After 4 lessons of coaching, I’ve started to learn how to do forehand, backhand, volley forehand, volley backhand. Even though I thought I know my body well enough, to adapt to a new form is not as simple.
The definition of neutral position is quite different from Pilates for some joints position. For example, the wrist alignment. All these years of my Pilates and Gyrotonics trainings, neutral means that my hand is in a straight line in relation to my forearms. However, in forehand, the wrist should be in extension. So, I didn’t get it right away when my coach kept telling me to make my wrist more neutral. Because my brain is wired in different way.
Luckily, I’ve developed a sense of awareness of my body. Once I understood what he meant, I was able to adapt to that new “neutral” wrist for forehand. It’s just one little example of how Pilates helps me.
I’ve always known that movement should originate from pelvis movement. So that part is quite easy. I was able to rotate my pelvis and transferred the movement to lower and upper limbs. So, no back pain for me.
This experience really intrigues me. I often hear this phrase “we don’t know what we don’t know”, especially from Douglas Heel, one of world renowned mentor who taught us Muscle Activation. I now realized that as much as I’d like to think that I know my body well, I still don’t know what I don’t know if I never use it and adapt it in different ways.
So, if you are new in tennis or other sports, and would like to explore your body more to create that sense of body awareness, I’m eager to help. Because I’m like a child who’s curious to all possibilities on how our body can move..
Movement blog 