“I'm not actually doing a push-up with my arms; I'm depressing and elevating the scapula. People get confused by the name 'scapula push-up' — it looks like a push-up that's barely moving. But the movement is all in the shoulder blades: spreading apart, then squeezing back together. The arms stay straight. Your serratus anterior is doing all the work, and most people have never used it on purpose.”

Form

“Fingertips to the temples; try not to put your hand on the back of your head to avoid pulling the head forwards — I see this mistake in every class. Hand behind the head, elbow rotating — and the neck is doing the twisting, not the thoracic spine. Temple position keeps the neck out of it. The rotation should come from the ribcage, nowhere else.”

Safety

“Find our maximum range, and then find just a little bit more at the top. Thoracic rotation is one of those things where your body will give you 80% of your range out of habit, and then stop. The last 20% is where the stiffness lives. Hold at the end range, breathe into it, and let the ribcage open. That last little bit is where the real upper back stretches happen.”

Motivation

“No movement in the torso during hip circles — the leg moves independently within the hip joint. This is harder than it sounds. The hip wants to drag the pelvis along for the ride. Your core has to hold the pelvis dead still while the femur rotates. If you feel your torso rocking, make the circles smaller. The exercise is hip dissociation, not hip-and-everything-else movement.”

Form