[shoulder opening]

• shoulder flexion at various angles (from wide-angle stretch to puppy parallel)
• reverse table arms
• shoulder extension
• supine arm openings and circles
• supine overhead arm flexion

[spine assessment]

• cat-table-cow
• shell stretch

[pelvic assessment]

• pelvic curl
• alternating leg lifts
• ab/ob curls

[spinal articulation]

• roll up
• spine stretch-saw
• butterfly upright-roll down

[core series]

• 100 prep
• single leg stretch
• criss-cross
• frog

[side, back]

• side leg pulls
• back extensions
• sphinx
• or
• double leg kick
• swimming
• leg pull front
• one leg kick

[rolling integration]

• roll back
• roll over

[warm up]

• reverse t.t. arms
• pelvic curls
• reverse t.t. (progression towards leg pull back)
• 100 broken down into double t.t., legs extended to 90°, ab/ob curls
• single leg stretch, criss-cross oblique activation
• double leg stretch

[leg work]

• supine adductor stretch, one-leg circles with band

[spine work]

• roll back, roll up to spine stretch, roll over
• arm openings and circles

[back extensions]

• back extension, one leg kick, swimming variations (lying down, kneeling)

[finishing poses]

• leg pull front
• side leg pull
• side bends

• all over rolling (척추 분절 운동)
• cat-cow (neutral 찾기)
• shell (hip hinge + 견갑 full mobility 체크)
• wheel (수축된 목 release)
• supine twists with arm circles (팔 strings stretch)
• dolphin (다른 강력한 목 release)
• puppy (thoracic, 견갑 mobility for dog 찾기)
• dog (full spine 길이 측정)

______

• reverse t.t. arms + arm extension
• pelvic curl
• reverse t.t. (challenge)

______

• short butterfly
• frog squat
• wide f.f.

______

• traditional lunges
• wide runners' stretch
• pyramids (standing leg integration)

______

• sphinx-swan dive prep (w/ magic circle?)
• side leg pull
• 100 preps (w/ magic circle?)
• front leg pull

______

• roll back → bug → straddle

• supine twists w. arm circles
• 90/90
• dorsi work, narrow f.f.
• active hanu
• butterfly
• slow frog squat
• wide f.f.
• shell

______

• arm series (ext, gomuk, flex, eagle)
• reverse t.t. arms
• dog, dolphin

______

• cat-cow
• pelvic curl
• ab/ob curls
• 100 preps
• mermaids to side leg pulls
• back ext (sphix to swan dive prep)
• breaststroke (scapular movement)
• leg pull back
• glute med activation

______

Pilates Strength Challenge Poses

• teaser
• leg pull front
• leg pull back
• breaststroke
• criss-cross
• push-up

• supine arm openings + arm circles
• dumb waiter w. bands
• 90/90 mermaids, w. twist, seated mermaids
• cobra
• shell (w. twist or improved QL stretch)
• butterfly
• active hanu
• dorsi work to narrow f.f.
• slow frog squat to wide f.f. (against wall - Iyengar)
• roll down w. straight legs (balance check - Pilates)

______

상체

• cat-cow
• arm work (ext, gomuk, flex, eagle)
• dolphin, dog, puppy (공부 필요), wheel

______

• reverse t.t. arms, reverse t.t. (study front leg pull prep variations)
• pelvic curl (like an upside-down bow)
• ab/ob curls
• 100 prep (upside-down spine stretch)
• side leg pull (study variations)
• sphinx/swan dive prep (needs further study)
• TYA (to study)
• leg pull back
• gm activation w. band

______

• roll back → bug → straddle (challenge)

series #1

• arm openings and circles (sternum away from the stretched shoulder?)
• arm overhead flexion
• arm extension (as if pushing weight through the armpit sides of the chest?)
• dumb waiter with band (pushing the lower scapula and T8 toward the front body?)
• 90/90 legs with mermaids upper body (fixed hip to stretched armpit to palm, in the longest curve)

series #2

• sphinx (dorsal arch to pubic bone, to sternum, to forehead; pubic bone to xiphoid process; crown to xiphoid)
• cobra (push more weight backward and forward)
• cow (pubic bone to xiphoid process, to upper sternum, to forehead; crown to xiphoid)
• puppy (same duo logic throughout)
• dolphin (refer to plank duo lines)
• dog (study and add arm duo lines)

series #3

• lunges (dorsal to pubic, to upper sternum, to forehead; crown to xiphoid, to lesser trochanter, to tibial notch)
• pigeons (from arch to bent knee to outer hip; from crown to sit bones—imagine suspending the longest elastics around them)
• wall work (breathing w. arms up [diaphragm and pelvic dome apposition], fig 4, bug, straddle, single-leg bridges hamstring activation, walking with reciprocal hip internal and external rotation)
• gomuk (cf. pigeon duo lines)
• bridge (dorsal to pubic, to upper sternum, to forehead; crown to xyphoid, to lesser trochanter, to tibial notch; palm to pubic bone; trace forward through lower thighs)
• tactical frog (cf. pigeon/gomuk duo lines)
• slow frog squat (tripod feet; resisting elastic bands around lower thighs to feet, lower knees to sit bones, crown to coccyx)

series #4

• shell (upper body of toes-to-bar, coccyx to crown--tracing the longest curve; lower body: longest elastics from upper knees to heels, tibial notches to sit bones)
• narrow f.f. (same pattern throughout)
• wide f.f. (same imagination, engagement throughout)

Lately, I've been so inspired by this Stuart McMillan interview that I’ve begun weaving some of his ideas about sprinting and isometric training into my own routine. This month, I’ve broken my conditioning agenda into three parts, and honestly, they feel like they’ll carry me for a long time (unless I come across something revolutionary...).

1. Foundational Structural Rehabilitation Work

This is my essential maintenance — skip it for too long, and I end up feeling a bit of a shambles.

• arm openings
• arm overhead flexion (over wheel)
• nerve glides w. bands
• arm extension in hero sit
• reverse t.t. arms
• gomuk arms in gomuk legs
• bridge (think upside-down ‘bow’)
• 90/90 mermaids
• lunges, pigeons, runner’s nerve glides
• butterfly, tactical frog
• slow frog squat, sumo squat, wide f.f.
• dorsi, narrow f.f. (think upside-down ‘toe-to-bar’)

_ nightly _

• wall fig 4
• olympian bug
• straddle
• knee on wall hip ext.

2. Après-swim Recovery Routine

This is my go-to after swimming or when time is tight. The goal is to bring some length back into the body.

• shell (move into it from max efficient resistance force) – sphinx – bow (think upside down ‘supta virasana’) – cow – puppy saw – dolphin (test out max contraction) – dog (test out max contraction)
• dorsi – narrow f.f.
• frog squat – wide f.f.

3. Conditioning Laboratory

This is where I’ve been having the most fun lately — playing with mental images of athletes in sports-specific positions and movements. Focusing on managing gravity and efficiently transferring force from the feet upward — kind of like throwing a boxer’s punch, but with the feet, as McMillan puts it — as well as watching short clips of athletes doing isometric work and layering those onto my own holds and slow-tempo eccentrics, has become one of my favorite ways to organize and explore movement.

While holding these positions, I also test whether I can breathe as fully as possible, and whether I can create the strongest cylindrical pressure I can imagine around my bones.

One odd image I keep coming back to: picturing my chest cavity as an Atlantic salmon steak — sternum rising while the lowermost tips of my ribs reach down through my sit bones. Then I try to sense a higher center of mass than I usually do by imagining my lower body like a CrossFitter hanging from a bar, ready to swing into full-body flexion and extension.

Strangely enough, these seem to help for now...

• loaded dorsi (knees up, knees down; attempt to lift off)
• front foot elevated sprinter’s lunge (plantar flexion, dorsiflexion; attempt to lift off), fencing lunge
• loaded hip extension on ground
• bow prep
• bridge (think 'knee stand')
• ski jump good morning, loaded hero slow sit
• wide f.f. x dog hybrid
• loaded sumo squat
• runner’s nerve glides (on knees & supine)
• 100 (think upside-down 'spine stretch')
• supine gomuk fold
• supine arm opening
• eagle arms
• reverse t.t. arms + arm extension
• loaded arm ext. (mutt bar)
• arm flexion series (shell, sphinx, cat, puppy saw, dolphin, dog)

Slightly revised dailies, incorporating some lessons from Iyengar classes

• arm openings, 90/90 stomach twists
• usual arm flexion series (starting from Cathie’s shell stretch) | dove over wheel
• nerve glides | dumb waiter w. band | external shoulder rotation over blocks under scapulae
• 90/90 mermaids, hit all swim stroke directions
• arm ext. *make prettiest effort* | arm ext. in couch lunge position | arm ext. in flipped bows
• gomuk, all ways
• bridge *make prettiest effort*
• 100 *how to make it a good spine stretch?*
• adductor series: butterfly, tact frog, olympic, straddle, 1/2 gate stand, 1/2 thread, 1/2 seated wide f.f.
• lunges to runner’s nerve glides to trad. pigeons
• Iyengar review: 1. padang, 2. pyramids
• wide f.f., frog SQ, sumo SQ
• soleus SQ, narrow f.f.

______

A Whole-Body Transmission Reset Routine for Effective Exercise Adaptations

• Posterior chain activation, feet-hip connection

• Heel drops – roll down – butterfly – soleus SQ – step downs – elevated lunge works: 1. Stu lunge over 1 block, 2. iso step ups over 2 blocks, 3. sling shot lunge over 2 blocks – lunges to runner’s nerve glides to pigeons – tact. frog – sumo SQ – olympic bug – straddle – bow prep

• Upper body connection

• Glute bridge – 100 prep – ham pulls – mod. pigeons – 90/90 mermaids, nerve glides, gomuk, ext., – arm openings – arm flexion over wheel – flexion series (shell, cow, sphinx, puppy, wrist, thread vars, dolphin, dog) – wide f.f.

Here is what I consider my vessel-conditioning routine (マイ・ルーティン) as of late:

• foot roll, dorsiflexion, heel drops, roll down, spot peanut ball, hinge to old dog, psoas block, pelvic curl, padang, whole peanut ball, shoulder bridge, butterfly, 90/90 to melting deer ⏯
• ab/ob curls, spine wheel, arm openings, gomuk back massage, boat prep (as if prone supta virasana), side boats ⏯
• cat cows, puppy explorations, dolphin ⏯
• lizard to runner’s, frog sq to wide f.f., olympic to straddle ⏯
• trad hanu exploration (w. mermaid arm spirals), back extensions w. arm extension, side cobra to side leg lifts

I’ve been orienting myself through the mental image of having six sets of knees along the Superficial Back Line:

1 - Big toe mounds
2 - Heels
3 - Actual knees
4 - Ischium
5 - Spine behind the sternum
6 - The curve between the occiput and brows

I’ve also added go–stop points throughout the routine—to allow for moments of in-depth focus on specific areas, while also permitting for the reality that I don’t always have time to complete the full routine (even though I’d ideally like to…).

______

Swimming as a form of vessel-making (マイ・スイミング・ドリル)

Here are some drills and progressions I’m working on—with the mindset of approaching swimming as a practice of vessel-making with the body.

• Achieve head-to-pelvis balance first, being conscious of the “sixth knee” between the brows and the occiput.
• Then sneak one arm under the body, curving it downwards as if going over a giant ball, to lengthen the entire surface of the body covering the water—but without disrupting the balance formed in Step 1.
• Practice skating along the zigzag path that crosses and balances the body on the water along its Lateral Line.

• When sufficiently balanced and skating, let the lead hand disappear in the mind, abstracting it as a sense of weight or gravity point rather than a physical entity, paddle, or tool that pulls water; instead, develop heightened awareness and control of the elbows as the chief propelling driver.
• Combining the sensations of Steps 3 and 4, experiment with gravity shifts left and right, sneaking arms either under or over the water to alternate sides of the body.
• The goal is to move through water as sneakily as possible.