Gyrotonic Exercise of the Week: Upper Body Series Cabbage Patch

The is a variation on an exercise I developed in the Wingmaster material. The name "cabbage patch" comes from the dance move that I think became popular in the 80s. When I was teaching Wingmaster classes online, Cabbage Patch was included in the majority of workouts as it's one of my favorite Wingmaster exercises.

The root of this exercise is internal circumduction of the spine. Circumduction is one of the 6 spinal ranges of motion. In regular life, circumduction is one of the least used of the spinal ranges of motion. When comparing GYROTONIC® training to other exercise systems I'm always biased but I'm pretty sure I'm accurate in stating that no exercise system aside from Gyrotonic training regularly uses circumduction.

As far as frequency within the plethora of Gyrotonic exercises, circumduction is used less than extension (arch), flexion (curl), rotation (spiral) and lateral flexion (side bends). But circumduction is used in GYROKINESIS®, in the handles series on the Pulley Tower, on the Jumping Stretching Unit and on the Archway. And with my love of Cabbage Patch in the Wingmaster material, I've looked for ways to use this spinal range of motion in other series.

When looking at this particular use of circumduction, maybe I should change the name from Cabbage Patch to The Winnie as it makes me think of how Pooh looks when he's happy about having a pot of honey.