Rotating Armpit

Can we talk about the armpits for a minute? I know nobody really talks about their armpits, especially not in a way that you think can relate to Pilates, but I have to tell you that I think the armpits are really, really important. And if we think about what the armpits are connected to and how they can inform us upon what's going on in our movement. It can make our jobs as teachers and as movers a lot easier because it clarifies the whole situation of what's happening with the upper upper body. So just let's let's join me for a journey here into the armpits. So one of the things that I think that is a challenge, a really big challenge, especially for new teachers, is how to get people to get their shoulders down and away from their ears.

And we've heard all of the cues, put your shoulder blades in your back pockets, shoulders are reaching down in a way. All of the things that we say, and where do we end up? We end up with people here with a very rigid neck, and they're not breathing anymore. And I think there's an easier way. So bear with me. I'd like for you to just feel where your scapula are on your back.

So bring your close your chest in a way that we never wanna do in class, and then open your chest without popping the ribs, just feel like your shoulder blades are sliding toward one another. And as you're doing this, just pay close attention to what's happening under the arm between the upper arm bone and the rib cage. You feel that slide. So that idea of letting the scapula move is very important because the scapula live on the rib cage. That's their little house. And when we're moving those scapulae this way, we've got nice natural movement, and they go up and down, then they swing, and they do all kinds of things.

But sometimes, If we over queue that area, we create dysfunction. So I bring to you the armpits. When you think about the arm and the upper arm in particular, and what it takes to stabilize across the middle back. We can't leave the arm out. Right? We need the upper arm to externally rotate. If you watch my shoulder, top of my shoulder, As I'm externally rotating, what is happening to my arm, my shoulder is releasing actually, and my scapula is pulling back a little bit.

It's sitting on its house. I'm gonna do that on the other side so I don't feel stuck on one side. You'll notice that my lower arm is turning as well, but it is only turning as a function of the rotation of my upper arm. So if I translate that forward a little bit more, I'm going to show it this way and I'll show it from the back. I use a cue all the time. Rotate the armpits forward.

When my arms are out here to the side, my armpits are pointing to the side as well. When I rotate my armpits forward, the idea is that I want my armpits to look directly in front of me. And when I have that rotation, I'm better able to keep my collar bones wide without bringing abnormal or unwelcome movement to the scapula. So to see it from the back so here is typical armpits wide. Here is my rotating my armpits forward.

If you can see, my shoulder blades are pulling away from the spine. I'm not forcing them. I'm not directing or over gripping or preloading them? If my humerus comes forward in front of me, my scapula should be pulling away from each other. Yes?

So I'd like for you to see that in action if I'm lying on my back. One thing that we see in class a lot is people who really aren't sure what to do with their arms or never really thought about it, they leave their arms in this position to do an abdominal curl. Well, if I'm doing an abdominal curl from here, my shoulder blades are pinned together or toward each other in the back. That doesn't allow for natural scapular movement, which means if I wanna curl up any higher than say here, why can't? I'm stuck. And so I have to figure out another way to get up.

And usually, I tilt my pelvis or do something weird with my face. If I allow for my scapula to widen by rotating my armpits forward, I have now more space to curl without bringing other body parts to the party that aren't welcome. So let's watch that again. My shoulder blades are wide here, and I actually wanna pop my ribs a little bit, which is verboten. So I'm now in this complicated cramped position, and now I'm trying to curl up and over. Instead, I wrap and rotate my armpits forward Now I'm not shrugging and pulling from my neck.

That's a different issue. I'm keeping my collar bones open. I can feel the width of my shoulder blades across my back. And then when I go to nod my head and curl up, I have so much more freedom. To go back down. If we carry that concept into planking, which is another place where people struggle, it's the same idea just without the elbows.

So I demonstrate planks on these blocks because I have wrist dysfunction and PS, that is also something that affects how my shoulder girdle works. So one of the reasons why I teach this armpit forward stuff is because I've had to find new ways to get to that natural free flowing movement of my shoulder blade because I don't have proper form and function here in my wrist. So one way to practice this, you don't have to do it on the blocks, but if you have any wrist or hand stuff, This makes it great. I'm also gonna turn out just a little bit. My heels of my hands are on so I can wrap my fingers over. Now this is a more parallel alignment in through my shoulders.

My scapula are really just kinda hanging out. If I rotate my armpits forward, you'll see it expressed in the elbow pit, but I'm starting the movement from deep in the center of the shoulder joint. When I rotate that, I naturally wanna just lengthen my spine and lift my torso off of my upper arms, which gives me a lot more freedom to do whatever I wanna do. If I wanted to slide back into plank, or do a push up without pulling my blades together, which is proper form, I have much more access and connection if I can keep the width of my collar bones and the width of my scapulae. I hope that helps.

Give it a try.