Lean into Curiosity: Helping a Client Reconnect with Shoulder Rolldown

Written by Rim Benoud-Schmitz 

“Let’s skip it…my feet always cramp”

– A client after telling them next up is Shoulder Rolldown with the Push Thru Bar.

The stories we tell ourselves can eventually become an everlasting truth, hindering our growth. I believe as a Pilates teacher my role is to help clients kindly and gently question their stories and identify which parts no longer serve them. In many cases, I have found that the story is holding a client back from progressing.

A Client's Fears Practicing with the Push Thru Bar

The Push Thru Bar is an amazing piece of equipment that provides support, resistance, and feedback. Even with its incredible abilities of helping clients grow stronger in their work, some clients fear it. The fears look different from client-to-client and the rationale behind the fears varies.

Fears clients and colleagues have shared:

• Horror stories of jaws getting hit by the bar in Push Through
• Client’s shoulders tense up in Reverse Push Through
• That moment in Shoulder Rolldown where your feet are gripping on for dear life

I seek to help clients question and move past the fearful moments in order to allow them to experience learning more about their bodies via the Push Thru Bar exercises.

Questioning the Client – A Scary Moment in Pilates Practice

“Alright and now Shoulder Roll Down”

“no, let’s skip it”

Instructor Inner Monologue: Do I accept the answer and honor the client’s request? I’m not this person’s regular instructor, they only see me sporadically when it fits in their schedule. Who am I to question someone’s body, especially when they’ve been doing Pilates for 20+ years? Maybe they’re experiencing a pain they forgot to disclose at the start of the lesson. Do they just not like the exercise? I want to know more, and I make the choice to ask the client why they want to skip shoulder rolldown.

The client shares that the exercise is annoying and their feet always cramp when doing the Shoulder Roll down and they’d rather just not do the exercise. With this information, I want to go deeper and understand more. I have an Industrial Engineering background and one of the frameworks Industrial Engineers use is the Five Whys: asking "Why" at least five times to try and identify the root cause of a situation. A client would likely lose patience if you asked them “why” five times, so I quickly run through the framework internally.

Situation: Client wants to skip shoulder roll down

1. Why? It’s annoying [provided by client]

2. Why? Feet always cramp [provided by client]

3. Why? The muscles in the feet are overworking [my assumption]

4. Why? She’s afraid the bar will slip off her feet [my assumption]

5. Why? She concerned about getting hurt if/when the bar slips away [my assumption]

Am I making a lot of leaps? Yes. Do I trust my judgement? Yes.

My next step is to bring the client in on some of my thinking and validate or debunk my assumptions.

Improving the Push-Thru Bar Experience

I asked the client if they’re willing to explore a different approach to the Shoulder Roll Down with the goal being to avoid foot cramps. If a client is adamant, they don’t want to try something, I won’t force them to try. I want buy-in before proceeding. The client smiled and said they’re up to giving it a try.

First, I ask if they feel like they have to work their feet really hard to keep the bar in place. The client lights up and says, “ugh YES”. I notice they’re wearing grippy socks, and I ask if they feel comfortable taking them off, they agree to remove the grippy socks. I share my idea that I think the grippy socks could sometimes be reason the feet feel the need to work harder than necessary.

They start with bending into table top and pushing the bar up by taking their legs straight. I notice that they look stressed and have tension in their jaw and neck. My intuition is that they are fearful of the Push Thru Bar and what could happen if their grip fails. I have them pause and bend their legs into their chest for a rest. I offer that with their hips down that the bar won’t cause injury and that I will be spotting the bar throughout the movement. Additionally, I demonstrate with the Push Thru Bar that what we’d experience is an annoying noise and they would remain safe.

A sigh of relief comes across the client’s face. It was fear was contributing to the tension.

Finding Flow in Classical Pilates Repertoire 

With the fear and feet addressed, the client’s body releases tension and they’re able to flow through the Shoulder Rolldown without experiencing foot cramps. The client pauses after two repetitions. They share that although their feet have stopped cramping, their jaw is starting to tense up and want advice on how to relieve their jaw.

I tell them to “Be chill about it. It’s just exercise”. The client starts laughing which further softens their whole body. The laughter helped them find their breath and fully relax their jaw.

From that point on, the client found rhythm and flowed through a couple more repetitions with no tension or cramps.

Rewriting the Story Behind the Movement

This experience reminded me of the importance of questioning a client’s reluctance to try an exercise. By exploring their hesitation from a place of curiosity, the client went from saying “let’s skip it” to finding joy in movement and feeling surprised by their abilities. This 20+ years Pilates client was able to let go of the story that Shoulder Rolldown would always cause foot cramps.

If your client is afraid of the push-thru bar (or any apparatus, for that matter), investigate that fear. Reassure the client that you’re in their corner and will keep them safe. Don’t allow a story from the past to continue to dictate what the future looks like.