why "where do you feel it?" might be the most important question i ask in a session
Updated: Aug 26
i give a lot of people the same exercise. literally the same setup, same cues, same reps.
and almost every single time, when i ask "where are you feeling that?" i get a different answer.
let's use the half kneel chop as an example, since it's one of my faves.
on paper it's simple: you're in a half kneeling position, holding a KB or med ball at your hip and you pull it across your body in a chopping motion. looks the same for everyone. same picture, same instructions.
but depending on someone's setup, their alignment, and what their body has learned to rely on vs. what we want it to focus on, that exact same exercise can be working so many different muscles.
- deep core work through the obliques
- glute med/max on the supporting leg
-cervical, thoracic, and lumbar mobility
-serratus anterior activation
same movement. completely different exercise, depending on the focus.
this is exactly why i can't just hand someone a home program and call it done. i have to ask. every time.
why this matters so much for dancers
dancers are especially good at finding workarounds. years of training means you've built efficient (and sometimes not-so-efficient) patterns to get a shape or hit a line, even when the "textbook" muscle isn't the one doing the work. so when i give a dancer a half kneel chop and they say "i feel this in my front hip flexor," that tells me something completely different than if they say "i feel it in my obliques."
neither answer is wrong. but they tell me two different stories about what your body is currently relying on, and what we actually need to train.
"where do you feel it" is a diagnostic question, not small talk.
when i ask this mid-exercise, i'm not just checking in to be nice. i'm gathering real data:
are you using the muscle group we're trying to target?
are you compensating through a joint that's already doing too much?
is there an asymmetry between your left and right side?
do we need to regress, adjust your setup, or change your cues?
your answer changes what happens next in the session. it might mean adjusting your foot position, changing the band angle, or slowing the tempo down so the right muscle actually has to work.
this is the difference between an exercise that "looks right" and an exercise that's actually doing what it's supposed to do for your body.
the takeaway
if you're doing exercises on your own, at home or in the studio, get curious about where you feel them. it's genuinely useful information. and if you're working with a PT (me or anyone else), a good one should be asking you this constantly, not just handing you a list of exercises and walking away.
if you've been doing "all the right exercises" and still aren't seeing the change you want, this might be why. the exercise might be right. the way your body is doing it might not be.
if you want a second set of eyes on what your body is actually doing versus what you think it's doing, that's exactly what i dig into on a complimentary consultation.
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