Physical Subculture

The Windmill
 

The windmill is a favorite at Bodytribe.  We use it not only as an exercise for spinal strength and overall flexibility, it can be used as a great assessment tool to check out if the body has a message or two for you to heed.  Any tightness or weakness along certain chains of motion becomes quickly apparent from watching windmill technique.
 

But without feeling like a bug under a microscope, the windmill is just good ol’ fashioned fun.  Really, this lift has a history.  It is a good starting point for several of the upcoming exercises which have dwelled in virtual archaism for too long. Now none of the exercises in this book are unique, and although I occasionally add my own twist, they have old roots.  The windmill is a good gateway movement to the non-traditional world of the physical subculture.
 

Seriously, we love this exercise.  When I wrote of getting off the floor to practice spinal exercises, this exercise is one of the reasons why.  The windmill is a party for your hip and spine muscles, and provides an excellent flexibility opportunity for the hips, hamstrings, spine and shoulder complex.  In fact we use this quite a bit to keep shoulders open and strong.  Sort of looks like a triangle pose, for those of you yoga-inclined.  It is, but not really.
 

We have pictures of the windmill all over this book.  It truly is our little pet lift.
 

The Windmill takes minimal practice and is a fun addition to any program. 
 

• With feet comfortably wide and turned away from the weight at about 45 degrees, the weight, be it a dumbbell, kettlebell, leverage club, Hobbit or sea creature, is held in one hand straight up from the shoulder. 
  
• Time for the model tilt, which is jutting the hip out and back slightly under the weight, like a runway model shifting her weight and posing.
  
• Now the free arm crawls down the other leg. 
  
• The body has to corkscrew under the weight a little as it bends, so the arm will rotate a bit.
  
• Keep looking at the weight throughout the lift (although the real reason for this is due to the control the body has when seeing the object it is carrying, I like to tell clients it is so they can watch the weight as it falls on their face).
  
• Crawl the hand down the leg as far as comfortable.  Keep pushing the hips back and out so the hips don’t start moving forward over the front leg.
  
• A little bend in the front leg is fine, as long as the hips keep pushing back and out (this can’t be emphasized enough, otherwise the spine rounds, but with the hips back, the spine actually is using the erectors and hamstrings to keep it stabilized).
  
• Then shoot back up.  Loads o’ fun.  Do it again.