Movement Logic: Strong Opinions, Loosely Held

Welcome to Season 3 and Episode 59 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this episode, Laurel and Sarah discuss dogmatic beliefs and myths around the shoulders from the yoga, Pilates, and strength training worlds. We also discuss how given the fact that shoulder joint is a “complex” of many bones and joints, it’s much more useful that teachers keep their approach to teaching this area as simple as pos...

Welcome to Episode 57 of the Movement Logic podcast. In this episode, Laurel and Sarah discuss the fact that lifting heavy is not automatically a strength sport and that more people would feel invited to lift heavy if the media didn’t fixate so much on barbells as equipment for large, young, competitive male lifters and instead represented people that look more like everyone else and shared goals...

Welcome to Episode 56 of the Movement Logic podcast. In this episode, Sarah is talking about hypermobility, and what if any connection exists between hypermobility and osteoporosis. You will learn: Hypermobility, EDS, and Marfan’s Syndrome, explained Is there any agreement in the research around hypermobility and osteoporosis Why research quality always matters when we’re trying to determine a con...

Welcome to Episode 55 of the Movement Logic podcast. In this episode, Laurel answers two questions that she gets regularly from folks online. They are: How can I get started with strength training? And, how can I “learn more about” strength training? Spoiler: the best way to get started with strength training (the doing and the teaching) is by…wait for it…strength training! In this episode you wil...

Welcome to Season 3 and Episode 54 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this episode, Laurel and Sarah discuss dogmatic beliefs and myths around the lower back, upper back, and neck from the yoga, Pilates, and strength training worlds.  You will learn: That the spine is made up of over 360 joints so maybe we should move it in all the ways (instead of keep it neutral all the time). That people ar...

Welcome to Episode 53 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this episode, Sarah and Laurel dissect a few research papers that studied the effects of various rest periods between loading bone, and how these rest periods can impact the efficacy of our bone density building. You will learn: Osteoblasts and osteoclasts, defined Why bone building reminds Sarah of Fraggle Rock What does your bones’ mechanos...

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 52 of the Movement Logic podcast. In this episode, Laurel and Sarah are joined by seven other guests for a panoramic, multi-perspective answer to the question “why don't more women lift weights?” Our seven guests (all of whom are movement professionals) weigh in on their previous objections to strength training. Of course they also share their impetus for starting to l...

Welcome to Episode 51 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this episode, Laurel and Sarah discuss myths around osteoporosis and osteopenia, including why yoga and Pilates are poor choices for bone building (yes, we’ll talk about THAT study, again) and ultimately how weight training and impact training are both safe options when applied with the proper dosage and programming. You will learn: Osteoporo...

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 righ...

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 stre...

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 variati...

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 list...

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 un...

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 str...

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 pre...

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 bet...

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...

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 improv...

Welcome to Episode 40 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this fourth BONUS episode about cueing, Sarah sits down with Trina Altman to discuss the role creativity can and should play in our cues. You will learn:: What are the essential components of creativity How teaching is an inherently creative occupation Using constraints to develop creativity in movement The freedom of giving yourself permissi...

Welcome to Episode 39 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this episode, Sarah takes a trip back in time to find out: Where did the ubiquitous 3x10 come from? It’s a wild ride that takes her down more than one rabbit hole and brings us face to face with 1RM, RPE, RIR, and everything else with an R in it. You will learn: Where did the 3 x 10 protocol come from How 3 x 10 has changed over time, in a si...

Welcome to Episode 38 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this episode about bone density, Sarah and Laurel talk all about what kinds of exercise are indicated by research to improve bone density, and almost more importantly: what isn’t (including yoga). We also discuss: What is bone density and how do we measure it Why women are at more risk for fracture than men, especially following menopause How...

Welcome to Episode 37 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this episode, Laurel and Sarah talk about the connection between plyometrics, impact training, and bone building. You will learn: The difference between plyometrics and impact training. What we need to consider if we are using plyometrics and/or impact training to increase bone density. What the stretch-shortening cycle is and why it is impor...

Welcome to Episode 36 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this listener-requested episode, Sarah and Laurel discuss somatic dominance, a phrase coined by author Matthew Remski to describe the manner in which teachers of movement, and yoga specifically, can come to exert control over their students, and the potential for abuse of this control. Content Warning: This episode contains references to phys...

Welcome to Episode 35 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this episode Laurel sits down to talk with an old friend and colleague Dr. Caitlin Casella, DPT. In their conversation, Caitlin shares about her journey from yoga teacher to movement teacher to physical therapist. Laurel and Caitlin get into a multi-faceted discussion around the goals of rehabilitation, and how unfortunately sometimes the reh...

Welcome to Episode 34 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this third episode about cueing, Sarah and Laurel discuss a specific subset (that’s a circle within a circle) of cues: feedback. Namely, we focus on when and how your feedback cues to your yoga, movement, and strength training clients can be most effective, and how there’s a strong chance you’re not helping them with that all important goal:...