Coach interview with Micah Walters

Photography by Diego Razera

Hey Micah! It's great to have you.

How did you get into coaching?

I started coaching when I was 16 years old. My first job, ever, was coaching tumbling to cheerleaders. I came from a gymnastics background, so I was adept at coaching tumbling technique and conditioning. Later, I began coaching kids recreational gymnastics. Then I moved up to coaching competitive gymnastics. From there, I studied to become a certified personal trainer. I worked in the fitness world for 5 years, then I got certified to teach yoga and my focus shifted to flexibility. 

‍

What is your coaching philosophy or method?

My philosophy is to nurture the body first and foremost with corrective exercise to promote balance and harmony. Then, when a baseline of fitness and alignment is achieved, we can start pushing for more flexibility and skill development. Simply put, I call it Alignment first, then amplitude.

‍

What would you say is your specialty in coaching?

My speciality is working with folks who are hypermobile and struggling to find balance within their bodies. As a hypermobile human myself, I went through many different stages of injury and recovery practicing the traditional approach to flexibility. I developed an effective sequence for myself first, and then found a lot of success coaching other students through the process which prioritizes alignment first and then the pursuit of amplitude. 

‍

How do you go about understanding a student's flexibility? What does a training session look like?

I start by testing the student’s core stability endurance using exercises that load the core muscles gently, but over a significant chunk of time, somewhere between 1.5 minutes to 4 minutes, depending on the exercise. All flexibility is an amalgam of core stability and coordination. If the core is not stable, the student has relatively little control over where the mobility comes from. For instance, if your back muscles are weak and you try to stretch your hamstrings in a forward fold, your low back is likely to compensate for the tightness in your hamstrings and so getting an effective stretch is nearly impossible. But if you can maintain stability in the lower spine and fold forward then the hamstrings are more isolated and more likely to lengthen effectively. So, my sessions start with core stability endurance, about 15 minutes of warm up, then we move on to gentle, yet potent, isolated stretching. Then we put those isolated pieces together into more integrated stretches which look like flexibility skill development. 

Photography by Diego Razera

‍

Do you train contortion yourself? How do you apply your training techniques to your own training?

Yes, I still have an active contortion practice, although the volume is not as high as it was in my early 20s. I practice 3-4 times a week, integrating flexibility training with resistance training. I am focused on keeping my practice gentle enough to remain healthy and injury free and intense enough to maintain my optimal level of mobility. 

Photography by Diego Razera

‍

What advice would you give to someone starting contortion training?

Listen to your body! The human movement system is equipped with a nervous system that lets you know how you’re doing in any given movement. If something feels off, it is. If something feels good, it is. There is nothing worth rushing for! Take your time. Flexibility training, like all other movement practices, has potential risk factors. Manage that risk by taking really good care of yourself, both on and off the mat. If you’re someone who’s work requires long periods of sitting, then balance that with long walks, or hikes. A sedentary lifestyle doesn’t lend itself well to contortion training. You need a baseline of fitness to be able to safely deepen your flexibility.

‍