April 18, 2023 • 13 mins
Are you Aware of *What* Muscles are Engaging when you Move? | The Asana Academy Podcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
So as you become more advancedwith your practice and you start
(00:04):
to develop a more advancedunderstanding.
Of how your body works.
There's a transitional moment orthere's like a pivotal moment in
your training and like theunderstanding of the way you
work, that kind of transformsthe way you practice and the way
you move forever.
And this is one of the thingsthat we.
(00:27):
Work with clients on a lot,because this is where it's a
blind spot for a lot of peoplefirst and foremost.
But second it's one of thosethings that just drastically
improves the state of your body.
So if you're, newer to movementor, you've just started working
on your press handstand, a lotof it.
(00:47):
A lot of what you do boils downto just, okay, can I get this
movement right?
Visually?
Can I do this drill that I sawand can I replicate it?
Like they replicate it?
Can I make it look like.
They do.
And that's where a lot of thefocus comes from.
It's okay, can I align myself?
The way I'm supposed to bealigned.
It's if you're doing a yogapost, can I align myself with
(01:10):
what the quote unquote correctalignment is?
Or can I make my warrior to looklike a warrior too?
Now?
The, and that's fine.
When you're starting and that'sfine.
And that will take your trainingand that'll take your movement
to a certain level.
But then when you want to go tothe next level, The thing that
(01:33):
becomes so important.
Is not just understanding, notjust mastering the movement, not
just nailing the alignment, but.
Having a real deep understandingand awareness of what muscles.
Are actually engaging.
(01:54):
Behind the scenes under thesurface, right?
And this is the most importantthing that you can learn for
your body.
This is the most important.
Aspect.
Of more advanced movement.
And this is also for healing bythe way, too is developing this
level of awareness, which iswhen I move, it's not just about
(02:15):
how I move or how I can move,but it's about engaging the
correct muscles under thesurface.
Which is having the awarenessand the understanding.
To use the muscles correctly andto make sure that you aren't
just moving for the sake ofmoving, but you're moving.
With the intent of engaging veryspecific muscles and.
(02:36):
Repeating it.
Because when you move in acertain way and you use certain
muscles and become aware ofthose muscles, every time you
move.
Your body starts to build thatand create it as a pattern.
It starts to create.
A new sense of understanding anda new sense of depth.
To your movement that can't becreated when you're solely
(02:59):
focused on just.
The S the surface things, right?
The alignment, the way it looks,the visual, but it's going under
the surface.
And.
Really paying attention to howmuscles engage and how they
work.
And using that as the benchmarkor using that as the springboard
(03:23):
to take your practice to thenext level, right?
Like for example, I like to usethis.
For press handstand.
When you are.
Really.
So when you're moving your body,One of the things.
In fact, let me say it likethis.
I think this is an easier way tounderstand, right?
(03:43):
I guess the first question toask you is, and you can think
about this for yourself is okay.
When you're trying to replicatea movement, like a press hands
down.
The question is, do youunderstand what your muscles are
supposed to be doing when you'regoing through that movement?
Do you understand what it feelslike to have those muscles
(04:03):
working the way they should?
Okay.
And this is like a topic whichis called th this is a topic
which is call pattern linking.
And what pattern linking isit's.
Can you take one exercise?
Let's take the splits forexample.
So this is a really goodexercise.
Now, when you do the splits, thepurpose of the splits.
(04:27):
That most people think as well.
Let me just get my legs to thefloor, right?
If I, if my hamstrings areflexible enough.
I can get my legs to the groundand I can do the splits.
That's what most people think.
Now.
The difference though, andhere's the next level.
And this is where, when youreally start to go under the
surface, these things becomereally powerful.
That's fine to be able tovisually do the splits, but the
(04:47):
most important part of thesplits is understanding.
And this is irrelevant towhether or not you get your
legs, the floor to the ground oryour hips all the way to the
floor.
It's.
Can I feel what it's like for myhamstring to LinkedIn correctly.
When I move my legs out.
As I start to split my legs.
(05:09):
Can I feel the hamstring musclesactually lengthening?
Do I know what that feels like.
Can you extract what it feelslike to actually have your
hamstrings?
Engaging and lengtheningcorrectly while you move into
the splits.
So then what you do.
He is, and this is the mostimportant part.
This is where the link occurs.
(05:31):
It's now that I feel.
My hamstrings, now that I feelwhat it's like, can I extract
that same feeling from themovement?
And then apply it to somethingelse.
Can I now apply it to anotherarea of my practice or another
movement that I'm trying tocreate?
(05:52):
So the most important part ofthe splits is not getting your
hips all the way down to thefloor and your legs completely
split out.
It's can I learn the lessons ofthe hamstrings?
Can I learn what it feels liketo engage my hamstrings
correctly and then extract thatfeeling from the movement and
apply it to something else?
So that if I was to say to you,okay, so in.
(06:13):
A press handstand.
When you're lifting up,sometimes people will say my
hamstrings are too tight, or Idon't know how my legs work.
That feeling in the splits thatyou were able to create, that
you became aware of?
Can I now replicate thatfeeling?
In my hamstrings that Icultivated in the splits.
Right here in my press attemptwhen I'm lifting up.
(06:36):
So essentially what you'refeeling.
Is the hamstrings lengtheningboth hamstrings lengthening in
your press handstand whileyou're lifting up.
They're activating and engagingin the same way that your
hamstring, your front, thehamstring, the front leg of the
splits.
Was activating while you werelowering into it.
(06:57):
Because the next level of that,the, and this is, again, this is
the concept of like next levelof training.
It's can I.
Use a movement, AK the splitsextract, the feeling and the
muscle.
And then apply it to somethingelse.
So can I link that feeling?
Too from the splits and nowapply it to a press handstand.
(07:21):
Because.
A lot of people will say themost difficult part.
Of the most difficult part of.
Any new complex movement, like apress hand sent is, I don't know
what I should be feeling.
I don't understand.
What I should be feeling.
(07:42):
And.
The issue.
The bigger issue.
Is that when you don'tunderstand what you're feeling,
it's really hard to create theright patterns.
So instead people will createthe wrong patterns.
They'll just invent what theythink is right.
And in a press handstand thatlooks like I'm muscling in my
shoulders.
I'm.
I'm using whatever.
I feel like my body naturallygoes to which isn't correct.
(08:05):
But instead, when you can say toyourself, all right.
I know the feeling.
Now I can go back and I can tryand replicate it.
So I know that I'm doing thecorrect thing.
And that's how that's the realbenefit of.
Becoming aware and training howyour muscles work and training.
(08:26):
Yourself to learn.
What that engagement feels isbecause effectively what you can
do is the way you can.
The way you can feel what a moreadvanced movement should feel
like in the body before you'veactually done it.
Is to take a simpler movement,break it down.
And extract the different typesof ways the muscles engage in
(08:48):
the simpler movement.
And then recreate them in a morecomplex movement.
And this is really powerful forhelping to build the correct
movement patterns towardsthings.
And this is something that isextremely beneficial.
For your practice.
When you can start to make thelinks when you can start to
piece these things together.
(09:08):
And I think this, that, thatexample is good and this holds
true throughout the body.
Like in, in body breakthrough,for example.
We go through all sorts ofdifferent.
Connections like this in thebody where it's wow, the muscle
feels like this.
And then as a results, I'm nowtrying to replicate that feeling
here, but I think the splits isa really good one for you to
(09:31):
understand.
Which is whoa.
Okay.
And it's also helped to reshapeyour thinking around the post,
which is again, the mostimportant part of the splits is
not how deep you can go orwhether or not you can get your
hips to the floor or not themost important part.
Is, can I learn what it feelslike when I'm doing the splits?
(09:55):
Can I learn the feeling of myhamstring working correctly so I
can replicate it in a morecomplex movement.
That's the most important part.
When you do the splits andyou're able to create.
That pattern, you were able toextract the feeling, so to speak
of the splits and move it intosomething else.
That's how, you are.
(10:16):
Headed to the next level in yourtraining.
That is where you can reallystart to build advanced skills.
And that's the most.
I would say like sure-fireapproach to more advanced
movements.
It's taking the time.
Too.
Learn that because now youaren't training yourself in the
wrong way.
You're not guessing when you'redoing something you haven't
(10:36):
done.
You're linking.
You're linking.
Poses movements together withmore advanced ones and the way
you link them.
Is you extract?
The concept or you extract themuscular engagement and you try
to replicate that.
In a press handstand or in themore advanced lifts, whatever it
(10:57):
is that you're trying to do.
So over time, like again, withthe splits.
You essentially just say, look,I'm going to keep doing the
splits, but not so that I canget deeper it's so that I can.
I can learn what it feels liketo have my hamstring muscles
engaged correctly.
So the splits are effectively.
Util R a training tool to helpshed that light or shed more
(11:21):
awareness onto the hamstrings.
So you can apply them to thepress handstand.
So that's just one example.
That's all I've got for you ontoday's show, but I hope that
was helpful for you to thinkabout.
I hope that was something.
That, if you just, if you thinkabout it a little bit, It'll
help.
And this is where the pieces ofthe puzzle come together.
And I can tell like with peopletoo, if you're stuck.
(11:43):
Chances are your muscles areengaging in the wrong way.
And if you were to flip thataround and you were to say,
okay, so this is what I need.
This is what the correctengagement feels like.
I need to try and replicate thishere.
And in the press or in whateverit is you're trying to
accomplish, you'll start to findreal quickly, like the body
adapts, because now what you'redoing.
Is you're taking a purelyphysical movement.
(12:04):
And you are.
You're applying like a deeper,more neurological approach and
you're giving your brain achance to comprehend what you're
trying to accomplish throughbecoming aware of muscles in the
body.
All right.
So that's all I've got for youon today's show.
If you'd like to apply for theprogram, body breakthrough.
www.theaustinacademy.com/apply.
(12:28):
And if you want more informationon it, you can also send me an
email.
brian@theaustinacademy.com.
Or if you want to send me amessage on Instagram, you can
also do that.
One other thing.
If you learn something from theshow, you can take some time and
you can tag me in a story on.
Instagram and let me know whatyou learned, how you are going
to apply to your practice.
(12:49):
And if you are benefiting fromthe show and you do enjoy it,
there are two things that youcan do to help.
Share it with another person whoyou think can benefit from it.
Someone who's in a handstands, ayoga teacher, et cetera, et
cetera.
And take some time to leave areview.
On whatever platform you listento your podcasts.
All right so that's all i've gotfor you on today's show have a
good rest of your day and i willtalk to you soon
So as you become more advancedwith your practice and you start
(00:04):
to develop a more advancedunderstanding.
Of how your body works.
There's a transitional moment orthere's like a pivotal moment in
your training and like theunderstanding of the way you
work, that kind of transformsthe way you practice and the way
you move forever.
And this is one of the thingsthat we.
(00:27):
Work with clients on a lot,because this is where it's a
blind spot for a lot of peoplefirst and foremost.
But second it's one of thosethings that just drastically
improves the state of your body.
So if you're, newer to movementor, you've just started working
on your press handstand, a lotof it.
(00:47):
A lot of what you do boils downto just, okay, can I get this
movement right?
Visually?
Can I do this drill that I sawand can I replicate it?
Like they replicate it?
Can I make it look like.
They do.
And that's where a lot of thefocus comes from.
It's okay, can I align myself?
The way I'm supposed to bealigned.
It's if you're doing a yogapost, can I align myself with
(01:10):
what the quote unquote correctalignment is?
Or can I make my warrior to looklike a warrior too?
Now?
The, and that's fine.
When you're starting and that'sfine.
And that will take your trainingand that'll take your movement
to a certain level.
But then when you want to go tothe next level, The thing that
(01:33):
becomes so important.
Is not just understanding, notjust mastering the movement, not
just nailing the alignment, but.
Having a real deep understandingand awareness of what muscles.
Are actually engaging.
(01:54):
Behind the scenes under thesurface, right?
And this is the most importantthing that you can learn for
your body.
This is the most important.
Aspect.
Of more advanced movement.
And this is also for healing bythe way, too is developing this
level of awareness, which iswhen I move, it's not just about
(02:15):
how I move or how I can move,but it's about engaging the
correct muscles under thesurface.
Which is having the awarenessand the understanding.
To use the muscles correctly andto make sure that you aren't
just moving for the sake ofmoving, but you're moving.
With the intent of engaging veryspecific muscles and.
(02:36):
Repeating it.
Because when you move in acertain way and you use certain
muscles and become aware ofthose muscles, every time you
move.
Your body starts to build thatand create it as a pattern.
It starts to create.
A new sense of understanding anda new sense of depth.
To your movement that can't becreated when you're solely
(02:59):
focused on just.
The S the surface things, right?
The alignment, the way it looks,the visual, but it's going under
the surface.
And.
Really paying attention to howmuscles engage and how they
work.
And using that as the benchmarkor using that as the springboard
(03:23):
to take your practice to thenext level, right?
Like for example, I like to usethis.
For press handstand.
When you are.
Really.
So when you're moving your body,One of the things.
In fact, let me say it likethis.
I think this is an easier way tounderstand, right?
(03:43):
I guess the first question toask you is, and you can think
about this for yourself is okay.
When you're trying to replicatea movement, like a press hands
down.
The question is, do youunderstand what your muscles are
supposed to be doing when you'regoing through that movement?
Do you understand what it feelslike to have those muscles
(04:03):
working the way they should?
Okay.
And this is like a topic whichis called th this is a topic
which is call pattern linking.
And what pattern linking isit's.
Can you take one exercise?
Let's take the splits forexample.
So this is a really goodexercise.
Now, when you do the splits, thepurpose of the splits.
(04:27):
That most people think as well.
Let me just get my legs to thefloor, right?
If I, if my hamstrings areflexible enough.
I can get my legs to the groundand I can do the splits.
That's what most people think.
Now.
The difference though, andhere's the next level.
And this is where, when youreally start to go under the
surface, these things becomereally powerful.
That's fine to be able tovisually do the splits, but the
(04:47):
most important part of thesplits is understanding.
And this is irrelevant towhether or not you get your
legs, the floor to the ground oryour hips all the way to the
floor.
It's.
Can I feel what it's like for myhamstring to LinkedIn correctly.
When I move my legs out.
As I start to split my legs.
(05:09):
Can I feel the hamstring musclesactually lengthening?
Do I know what that feels like.
Can you extract what it feelslike to actually have your
hamstrings?
Engaging and lengtheningcorrectly while you move into
the splits.
So then what you do.
He is, and this is the mostimportant part.
This is where the link occurs.
(05:31):
It's now that I feel.
My hamstrings, now that I feelwhat it's like, can I extract
that same feeling from themovement?
And then apply it to somethingelse.
Can I now apply it to anotherarea of my practice or another
movement that I'm trying tocreate?
(05:52):
So the most important part ofthe splits is not getting your
hips all the way down to thefloor and your legs completely
split out.
It's can I learn the lessons ofthe hamstrings?
Can I learn what it feels liketo engage my hamstrings
correctly and then extract thatfeeling from the movement and
apply it to something else?
So that if I was to say to you,okay, so in.
(06:13):
A press handstand.
When you're lifting up,sometimes people will say my
hamstrings are too tight, or Idon't know how my legs work.
That feeling in the splits thatyou were able to create, that
you became aware of?
Can I now replicate thatfeeling?
In my hamstrings that Icultivated in the splits.
Right here in my press attemptwhen I'm lifting up.
(06:36):
So essentially what you'refeeling.
Is the hamstrings lengtheningboth hamstrings lengthening in
your press handstand whileyou're lifting up.
They're activating and engagingin the same way that your
hamstring, your front, thehamstring, the front leg of the
splits.
Was activating while you werelowering into it.
(06:57):
Because the next level of that,the, and this is, again, this is
the concept of like next levelof training.
It's can I.
Use a movement, AK the splitsextract, the feeling and the
muscle.
And then apply it to somethingelse.
So can I link that feeling?
Too from the splits and nowapply it to a press handstand.
(07:21):
Because.
A lot of people will say themost difficult part.
Of the most difficult part of.
Any new complex movement, like apress hand sent is, I don't know
what I should be feeling.
I don't understand.
What I should be feeling.
(07:42):
And.
The issue.
The bigger issue.
Is that when you don'tunderstand what you're feeling,
it's really hard to create theright patterns.
So instead people will createthe wrong patterns.
They'll just invent what theythink is right.
And in a press handstand thatlooks like I'm muscling in my
shoulders.
I'm.
I'm using whatever.
I feel like my body naturallygoes to which isn't correct.
(08:05):
But instead, when you can say toyourself, all right.
I know the feeling.
Now I can go back and I can tryand replicate it.
So I know that I'm doing thecorrect thing.
And that's how that's the realbenefit of.
Becoming aware and training howyour muscles work and training.
(08:26):
Yourself to learn.
What that engagement feels isbecause effectively what you can
do is the way you can.
The way you can feel what a moreadvanced movement should feel
like in the body before you'veactually done it.
Is to take a simpler movement,break it down.
And extract the different typesof ways the muscles engage in
(08:48):
the simpler movement.
And then recreate them in a morecomplex movement.
And this is really powerful forhelping to build the correct
movement patterns towardsthings.
And this is something that isextremely beneficial.
For your practice.
When you can start to make thelinks when you can start to
piece these things together.
(09:08):
And I think this, that, thatexample is good and this holds
true throughout the body.
Like in, in body breakthrough,for example.
We go through all sorts ofdifferent.
Connections like this in thebody where it's wow, the muscle
feels like this.
And then as a results, I'm nowtrying to replicate that feeling
here, but I think the splits isa really good one for you to
(09:31):
understand.
Which is whoa.
Okay.
And it's also helped to reshapeyour thinking around the post,
which is again, the mostimportant part of the splits is
not how deep you can go orwhether or not you can get your
hips to the floor or not themost important part.
Is, can I learn what it feelslike when I'm doing the splits?
(09:55):
Can I learn the feeling of myhamstring working correctly so I
can replicate it in a morecomplex movement.
That's the most important part.
When you do the splits andyou're able to create.
That pattern, you were able toextract the feeling, so to speak
of the splits and move it intosomething else.
That's how, you are.
(10:16):
Headed to the next level in yourtraining.
That is where you can reallystart to build advanced skills.
And that's the most.
I would say like sure-fireapproach to more advanced
movements.
It's taking the time.
Too.
Learn that because now youaren't training yourself in the
wrong way.
You're not guessing when you'redoing something you haven't
(10:36):
done.
You're linking.
You're linking.
Poses movements together withmore advanced ones and the way
you link them.
Is you extract?
The concept or you extract themuscular engagement and you try
to replicate that.
In a press handstand or in themore advanced lifts, whatever it
(10:57):
is that you're trying to do.
So over time, like again, withthe splits.
You essentially just say, look,I'm going to keep doing the
splits, but not so that I canget deeper it's so that I can.
I can learn what it feels liketo have my hamstring muscles
engaged correctly.
So the splits are effectively.
Util R a training tool to helpshed that light or shed more
(11:21):
awareness onto the hamstrings.
So you can apply them to thepress handstand.
So that's just one example.
That's all I've got for you ontoday's show, but I hope that
was helpful for you to thinkabout.
I hope that was something.
That, if you just, if you thinkabout it a little bit, It'll
help.
And this is where the pieces ofthe puzzle come together.
And I can tell like with peopletoo, if you're stuck.
(11:43):
Chances are your muscles areengaging in the wrong way.
And if you were to flip thataround and you were to say,
okay, so this is what I need.
This is what the correctengagement feels like.
I need to try and replicate thishere.
And in the press or in whateverit is you're trying to
accomplish, you'll start to findreal quickly, like the body
adapts, because now what you'redoing.
Is you're taking a purelyphysical movement.
(12:04):
And you are.
You're applying like a deeper,more neurological approach and
you're giving your brain achance to comprehend what you're
trying to accomplish throughbecoming aware of muscles in the
body.
All right.
So that's all I've got for youon today's show.
If you'd like to apply for theprogram, body breakthrough.
www.theaustinacademy.com/apply.
(12:28):
And if you want more informationon it, you can also send me an
email.
brian@theaustinacademy.com.
Or if you want to send me amessage on Instagram, you can
also do that.
One other thing.
If you learn something from theshow, you can take some time and
you can tag me in a story on.
Instagram and let me know whatyou learned, how you are going
to apply to your practice.
(12:49):
And if you are benefiting fromthe show and you do enjoy it,
there are two things that youcan do to help.
Share it with another person whoyou think can benefit from it.
Someone who's in a handstands, ayoga teacher, et cetera, et
cetera.
And take some time to leave areview.
On whatever platform you listento your podcasts.
All right so that's all i've gotfor you on today's show have a
good rest of your day and i willtalk to you soon
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