The Pulley Tower Unit
The Pulley Tower Unit is the primary piece of Gyrotonic equipment and the possibilities on it are nearly endless. We work the entire body with the pulley tower and in an incredibly wide variety of seating, laying, kneeling and standing positions. With the enormous range of possibilities with the pulley tower, it's possible to work with people at any level of strength and fitness. Because much of the work is seated, it is an excellent tool for rehabilitative work. When we take the bench away, we can work on total body, athletic style stretching and strengthening. The work on the Pulley Tower is organized into various families depending on how the equipment is being used. Each of the different families also emphasize different body segments.
Imitation is Flattery.
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Ok, here's a really nutty variation. I got this from @bicep_bunny back I'm May 2020. The motion of the free arm comes from Emma Kingston's great Rejuvenation of the Hands and Feet course. Doing that while doing stirring is some wild coordination.
I had some trouble with this movement as my left shoulder has an old injury from when I was a teenager.
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#gyrotonic #pulleytower #mltpulleytower #handleseries #mlthandleseries #creativeseries #mltcreativeseries #shouldermobility #shoulderopening #blackandwhitewednesday
The Ladder
The Ladder is an amazing piece of equipment with the main focus being core strength. Not just your abs. Everything about your core: front, back and sideways. There are 6 primary ways you position your body on the Ladder and then it's you against gravity to strengthen your core. For a machine with no moving parts, it's some serious work!
I think I'm running out of possibilities for doing Skipping on the Ladder.
Once again, the uniqueness of Gyrotonic training shows with this position. Forget boring side planks. *yawn*.
Core strengthening doesn't have to be mind numbing.
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicladder #mltladder #corestrength #totalbodyexercise #totalbody #proprioception #coordination
In another episode of "But can it be done on the Ladder?"
I'm biased but I say that no exercise system asks you to challenge your coordination in the midst of a straight up core strengthening exercise the way Gyrotonic training does.
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicladder #mltladder #corestrength #glutes #coordination
Gyrotonic July, Ladder style.
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Today's exercise is Canoeing. Normally done on the pulley tower with straps OR the Wingmaster. Im on this big "Can you do it on the Ladder?" kick though. And once again, yes.
Waterfall Canoeing.
4 reps is about my max right now!
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicjuly #gyrotonicjuly2022 #gyrotonicladder #mltladder #corestrength
Gyrotonic July
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The exercise of the day is Turle (also known as 4 part Turtle). I thought, "Hey, is there a way to do turtle on the Ladder?"
Yes. Yes there is. I present Levitation Turtle.
Yet another example of how Gyrotonic training can keep your core strengthening exercises fun and vibrant. And hella hard.
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicjuly #gyrotonicjuly2022 #gyrotonicladder #mltladder #corestrength #fitness #workout
When you first got this Ladder I said to my girlfriend Sacha (who was certified on the Ladder back in 2001), "Now I have a Ladder. NOW I can get strong. Within the context of Gyrotonic training, nothing makes me feel stronger than the Ladder/Archway.
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicladder #mltladder #corestrength #strengthtraining #spinalmobility
THE LADDER!
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A great thing about the Ladder (as well as the Archway) is the variety of body positions you can be in as you strengthen your core. Core is not just abs, is not just the front of your body and isn't always in straight lines. Thus is a great total body exercise that strengthens the whole posterior chain in 2 ranges of motion.
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicladder #mltladder #corestrength #totalbody #totalbodyexercise
THE LADDER!!
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This is pretty much the most basic thing you can do on the Ladder but it's also one of the best. This by itself is worth having a Ladder.
It's a fantastic traction for the spine. Its better than an inversion table or yoga swing. You spine is co oletely free and thr padded rung comfortably supports your weight on your thighs.
I do this every time I'm in the studio. It's blissful.
#gyrotonic #gyrotonicladder #mltladder #healthyspine #spinaltraction #inversions
THE LADDER!!
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Stoked
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Oh the irony of moving to a much smaller place THEN getting more equipment. The double irony is that if I was still in the bigger place I wouldn't have been able to afford to purchase this when it became available.
You'll be seeing ALOT of the Ladder in the next couple of weeks. 😁😁😁
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicladdder #mltladder #corestrength #abs #makawao
The Wingmaster
The Gyrotonic Wingmaster is an accessory piece to the Pulley Tower unit. As the trainer who developed the teacher training for the Wingmaster, I obviously put it to heavy use. While it is a very simple piece of equipment the applications are broad. It is excellent for focusing on upper body strengthening within the context of Gyrotonic movements. It is also great for helping clients improve their posture, especially those who tend to be rounded across the shoulders or who's shoulders tend to live up by the ears.
The exercises use resistance in several ways. The resistance can be directly on the body so emphasize the spinal ranges of motion and direct core strengthening.
The June Wingmaster class/workout is next Friday, June 11 at 11 am HST. It will, of course, be recorded and also subtitled in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Korean.
This is from the same group of exercises I posted recently but at less of a "I had too much coffee" tempo.
If you watch to the end you'll see that I am challenged in this exercise when my right leg is back. This is a known imbalance in me and probably has to do with damage to my right meniscus. I have to slow down and narrow to stabilize. So long as an exercise is not causing or worsening an injury, if an exercise shows an imbalance, that's the exercise to help correct the imbalance.
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The link to sign up for the Wingmaster class is I need my profile. Scroll down to the Live Classes section.
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicwingmaster #mltwingmaster #mltwingmasters1 #totalbodyexercise #fitproonpodio #onpodio #workout #fitness #exercise
More post course fun. Again we have @shannonsterne and @ekumley with a big total body movement, backstroke with sumo squat.
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Sumo squats differ from standard squats in that by having a wide foot stance a hip hinge is not required for the squat. It changes how to glutes and adductors are worked in the movement. It's good to mix things up.
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@inspiralmotion
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicwingmaster #wingmastercourse #mltwingmasters1 #totalbody #totalbodyexercise #legdayeveryday #fitness #exercise #workout
At the end of courses I like to give the participants a preview of what's next. While we do lunges in the current Wingmaster course they are static lunges, what I call "personal training lunges". We stay down in the 90/90 lunge as we do our upper body movements.
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Here we have @shannonsterne and @ekumley doing active lunges and kayaking. Leg day every day, baby!
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@inspiralmotion
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicwingmaster #wingmastercourse #mltwingmasters1 #cleveland #inspiralmotion #workout #totalbody #totalbodyexercise #legdayeveryday
I'm off to the Mainland on Friday to lead the Wingmaster course in Santa Monica at The Body Rhythm. There's still time to sign up to work, play, have fun, and WORK! Link to the studio is in my profile.
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Squat with rotations from the course at @elementscenter . .
#gyrotonic #gyrotonictraining #gyrotonicwingmaster #wingmastercourse #legday #legdayeveryday #squats #primalmovement #mltwingmasters1
At the beginning of last month I had the pleasure of being hosted by @rinaldiperformance for the Wingmaster course.
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At the end of the course, Melanie, @amynamaste and @bob.schroedter stuck around for some vids. In this one we did an exercise from a series that's not even in the course. It's in the "future editions" material, so named because I'm not sure I'll get to use the name "level 2". 😁
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#gyrotonic #wingmastercourse #gyrotonicwingmaster #miami #teachertraining #totalbody #totalbodyexercise #mltwingmasters1
More from the recent trip to Elements Fitness and Training Center in Washington DC.
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We had fun with the choreography when shooting since the trainers were facing away from each other. This was a great group of trainers and I certainly hope they've taken the work home, practiced and started finding ways to use the Wingmaster material to help their clients reach their goals.
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@elementscenter
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicwingmaster #wingmastercourse #mltwingmasters1 #spinalmobility #washingtondc #fitfam #community
The WIngmaster Course at @elementscenter in Washington DC.
I had a great weekend with these trainers and it was great to spend some time with Master Trainer Justine Bernard.
After the course was completed we stayed around and made a bunch of videos like this. Setting 1 backstroke.
#gyrotonic #gyrotonicwingmaster #wingmastercourse #mltwingmasters1 #teachertraining #fitness #exercise #spinalmobility #washingtondc
Some shots from the Wingmaster Course last weekend in sunny and cold Evanston.
Here we have Kay @cnskinetics and Fernando @allwaysfitnesshouston working their spinal ranges of motion.
Chicago Northshore Kinetics is a great studio. Really big, lots of space, lots of equipment and a great staff. If you get a chance to take a teacher training there, I recommend it.
#gyrotonic #gyrotonictraining #gyrotonicwingmaster #fitness #exercise #spinalmobility #evanstonillinois #evanston #mltwingmasters1
More ideas on #gyrotonic training for surfing
When #surfers are carving, they'll move their upper and lower body in opposition. Most times when we work on such movements in Gyrotonic training, the lower body is static and the upper body rotates. This Wingmaster exercise does the opposite. The Wingmaster helps the upper body remain stable as the lower body rotates.
#gyrotonictraining #gyrotonicforsurfing #gyrotonicwingmaster #surfing #islandlife #sportspecific #corestrength #pulleytower #mltwingmasters1
Back with our visitor from Hong Kong, Vickie. Introducing her to the awesomeness that is the #gyrotonicwingmaster
#totalbody strengthening with balanced arch and balanced curl in a static #lunge. Gotta work all your lower body muscles to sustain a solid lunge. Engage those glutes, adductors and hamstrings! Otherwise it's a straight up quads burn. No bueno!
Always good to have folks from around the world visit @theworkingbodyoakland
#gyrotonic #gyrotonictraining #totalbodyexercise #legday #legdayeveryday #gyrotonicworld #mltwingmasters1
SoCal next Saturday! Teaching the Wingmaster Workshop to a bunch of friends I haven't met. I hope y'all are ready to have them legs worked cause... lunges and squats!
#gyrotonic #gyrotonictraining #gyrotonicwingmaster #wingmasterworkshop #totalbody #totalbodyexercise #lunges #squats #fitness #workout #nofilter #mltwingmasters1
Just one more week and I'm in Santa Monica at The Movement Center Los Angeles to teach the Wingmaster Workshop. Looking forward to a great weekend!
@premaonearth @b3health
#gyrotonic #gyrotonicwingmaster #wingmasterworkshop #gyrotonictraining #exercise #fitness #workout #spinalmobility #mltwingmasters1
Side Bend week
#towertuesday
I loves me some Wingmaster!
Holding the #gyrotonicwingmaster at your shoulders facing the tower adds resistance to any spinal motion. Unlike traditional #strengthtraining the resistance doesn't just affect the prime movement but also increases the effort you expend to stabilize the other two planes.
For example, in this motion I'm moving in the frontal plan but because of the resistance being in front of me pulling me at my shoulders I also have to stabilize #movement in the sagittal plane. This #exercise will also expose imbalances in the muscles of rotation when you see someone unable to stabilize in the transverse plane.
As always, the exercise that exposes a muscle imbalance is the exercise to correct that imbalance.
#gyrotonic #gyrotonictraining #gyrotonictrainer #healthyposture #corestrength #mltwingmasters1
The Wingmaster can be in your hands to add in a pushing/pressing element for strengthening the chest, shoulders, triceps and serratus muscles.
It's always nice to have trainers from far away lands visit. And yes, California counts as a "far away land" when you live on Maui.
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@cathleenmurakami was on island and stopped by for a session. We did lots of Wingmaster material like kayaking from setting 2. Apparently Cathleen enjoyed that exercise! Great to finally meet you, Cathleen.
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicwingmaster #fitfam #community #fitness #exercise #workout #maui #makawao #mltwingmasters2
A few folks from the fun training up in Evanston at Chicago Northshore Kinetics back in March. Seaweed is a great, fluid, undulating side bending movement.
When you're moving as a group, even in as large a space as that studio has, you gotta listen to each other's breath to synchronize the movements. Otherwise, *clunk*. .
I'm organizing my course schedule for 2019. If you'd like to host a Wingmaster course at your studio, please send me a PM. I'm very much ready to take this course to Europe and Asia, so don't be shy!
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicwingmaster #wingmastercourse #groupexercise #groupex #fitness #exercise #spinalmobility #mltwingmasters2
I knew I had done some video when I was in Portland! The files were in the wrong spot in my hard drive.
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It's like a reverse twist and pull but you push instead. Get your Gyrotonic movements in with the added benefit of upper body strengthening. .
The next Wingmaster course starts in 12 days in Santa Monica at @bodyrhythmgyrotonic . Link to their studio in my profile.
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@center_gyrotonic
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicwingmaster #portland #wingmastercourse #exercise #fitness #workout #mltwingmasters2
Nice togetherness here, trainers. .
You want to talk about delicious movements, Cabbage Patch is one of them. Reach, stretch, morph, be gummy, be strong, yawn, PANDICULATE. .
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicwingmaster #mltwingmasters2 #wingmastercourse #fitness #exercise #spinalmobility #yawn #washingtondc
More Wingmaster movements from the course at Elements Fitness and Wellness Center.
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Big yummy side bends. Exhale for strengthening, inhale for a yawn. Streeeeetttccchhhhh it out.
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@elementscenter
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicwingmaster #wingmastercourse #mltwingmasters2 #washingtondc #teachertraining #fitfam #fitness #exercise #workout
Pictures are good but video is better.
A group of students from the Wingmaster course at Chicago Northshore Kinetics.
Part of the inspiration for the Wingmaster course was the idea of doing pressing exercises. With so much time on computers and smart phones, our elbows are flexed way too much. Triceps weakness has a negative effect on your shoulder function. But just because you want to strengthen your triceps, that doesn't mean the exercise has to be 1 dimensional or boring. Let's move in the transverse and sagittal planes and make it look good too.
#gyrotonic #gyrotonictraining #gyrotonicwingmaster #strengthtraining #upperbodystrength #corestrength #mltwingmasters2
More pics from the Evanston Wingmaster course.
Take the Wingmaster off your shoulders, put it in your hands and the number of options you have goes up a whole lot. These three shots are all movements from Setting 2. There's an increased focus on upper body strengthening but we still work through the ranges of motion we use in Gyrotonic training.
First up an Arch, then a spiral, then side bend. .
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonictraining #gyrotonicwingmaster #groupex #groupexercise #upperbodystrengthening #pushingexercises #spinalmobility #evanstonillinois #evanston #chicago #chicagonorthshorekinetics #mltwingmasters2
Day 3 of the Wingmaster Course in Portland.
Great group of trainers picking up this material hecka quickly. This morning we started an hour early just to do pictures and video. I was the camera person so I wasn't directing them. I think I'm going to do that on day 3 in every course from now on because it becomes a great review for the students to have to remember the exercises on their own.
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#mltwingmasters2
Get up off that bench and work those legs!
We all want to be strong and fit. We all want to be able to use our bodies with purpose in a multitude of activities.
Most athletic activities share a common building block: lunges. To make #gyrotonic training as valuable as possible for our athletic clients, do those lunges!
#legday #legdayeveryday #gyrotonictraining #lunges #gyrotonicwingmaster #wingmasterworkshop #mltwingmasters2
Putting the #gyrotonicwingmaster into you hands opens up a new world of possibilities for movements and #strengthening . Here are three trainers from the #wingmasterworkshop at @bodypurepilates pressing for upper body strength while side bending, strengthening the shoulders & check muscles, tricpes via the press while strengthening their #coremuscles (especially obliques, spinal erectors and intercostals). And don't forget the gains from their coordinated #breathing !
#upperbodystrength #corestrength #gyrotonic #gyrotonictraining #mltwingmasters2
A shot from last weekend's Wingmaster Workshop in Columbus, OH. Here is Florida based trainer Laura Foster working her upper body strength within a spiraling movement.
I really feel like direct strengthening is an aspect of #gyrotonic training that is under emphasized. The system is not just about flexibility and "core" strength, it is direct muscular strengthening. And the #gyrotonicwingmaster is an excellent tool to put that into focus.
#gyrotonictraining #wingmasterworkshop #upperbodystrength #corestrength #shoulderstrength #mltwingmasters2
Having fun with @b3health between sessions during the #wingmasterworkshop .
#Lunges y'all. You want a firm booty (I hear that's a popular fitness goal)? Then do lunges. Quads, adductors, calves and yes, even hamstrings get strengthened with lunges.
And of course, since we're talking about #gyrotonictraining we add purposeful upper body strengthening and spinal movements.
#movementcenterla
#gyrotonic #gyrotonicwingmaster #fitness #exercise #workout #totalbody #totalbodyexercise #mltwingmasters2
And you can turn around and do pulling exercises to strengthen the shoulders, back and biceps.
A couple days ago my pal @trey_fry posted a video of this series from our Wingmaster Course in Evanston. Here's another angle.
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Trey, I really appreciate your very kind words about the course. That was a great weekend!
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@cnskinetics (come on, Kay, you've got an account. Use it! 😁 )
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#gyrotonic #gyrotonicwingmaster #wingmastercourse #mltwingmasters3 #totalbody #totalbodyexercise #workout #fitness #exercise #commmunity #fitfam #evanston
Very excited, happy and grateful that the Wingmaster material I've worked on for years has finally qualified as a course!
Yes, the Wingmaster Course now qualifies as an update for your Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis license!
Join me at a course in 2018. Link in bio.
From @gyrotonicheadquarters -----------------------
New GYROTONIC® Course Available for Updates
Mike Luque's Gyrotonic Wingmaster Workshop has been upgraded to a Gyrotonic Specialized Course, and is now eligible to fulfill the Gyrotonic Trainer CEC (update) requirement allowing one to renew a Gyrotonic tm license. If a student is both a Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis Trainer, he/she is eligible to renew both trademark licenses after taking this course. The prerequisite for the course is to be a Gyrotonic level 1 Trainer.
#gyrotonic #gyrotonicwingmaster #wingmasterworkshop #wingmastercourse #gyrotonictraining #mltwingmasters3
Once you put the Wingmaster in your hands and you get up onto your feet, there's a whole new world of possibility.
Like this #kayaking #exercise. Kayaking is done in #gyrokinesis and on the #legextensionunit and now on the #pulleytower with the #gyrotonicwingmaster .
When I took the #gyrotonic level 2 pretraining a few months ago, it reminded me how great side shifting movements of the pelvis can be. Here, you can do the kayaking either on the same side you shift towards (ipsilateral) or on the opposite side (contralateral). Seriously... too many possibilities!! #gyrotonictraining #wingmasterworkshop #totalbody #totalbodyexercise #mltwingmasters3
Continuing with the wave series, today I turn it around and switch it from a pushing exercise to a pulling exercise. Oh yeah, and added squats.
Every time a new element is added you improve your proprioception, your awareness of your body in space. First the wave was seated with the Wingmaster at the shoulders. Then I increased the complexity in two ways by standing and by holding the Wingmaster in my hands, which increased the number of joints I had to control and organize by 2 (shoulders & elbows). Today I take it up another notch by adding in motion at the knees. Yes, the hips joints are involved in the squats, but they were already involved with the hip hinge in the standing waves.
#gyrotonic #gyrotonictraining #gyrotonicwingmaster #wingmasterworkshop #totalbody #totalbodyexercise #mltwingmasters3
