Why Your Losing Your Twist

Let's talk about something nobody puts on a birthday card: as we age, the discs and joints in our spine naturally lose some of their water content and elasticity. Translation? Less rotation. Less twist. Less "casually glancing over your shoulder" and more "turning your entire body to check your blind spot in your car."

It happens so gradually that most of us don't notice until we're wincing trying to grab a seatbelt, wondering when exactly we turned into the Tin Man.

Here's the good news: rotation is trainable. Your spine doesn't stiffen just because of age — it stiffens because it stops being asked to rotate. Basically, use it or lose it, and nobody wants to lose it while trying to see what's going on behind them.

This is a big part of why we do so much rotational work on the reformer. Oblique work, spine twists, rotation against resistance — it's not just about a strong and stable core, it's about keeping every segment of your spine moving the way it was designed to.

A few things that may help you keep the spine feeling good outside of class:

• Gentle daily rotation like seated twists and looking way over your shoulder

• Standing up and moving throughout the day instead of fusing to your chair

• Cat/cows with rotation of looking over your shoulder or "wagging your tail"

• A short walk with some arm swing, which naturally encourages a bit of rotation through the torso

If reaching for your seatbelt or turning around quickly to grab something off your kitchen counter has started to feel like a full-body event, that's your spine waving a little flag asking for more movement — not less.