A Case Study: A fit male retiree, early 60s, avid skier, cyclist and hiker. He's strong but lacks general mobility.

5 days ago

2 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

From time to time I will talk about a client that I work with and The Danaher Method approach to this client.

Here's the Client Profile for this feature:

A fit retiree, in his early 60s, avid skier, cyclist, hiker. Very strong but lacks general mobility. We work together 2x week in the studio or online.

Presenting Traits:

He skis, cycles, hikes and is generally strong and active.
He came to Pilates and The Danaher Method to improve his flexibility and balance knowing that both are increasingly important as we age.
This client is very strong in his big muscles but weaker in his smaller muscles (and the big ones can overcompensate).
When we started working together his shoulder mobility was limited, that's been improving.
He has strength imbalances in his ankles, and an injury history here which leads to overworking calves.
He will have nagging knee pain from time to time, usually from overuse.

THE DANAHER METHOD APPROACH TO THIS CLIENT:

In Our Session Together We:

I’ve been working with this client for a few years both in the studio & online.
His strength in his big muscles can hide weaknesses in smaller ones. For example, this client can hike and ski aggressively it but a TDM side lying series will be very challenging.
In general we work on:
- Mobility through the thoracic spine to increase shoulder range of motion and support his neck. When our rib-cage doesn’t move the cervical and lumbar spine overcompensate. Increasing his thoracic mobility helps his shoulder mobility.
- Breathing, expanding AND contracting the ribcage and connecting to his deeper core muscles.
- Hip Stability, developing his small, deep muscles to be in balance with the larger ones.
- This client is an advanced mover so we also challenge his balance and muscle endurance.
- Recently, because of lots of bending and kneeling working on home projects, his knee which will give him pain from time to time has been acting up so we've been doing release for his hips, quads and IT Band.

Based on our session together I recommend:

With this client, we continue to work on these things and see improvements in his overall mobility and balance. He continues to be very strong.
For when we are not in the studio together or for someone who might resonate with this story, here are classes from the TDM Digital Library that I recommend for this client.

These are the classes that I recommend for this client:

1. Windmill Thoracic circles every day! Here's a class from our online library that includes these. Getting Your Shoulders Onto Your Back.