENDS JULY 9th!Follow us at @movementlogictutorails on Instagram

Welcome to Episode 46 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this episode, Laurel discusses frequency, or how often to strength train per week. Laurel unpacks the concept of frequency its relationship to volume, as well as what research suggests is the “minimal effective dose” to get certain benefits from resistance training, like increased longevity and strength. By the end of this episode you will understand why workout frequency matters enormously, but why it cannot matter separately from weekly volume or the individual who is training.You will also learn: Why the common prescription for frequency—3x/week—is empty advice devoid of context to make it useful. Why any amount of resistance training is better than none (according to research). What the minimal effective dose of resistance training is for older adults (people over age 65), and what amount might be too much. Why it’s important to control for volume when researching workout frequency and its role in strength. Why there’s no right optimal dose of volume or frequency for everyone. Why fatigue and recovery play an important role in determining optimal training volume and frequency. That science still can’t point confidently to specific causes of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). What types of individuals, muscle groups, and workouts might require more recovery time than others. How to use frequency to increase volume in a safe way. How maintaining strength is different from increasing it, and what research shows is enough volume to maintain the strength you've built if you have to spend time away from training.Get our FREE  Bone Density Mini Course: Barbell 101Essentials of Strength and ConditioningChris Beardsley ArticlesWhat determines training frequency?What is training volume?How does training volume affect muscle growth?What causes delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)?Stronger By Science ArticlesTraining Frequency for Strength Development: What the Data SayWhat is the optimal dose of resistance training for longevity?A Guide to Detraining: What to Expect, How to Mitigate Losses, and How to Get Back to Full StrengthCenters of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) -  General Physical Activity Guidelines

Welcome to Episode 45 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this episode, Laurel and Sarah talk about pain, injury, and safety in strength and yoga. We discuss what an injury is and how definitions of injury differ in research. We also discuss pain and how it is different (but also overlaps) with injury. Then we look at what research suggests about the overall likelihood of sustaining an injury in strength training and yoga. We’ll also discuss what safety is from a health standpoint, and about the relative risks to our safety that exercise versus being sedentary present. Toward the end of the episode, we offer you some valuable tips to “stay safe out there people” with strength training especially if you are just getting started.You will learn: The difference between overuse vs. a traumatic injury How pain does not always indicate that there is an injury How injury does not always mean that there will be pain How the variety reasons it’s difficult to make conclusive statements about how injury occurs in exercise The difference between acute vs. chronic pain Why normalizing pain might be a more effective way to reduce pain than communicating that pain is abnormal and always something to avoid How many people conflate the perception of effort with pain Sarah’s experience working with clients with a team of doctors giving them contradictory advice about exercise. How research unequivocally suggests that the benefits of exercise outweigh the risks of being sedentary Why alignment in exercise is often less important than tissue capacity via adequate preparedness The markers of physical fitness and which we target in yoga vs. strength training, as well as how neither improve cardiorespiratory fitness (meanwhile cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide.) What “failure” versus “technical failure” is and how maintaining an appropriate distance from failure is important. How to use RIR (reps in reserve) as well as RPE (rating of perceived exertion) to avoid pain and injury with strength training.Get our Free Barbell Equipment GuidePapersAre Injuries More Common with CrossFit Training Than Other Forms of Exercise?A 4-Year Analysis of the Incidence of Injuries Among CrossFit-Trained ParticipantsRelative Safety of Weightlifting and Weight TrainingThe Safety of Yoga: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled TrialsCDC -  General Physical Activity GuidelinesStronger by Science - The Science of Autoregulation

Welcome to Episode 44 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this episode, Sarah and Laurel talk all about their favorite strength training equipment: the barbell! Why do so many people (including Sarah until very recently) have such a mental block around creating a barbell set up at home?We also discuss: How you will need to move to barbells if you want to continue to strength training for injury prevention, bone density, and lean muscle mass How barbells are not an “advanced” training equipment but in fact easier to use than kettlebells How a home barbell set up can be cheaper than you think How a home barbell set up can be more space saving than you think What you need to get and why Online and local purchasing options to save moneySign up for the Movement Logic Mailing List and receive our Free Barbell Equipment Guide!Extreme Training Equipment (LA County Equipment Supplier)Offer UpCraigs list

Welcome to Episode 43 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this episode Laurel sits down to talk with nutritional scientist, Dr. Ben House, PhD who has been working in nutrition and fitness for over 15 years, and has published many articles in peer reviewed, scientific journals. In their conversation, Ben and Laurel talk about the intersection between nutrition and fitness, specifically for women between the ages of 40-65 who may exercise and eat with a number of related (but different) goals like performance, health, and aesthetics.You will learn: Why food fear spreads like wildfire on the internet Why Paleo, Keto, carnivore diets, and veganism have more in common than they have different. That muscle can prevent hyperglycemia and inflammation. The difference between macro and micro nutrition. How the energy from food (listed on food labels) does not correspond with how your body metabolizes and gets energy from that food. That low carb diets, like keto go back to the mid 1800s and then resurge every couple of decades. That body-building is not just about aesthetics. Why thinner is not automatically healthier and what the “cost of leanness” is. How fat is responsible for the evolutionary success of humans. What sarcopenic obesity is. What apophenia is and how it is responsible for lots of myths about weight gain and menopause. Why 8,000 steps/day and the CDC’s physical activity guidelines will move the needle a lot further than Andrew Huberman’s litany of “protocols”. Ben’s research-supported recommendations for daily dietary intake. What body recomposition is and how it could help people maintain weight loss.Sign Up Here for the Movement Logic Newsletter and receive our free Barbell Equipment Guide!Article in New York Times - What We Think About Metabolism May Be WrongArticles on Deconstruct Nutrition:How Bad are we at Calorie Math?Does Menopause Cause Weight Gain?What Percentage of Americans Are Metabolically Healthy?Articles in Stronger by Science:Stay ShreddedResearch Spotlight on Metabolic RateDr. House’s Nutrition Course - https://broresearch.com/

Welcome to Episode 42 of the Movement Logic podcast! Laurel goes it alone this episode to unpack six common myths that still inform the way movement teachers and even clinicians think about and talk about the body, to potentially harmful effect.You will learn about: The Magical Low Back Exercise Myth The Poor Body Design Myth The Posture Predicts Pain Myth The Scapegoated Isolated Muscle Myth The Fragilista Warning Label Myth The Muscles As Modeling Clay Myth How questioning your own beliefs as a teacher helps you be a better teacher. How challenging your student’s beliefs may not be as productive as actively listening to them, and creating motivating, positive, and enjoyable movement experiences for them.SITE WIDE SALE ON NOW!Book Explain Pain to recommend for your clientsPapersDoes unequal leg length cause back pain?No relationship between the acromiohumeral distance and pain in adults with subacromial pain syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysisPaul Ingraham -The Complete Guide to Low Back PainShould We Stop Teaching Yoga for Low Back Pain?Complete Guide to Plantar FasciitisPhysio Network -The McKenzie method for (sub)acute non-specific low back painPosture and time spent using a smartphone are not correlated with neck pain and disability in young adults: a cross-sectional studyIs neck posture subgroup in late adolescence a risk factor for persistent neck pain…Greg Lehman - Do our patients need fixing? Or do they need a bigger cup? and How to Better Treat “Shoulder Impingement”Ian Griffiths -  The myths of foot orthosesJulie Weibe - To Kegel or Not to Kegel?

Welcome to Episode 41 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this solo ride, Sarah gets even deeper into the ins and outs of motor learning. Specifically, further components that can be easily brought into your class to help your students’ and clients’ motor learning.You will learn: What is motor learning (a brief review) Motor learning stages: cognitive, associative, automatic 3 New methods to improve motor learning separate from cueing How Harry Styles' dancers displayed phenomenal skill at dealing with contextual interference at the Grammys this yearAnd more!SITE WIDE SALE ON NOW!Sarah Court Motor Learning PresentationHow to Dance the Funky ChickenHarry Styles Grammy Performance 2023