If you are doing Pilates you may have heard your instructor asking you to perform your movements slowly, calmly and with control. There are several reasons for this, but one major one is to trick your autopilot.
You see, our brain is brilliant at doing things without us even having to think about it. The brain gets the message from us that we want to walk and it does it, we don't have to think about every little thing that goes on in the body to achieve walking, and that's a blessing, because our movement capabilities can be quite complex. Thank goodness for our autopilot!
In order to move, the brain takes in a huge amount information through our eyes, ears and feet to obtain feedback as to where the body is in space in any given moment and which muscles need to be activated or relaxed to maintain balance, propulsion or strength to lift or push, for example. It is constantly adjusting, and we don't have to think about it - absolutely marvelous, if you ask me.
But sometimes things can go 'wrong'. The body might be injured and cannot use a certain muscle the way it is intended, or habitual or repetitive movement during work or sport cause an imbalance.
Why is this a problem? The body is the best example of a perfect team. If one muscle cannot perform its assigned action, other muscles will take on the job as best as they can, even if they are not designed for it (think tiny muscles doing the job of really big ones). This is OK for a short while, but long term it causes issues in the body. Altered muscle recruitment patterns can lead to postural issues, pain and wear and tear of joints and ligaments.
To correct these imbalances, we have to teach the brain the correct pattern again, and one way we can do this, is to overwrite the autopilot.
Now, the brain has a tendency to want to be in autopilot mode all the time. It is the most efficient way for the brain to operate. Doing things differently, trying to overwrite old programs or learn new things requires energy and the brain much rather returns to what it knows best and has been doing for a while and thus preserve energy. (That's why change can feel quite uncomfortable at times, it is stressful for the brain.)
When we are performing any task with speed, we rely in most cases on our autopilot to remember the way we do things. Think about complex hand or dance movements. At first slow and difficult, but repeated over and over again they become subconscious movements, motor memory, and you just do things without having to think about it.
To overwrite the autopilot for movement we need to slow things down, so the brain can receive the new information, the feedback we are providing it with by moving our bodies in a certain way. The brain needs to have enough time to receive the information and process it. We then have to repeat this new pattern (slowly) to cement it, and in good form (what we want the end result to be) - think fewer but good quality repetitions.
Usually, while establishing new patterns for the body, speed and fatigue will often result in lower quality repetitions, which will undo the good work of good quality repetitions.
And hence we like to do things a bit slower at times when practising Pilates. This allows us to feel and process what's going on in our bodies. We like to keep repetitions down, so we don't fatigue and what we are teaching our body is the desired form.
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