[PH] The two minutes you can do on the floor that change everything on the court
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Hey Reader, One of the questions I asked her was what she hears most often when pickleball players walk into her studio. Her answer was immediate: the back. The hips. The knees. Not “I want to get faster.” Not “I want more power.” The complaints are almost always about pain -> the slow build-up of wear that comes from a sport that demands lateral movement, rotation, low squat positions, and quick changes of direction, week after week, without any off-court work to support those movement patterns. Here’s one of the nuggets Cathy shared: “The more we can train those movements in a safe and effective way, the better off our pickleball game is going to be. And none of us are getting younger.” She also made a point I hadn’t heard framed this way before. Most players think about their core as their abs, the six pack muscles on the front. Cathy’s whole system is built around the actual core: the "transversus abdominis", the tiny spinal muscles connecting each vertebra, the pelvic floor, and the diaphragm. Four muscles working as a team to stabilize everything else. If those aren’t firing, nothing else works the way it should. Your back takes the load. Your knees take the load. And eventually, that load shows up as the exact complaints she hears in the studio. 🎯 Here’s the one thing Cathy said to try this week: Lay flat on your back on the floor. Find the natural curve in your lower back (it should have a small gap between your lumbar spine and the floor). That’s neutral spine. Now, keeping that curve exactly where it is, slowly extend one leg out and away from you while your arms stay still. If your lower back flattens, arches, or shifts in any direction, your core isn’t holding. Most pickleball players, according to Cathy, can’t maintain that neutral position even with just the weight of one leg. Once you can, everything else gets easier, safer, and more powerful. Two minutes on the floor. No equipment. You’ll feel muscles you forgot you had. Cathy offers online classes and one-on-one coaching via Zoom for anyone who wants to go further with this. Her work is built specifically for people who want to stay on the court longer and feel better while they’re out there. You can find her at alignyakima.com. And if you want the strategy to match the physical foundation you’re building:
(30-day money-back guarantee · 1-year access · Live Q&As with Helle & Trey) P.S. Cathy works with a group of men in their 40s and 50s who come to her studio three times a week. One of them plays pickleball at a high level, nine to ten hours a week. He came in one day complaining his back was hurting. She said: "We'll stretch, and then we're going to start moving so that whatever else you're complaining about doesn't hurt you next time you hit the court." That's the whole philosophy. Feel better, move better, play longer. |
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