If it’s been a while since you’ve been in a classroom, the idea of learning and memorizing all the muscles needed for your Pilates exam can seem like a daunting task. There are roughly a hundred muscles to learn and the Latin terminology and pronunciation can be confusing. Here are 8 tips to help you successfully learn and memorize anatomy and the skeletal muscles needed for your STOTT Pilates exam
1. Anatomical Terminology
On p. 74 of your Support Material, there is information on anatomical references. Learn these first! It will make learning and memorizing the muscles needed to pass your STOTT Pilates exam much easier. It’s also incredibly important to know and understand these terms as a movement instructor or as a person working in health and fitness.
Many muscles are named in reference to where they are in the body. If a muscle has the word anterior as part of it, then you know that it will be in the front of the body. If it has the word posterior in its name, then you know that it will be in the back of the body.
***And don’t forget the bones. You should know the different parts of the skeleton before you get started on the muscles.
2. Edwards Pack
Order the flashcards. It is the fastest, easiest way to learn the muscles by sight. Those are the exact pictures that will be presented to you in the exam. With flashcards, it’s easy to pull out the ones that are difficult to remember and focus on those if needed.
3. Divide into Muscle Groups
Once you have the flashpack, I recommend dividing the cards into muscle groups. This will be helpful so that you understand how muscles work together in a group.
Some muscles in the same muscle group can be confusing as they often look so much alike. You will need to look closely at the differences to tell them apart in order to learn them. For instance, the erector spinae muscles are three groups of three sub-groups of muscles. They all look very similar and are grouped together in the same area. But the iliocostalis lumborum is connected to the lumbar spine as opposed to the iliocostalis thoracis which is connected to the thoracic spine and the iliocostalis cervicis which is connected to the cervical spine. Noticing the exact part of the skeleton that the muscles are connected to and knowing the different parts of the spine will help you in determining which muscle is which.
Use page 75 in your Support Manual to help you divide into groups.
4. Pronounce Each Letter
When I was first studying these muscles in Spain, it dawned on me that Spanish is a Latin language. Unlike French, also a Latin language, you pronounce every letter. While using the flashcards, it helped me to remember the names correctly by pronouncing the muscles the way you would in Spanish – meaning every letter. Even if this isn’t the exact way they are meant to be pronounced, this method helped me memorize how to write the names of the muscle down, especially in the exam, and to remember them better.
Plus it makes you sound super smart when you can reference the specific muscles and muscle groups when teaching a class.
5. Check Out the Translation
Many of the Latin named muscles refer to what they do or what their action is. So if you look up their translations from Latin to English, it may help you with remembering names.
This website has a list of the muscles and their English translations: https://owlcation.com/stem/The-Latin-and-Greek-Roots-of-Muscle-Names
6. Silly Reference (Mnemonics)
Some muscles are really challenging to remember no matter how many times you go over them. In these situations, it’s helpful to create a silly reference that has nothing to do with the muscle or anatomy. For instance, when my friends and I were struggling to remember the gemellus inferior and superior and tell them apart from the other deep six lateral rotators of the hip muscle group (piriformis, obturator interns, obturator externes, and the quadrates femoris), my friend noted that they looked like little gems because they were the smallest muscles. That little reference has helped me remember the gemellus inferior and gemellus superior to this day!
7. Teach Someone Else
A great way to learn something is by teaching someone else. Whether it’s another Pilates student or a friend/family member who has no idea about anatomy, teaching another person the muscles can be fun and a great way to become an expert on them.
8. Use Them While You Practice Teach Exercises (and when you actually teach!)
Don’t just mention the abs – tell your clients when they are using their rectus abdominis versus their transversus abdominis, why they are using them, and how they are using them. Let them know how their external obliques are working with their internal obliques. It’s okay to tell them to use their glutes or booty, but also let tell them when they are using their gluteus maximum vs their gluteus minimus and gluteus medius.
This is seriously one of the biggest compliments I get as a Pilates instructor. I can’t stress enough how much it will help you to land jobs and book clients as well as pass your Pilates exam when you know and can reference specific muscles and muscle groups in the body.
Pages 3-7 in the Support Manual have a lot of information about Muscle Balance that is really helpful.
Do you have any tricks for learning anatomy?
