In this video, we are joined by Gabby Robertson to discuss how Pilates will help runners achieve better results, whether through injury prevention, technique improvement or better recovery.
Transcript:
If you’re looking to improve your
running without having to increase your
mileage, well, pilates might be a good
opportunity for you to do just that.
Today we talk about using Pilates for
improving technique, injury prevention,
and helping your body recover. G’Day
guys and girls it’s Anthony from
GrandStand Sports Clinic with another
video about improving your performance.
Today we’re really fortunate to be
joined by Gabby Robertson who is our
resident Pilates expert. It is stupid
o’clock in the morning because this is
the hunting time for Gabby! OK, so Gabby
to kick things off just for people who
don’t know, give us a little bit of a run
down, what’s the idea, what’s
behind Pilates, what’s it all about?
OK, so the basis with Pilates is that
there’s four or five key elements that
we’re looking at and the first one is
maintaining a nice upright spine. A lot
of people are unaware of the position of
their spine or how to hold their spine.
When you’re incorporating that we look
at your pelvis and how to align a
neutral bucket or a neutral pelvis, we’re
looking through holding through the
ribcage and up into that spine level. You
want to incorporate breathing with that
with someone as well and to breathe
most efficiently or effectively that
they possibly can and incorporate their
deep abdominals, which most people would
term their core.
We find most people are pretty appalling
at working out how to use their core or
how to activate their core and teaching
and which are the deeper layers or the
muscles that help to support the spine
and which are the more superficial
muscles which may be overworking at this
stage and differentiating between those
two. So one of the things you touched on
there is this sort of self awareness of
the correct position. You find a lot of
people, and regardless of the
level of the athlete that you can get
some high level athletes who still
aren’t engaging their core and still
aren’t maintaining good positions. Is
that certainly something you come across.
Absolutely and for someone who looks
like that or is unable to maintain its
position as we’d say, ‘fabulous’, this is
something this is ideal for you. This is
how you can take your form, you can take
your efficiency, you can take your speed
one step further. So again, fleshing
out a little bit, from the point of view
of performance enhancement, what sort of
things do you think Pilates has to offer
someone who’s looking to improve, say, their
10k time or their 5K time. So if someone is
wanting to get faster in their
speed, basically their speed work that
they’re doing for their running what we
want to make sure is that you can hold
good form while you run. And if you’re
able to hold good form then all of your
muscles that are already working are
able to work far more efficiently. If you
can incorporate appropriate breathing
with that which is often the part
that tends to fall off, and more so
towards the end of the run as people are
trying to get faster. If they’re unable
to hold that nice position and unable to
hold a decent breathing pattern then
everything else is gonna fall off.
So Pilates is more about making people
aware of their technique flaws and
showing them in a different environment
how to improve that and then transfer
that across to the running. How do you
find the transfer from ,you know, doing
the the mat based stuff and the
equipment based stuff, how do you then
transfer that into someone’s ,you know,
active running style. Well from looking
at them in an assessment point to
start with and then building them
through onto that mat based or
those equipment based exercises, we’re
using a lot of cueing that they can then
carry over into their training and that
they start that from an early level.
Those cues or those exercises they’re
then incorporating into their training
program so that as we build on those
movements and build those movements in
larger movements making them more
functional towards
their running style or reproducing
some of their running movements on the
larger pieces of equipment. We can
then tear that to pieces a little bit
further and find perfect cues for them
but they can then carry over into their
training sessions. So you touched on the
the the aspect of Clinical Pilates and
as you know there’s Pilates
options aplenty, with the growth and the
popularity of Pilates. What would be the
difference for someone who’s looking at
starting Pilates? What’s the difference
between run-of-the-mill Pilates and the
Clinical Pilates that you do? So, with
Clinical Pilates someone’s had an
assessment by a physiotherapist. The
physiotherapist have been able to
identify for that person things that may
be outstanding such as weaknesses. We
might have injuries or an injury history
that we’ve worked through with someone
and incorporating their Pilates with
them whether it be mat based or
equipment based, we’re then addressing
that injury history for them. We’re
addressing their assessments and the
things that we’ve picked up from that
assessment and then using that with them
to incorporate it towards their goals.
They might be a runner and be training
towards something, but you know running
varies. It might be longer distance
events, it might be shorter distance
events and that time frame that we have
in order to work towards with them. One
of the one of the big influences we have
here at GrandStand is talking to people
about injury prevention and where we
work on the idea that prevention is much
better than the cure so again from the
Pilates aspect, is Pilates something
which is useful in terms of injury
prevention? Absolutely
I mean Pilates can be used to inject
into a running program as their strength
component, you know the majority of
runners feel that running and running
and more running and more running is how
they will improve, and you know research
will tell us at least if you are running
three or more times in a week you need
to inject a strength session into that.
Most of us will say we don’t have time
for that. You know, we just need to run we
want to put our trainers on and head out
the door. But we must have that strength
component. In that Pilates we can
incorporate not just their strength but
looking at their form and looking at, you
know, proprioceptive
techniques and things for them as well.
So in the longer term you’re actually
going to probably be able to run more
because you’re going to have less injury
lay-off as a result of dedicating some
time to specific injury prevention and
Pilate sounds like it offers that
solution for people to do as a different
session for people to do rather than as
you said just hitting the pavement and
doing mile after mile after mile.
Absolutely and a lot of people will
think ‘oh, Pilates look I’m on a mat, I’m
not able to get enough resistance into
that’ and that’s where the equipment
comes into play really nicely. Now we can
go well above body weight and high level
resistance into those to get a true
strength and conditioning.
Obviously a lot of athletes are doing a
lot of miles and recovery is one of the
big issues that we have with athletes,
for athletes to be able to recover fully
from a run so they can back up their
their subsequent run and we’ve spoken
before about different modalities that
athletes can use to, you know, allow their
body to cope with the loads better. Again
from a recovery point of view, do you
think there’s a place there for Pilates
and, you know, is it something that
athletes can use to prepare themselves
for the next running session? Definitely!
And with that strength and conditioning
component comes adaptation. We need those
adaptations to occur. We need them to
transfer that take it over to their run
and then incorporate it into their
running program and then we need that
recovery session. So in recovery, and if
it’s a recovery session that we’re
working through, whether it be on the mat
it’s a really nice way that we can look
at some length we can look at some
flexibility and really highlight for
some of the athletes areas that they
need to target themselves both before
during and after are they’re running
sessions.
As an example, Gabby, if someone were to
present with a long history of achilles
tendonitis and we talked a lot about the
biomechanical backgrounders to to why
achilles tendonitis or tendonitis occur,
what sort of exercises would would
Pilates have that will you know be
looking at correcting the biomechanical
flaws in an achilles tendonitis for
instance. So, if their physiotherapist
they’ve seen has picked up but they have
issues further up the chain as to what’s
going on with that we can start in a
really early based exercise. The really
nice thing about Pilates, is it can be
that, you know, early entry point. You
can be supportive. You can take the spine
out of action. It can be quite
specific and you know if they’re
struggling with their breathing they’re
struggling with their upright spine and
that their the form issues, that we can
still target the ankle in a nice lying
down position and work on some length,
you can work on some eccentric control
there for them, and progress their
program that their physio has already got
them working on at this stage. From that
we can bring them then into lots of
different positions and that’s the thing
I love most about Pilates. Pretty
much, I can exercise you in any position,
offload any part of the body, and then
target somewhere else specifically. So if
we’re wanting to just work specifically
on those intrinsics, work through the
foot and things around the ankle we can
do that. If we’re wanting to build in
some other joints towards that and start
to progress them to more upright and
being functional towards their running
again we can do that. So again, starting
Pilates early in the rehab rather than
using it as an end stage conditioning
program, the earlier we get an
intervention the more likely we are to
support the the tissue which is at
present struggling with the load. Very Definitely. Very Definitely? Not just a little definitely.
Massively definitely
Everybody comes to it at end stage, you
know. They’ve gone through their
rehabilitation or their hands-on
treatment with their physio and then
they look for something else and I’m
saying, well incorporate it early, get the
maximum benefit you can and progress
through that rehab as quickly as you can.
Gabby, you’ve certainly had a long and rich
experience with runners and you’re well
known to the runners in the Newcastle
region. If we were to put you on the spot
and say look, given you experience,
what is the the one technical flaw that
you notice in runners and again
regardless of the level that they’re
running at, one thing that you as a
Pilates clinician you look at and you
think ‘that’s something that we could
improve’? Probably the most outstanding
one and the one that’s easiest to spot
is really that loss of their core control and
they just tip them through the bucket.
You look at them side on as they run
past and they’ve lost everything through
here, and that just makes breathing so
hard. So it shifts into the upper part of
the chest.
You see it with runners as they’re
heading towards the end of their 5k at
parkrun on a Saturday and there are so
many parkrun photographs to flick
through. At each of your local events and you
can you know check it out you see it in
your sprinters. You see it in, you know,
that first big race that’s local, that
10k and everyone’s running for their
finish line and all their finish line
photos look like. They’ve got their
shoulders up here, they’re tipped through here
and they are trying to breathe as heavily
as they can. Unfortunately, with the shape
of the lung, we know anatomically, you’re
not going to get much air in when you’re
breathing up there. So if there’s one
thing that I could do for the majority
of runners, it would be to grab their
hips and their pelvis and just tip them
back into that level position. That
allows their diaphragm to expand
beautifully, it allows them to use their
leg muscles, you know, their buttocks
which are there for them to use. We
want them to use those glutes while they’re
running and unfortunately we will tend
to lose control of those and just
overload a hamstring. But, if you can grab
ahold of that pelvis, tip it back for
them, allow their lungs to breathe more
effectively, they’re going to get a far
more efficient breath, use that breath
capacity then and not feel so horrible
towards the end of their run.And is that
a technical flaw, is it the people under
fatigue conditions they fall out of
their good form or is it a case of their
muscles aren’t strong enough or they’re
not getting enough support from some of
the support muscle? So, it is
technical or physiological, that
loss of form at the backend? It can be
a bit chicken and egg, and until they’ve
had that assessment and you’ve worked
out what it is that’s helping contribute
to that, because for the majority of
runners we’ve never learnt how to run. You
know, we grab our trainers and away we go.
So unless you have you know it’s some
nice understanding of how the body
should move or how it could move,
understanding that everybody’s different,
and that our bodies all move differently.
We can watch those professionals at
the upper level and think ‘wow, that looks
horrible’ and yet they’re breaking World
Records.
So everybody’s bodies are different and
we need to understand that. But equally
unless we’re assessed and look in to that,
you know they might have a huge
long-standing history that has led them
in their injury capacity, to only be able
to perform like that. They still want to
run and that’s the best that they can do
when they head out the door. If we can
give them a little bit of education, we
can help them to understand how their
body may move better, and how it may be
more efficient to move or more efficient
to breathe, and to use the deep core
muscles in and around their spine to
help support that pelvis, their
efficiency and their speed will go through the roof.
So the next step, and I’m sure you’ve
probably set off some alarm bells in
some of our runners minds, what would be the next step, so for someone who is
said ‘yeah that sounds like me I’m
someone who loses my form at the back
end, and I’m really you know keen and excited
by the prospect of trying to improve my
performance through that’, what’s the
next step for someone to get involved in
Pilates? How do they how do they start? I
think you need to be assessed. Look into
locally what’s available for you in
clinical Pilates. Obviously, as Anthony
said before, there’s a big difference
between different types of Pilates that
are out there and you want to make sure
that your body’s in safe hands and that
you’re being looked after. A tailored
exercise programs for you. So get
assessed. Once you’re assessed, we can
then look at your injury history. We can
tie that together with how your body
presents right now and then look at what
goals are specific for you. If you want
an entry level of Pilates to start with
then the mat based work is really
fabulous. You can come along, we’ve got
running specific Pilates six a.m. on
Monday morning. Come and join us, okay. It
is my Pilates for runners class that I
run every week. You can come along to
that. Throughout it we’re talking running
language the whole time. We’re cueing
your body and giving you nice things to
think about when you’re out running and
doing your own training sessions
throughout the week. From there, if
you’re interested in really stepping
things up, come in and be a part of the
equipment sessions. On the equipment, we
can be far more tailored towards you. You
can have either one-on-one, they can be,
you know, increasing in ratio and you’ll
find that the majority of clinical
Pilates on equipment will come up to
about a ratio of one to four. Anything
more than that and you’re probably not
going to be as specific or as tailored
to the individuals that you want to be.
Some people in those sessions are
addressing length and flexibility and
they’re here for their stretch and
release. They’ve done their long run and
they’re booked in on a Monday and that’s
their way that their body’s going to
help flush some things out. Others
throughout the week are using it as
their strength and conditioning.
We’re heading up with the weights with
offloading different parts of their body
that yet if stable or as controlling as
we’d like them to me and for those who
are performing at their best we’re
stepping them up even further and
working them in a really functional
upright position, very run specific in what they are doing.
So Pilates in will have something to
offer anyone, from the entry level to the
person who’s just starting to to
increase their mileage, all the way
through to you know your top end guys
who are really looking for that extra 1%
in their their improvement. I think the
key as you mentioned, is that specificity
to runners is really important so it’s
not an off-the-shelf solution for you.
You need to make sure that the exercises
are you doing are tailored specifically
to your body and targeted specifically
to your your goals and that’s where I
think that running aspect of Pilates is
probably something where people should
be really encouraged to investigate,
rather than just normal everyday Pilates
class. For sure, the last thing I
would want someone to do is, you know,
say ‘okay great, Gab said we need to do this’ and then go out on the next run and do
entirely the wrong thing. You know it’s going to
hurt, it’s not gonna feel good and
then you think ‘that’s not for me’. However if we have
assessed you. We have looked at how your
body moves, we look at how your body
wants to perform and then we can make
changes that are specific for you.
We can be far more efficient for your
running form. Give you some great cues to
work towards. And then, with time, we’re
obviously not looking at two to three
weeks seeing a huge change in
performance. It’s something we need to
stick to and with the programming we
expect change. Males it is usually a little
bit sooner, at that five to six week mark
and women more of that six to eight week.
Really? What’s what’s the reason behind
that, or what in your experience why is
it that, I was gonna say women lag.
but I think men excel, might be a better
way of saying it. Men excel, is probably a far
better way to say it. I think for the
majority of women, they adopt the cues
really well, posturally and form wise
they do it very well,
but for the men we’re seeing some of
those adaptive changes in their muscles
far sooner than women.
There’s certainly some really good
reasons to look at incorporating Pilates
into your running schedule and whether
would be from the point of view
technique improvement or as a recovery
modality or as a way of preventing
further injuries. If you are interested
in introducing Pilates into your program
make sure you’re looking for a clinical
Pilates instructor who’s got a
background and a solid understanding of
running and that’ll make sure you get
the best out of the Pilates for your
running. Gabby, thanks so much for joining
us today and giving us a bit of an
insight into just what Pilates is all
about, particularly for our running
athletes. For those of you who have any
questions or comments feel free to pop
them into the comment section below. If
you like the video, remember press the ‘LIKE’ button, consider subscribing and
we’ll see you in the next video!
