Do you teach this in your classes?
Hey Reader,
I'm going to say something that might seem obvious to you. But based on first-hand experience lately, I can confirm it's not obvious to everyone.
Here goes...
When you’re in plank pose, your wrists are in the position of extension.
What? Were you expecting something more dramatic 😉?
No drama here. I just want to make sure we're on the same page about what our wrists are doing during a movement practice.
Any weight-bearing pose—like downward dog, handstand, or wheel—puts our wrists into extension. That’s why it’s a good idea to help people mobilize their wrists in ways that make extension available to them.
The mistake most teachers make is thinking that only training wrist extension is enough.
We also need to train the effort of wrist flexion.
Try this:
Stick your arm out in front of you, straightening your elbow completely. Your palm should be facing the ground.
Next, point your fingers up toward the sky. That’s wrist extension.
Without moving or rotating your arm, point your fingers to the ground so that your palm is facing you. That’s wrist flexion.
If you alternate between extension and flexion at the wrist a few times, you’ll likely notice how the effort changes from the top side of your forearm (your extensors) to the underside of your forearm (your flexors).
Now move onto your hands and knees.
Notice how this position puts your wrists in extension.
Rather than letting your weight rest passively in your wrists, push through your fingers until your palms lift off the floor. It should look something like this.
Moving your wrists up and down in this position trains the effort of flexion—your ability to drive your fingers down and find engagement in muscles that most of us don't use enough. It’s like the heel raises you do when standing to strengthen your calves. Here, you’re doing a calf raise for your forearms. After multiple repetitions (15+), your forearms might be burning.
Why is this movement important?
That’s what your students will want to know when you start interrupting regular programming with funky moves they don’t expect or understand.
So here’s what to tell them:
To make plank pose (or downward dog…or any other position when you’ve got weight in your hands) more comfortable and easier to maintain for longer periods of time, we need to support both sides of the joint.
We train extension to ensure the joint won’t be stressed when it’s loaded in plank. We want to move into that range without pain—at least, that’s the goal.
But to balance that load, we train flexion using specific movements like palm raises. This lights up the opposite side of your forearm, supporting the wrist from below. It also makes the wrists more resilient and less susceptible to injury.
Apply this work in your classes and you’ll notice how many students stop complaining about their wrists. When they’re not worried about their wrists hurting, they’ll be able to enjoy everything else you teach—whether that’s slow, mindful sun salutations or dynamic, push-the-limit arm balances.
Adding these detours to your practice might elicit moans and groans at first. But once people understand why you're getting them to do this stuff, they'll become your raving fans.
If you get confused about flexion vs extension in other joints (like the shoulders!), you're 100% not alone. The good news is these anatomical terms get way clearer when you put away the textbooks and start applying this information to movement.
That's a big chunk of what we'll do during this Friday’s call.
Together we’ll explore various different asanas ranging from standing postures and single-leg balances to backbends and inversions. We’re putting each pose under a microscope to ask, “What’s really going on here?”
Our answers to that question will be informed by:
- Anatomy and physiology
- The intention behind each pose—aka what it has to offer (Have you ever wondered what the point of Triangle Pose is? We'll talk about it!)
- The shared goal of helping our students have the best possible experience in our classes
This call will change how you teach.
This call will change how you practice.
It might even make anatomy far less boring and way more relevant to how you plan your classes.
See you Friday?
Claim your seat here.
Cecily
Welcome to the Detour
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