Archive for Exercise
Pilates Back
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Now its time to get people to marvell at your great Posture and your Pilates back with two easy Pilates exercises.
Half Swan: Half Swan improves your postures and prepares the body for the original Pilates exercise “Swan Dive” by targeting the upper back muscles. This exercise will also open the front of your shoulders and help take tension out of the neck and shoulders.
Set up: Lie face down on a mat, legs extended as aDducted (together) as comfortable, hands under shoulders, elbows touching sides, head facing forward. Be aware that your shoulders are relaxed and down, not hunched up by ears. Engage your abdominal muscles, lifting your belly button up and away from the mat. Keep your ab muscles lifted throughout the exercise.
Inhale and think of sliding your shoulders down your back. Lengthen your spine from tailbone to the top of your head, without changing spinal shape.
Exhale and press into the hands slightly to lift just the head and shoulders off the mat. The bottom rib stays on the mat. Think of a nice long neck as you lengthen up.
Inhale to stay & engage the abdominals even further.
Exhale Lengthen the body back to the mat.
Repeat three to five times using an even, flowing breath to support the movements.
Watch out for!
Over extending cervical spine
Neck tension
Loss of abdominal support
Protraction of the scapula
Swimming: The goal of this exercise is to strengthen the hip and spine extensors while challanging the ability to stabalize the spine in neutral against contralateral movement.
Set up: Lie facedown, legs ADducted (together) or slightly aBducted (apart). Arms reaching forward.
Inhale stretch arms forward, keeping shoulders away from ears. Pull abs in so that you lift your bellybutton up and away from the floor while keeping pubic bone down.
Exhale Lift head and lengthen neck as you extend your arms and legs so far in opposite directions that they naturally come off the floor. Continue to reach your arms and legs out very long from your center.
Inhale for 5 counts while you contralaterally pulse your arms and legs up and down.
Exhale for 5 counts as you continue to pulse arms and legs.
Repeat 4-8 sets of five counts each
Exhale Relax down to the mat.
Watch out for!
Elevated shoulders
Rocking pelvis and torso
Overextension of head and cervical spine
Loss of abdominal support
Susan Sommers is a Pilates Instructor to those 50+ in NYC
PilatesFun
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Jenn Powell, is a Power Pilates trained Pilates Instructor, who teaches individual sessions and group classes at Purely Pilates studio in San Carlos, CA – the Power Pilates Bay Area affiliate and teacher training studio. She is a cancer survivor who learned about the healing powers of Pilates and wants to share it with others.
Falling off the Exercise Wagon; And Getting Back On by Jennifer Powell
As a Pilates instructor, I often tell my clients how important it is to make time to exercise every week. Once, twice, three times a week (three, of course, being optimum) – but often we allow other things to get in the way. A new baby, job responsibilities, financial issues are all reasons given for cutting back on exercise. During this difficult economy, many of my clients have had to cancel sessions because they have to stay late at work or because they’ve had to “tighten their belts” and Pilates seemed like an unnecessary “extra” expense that wouldn’t be missed.
Often it isn’t related to finances at all as I found out myself a couple of weeks ago. We brought home an 8-week old puppy and for the first 2 weeks I struggled to find the time and energy to do my own Pilates workouts. I made time to feed the puppy and take her out for walks at 2:30 and 4:30 in the morning and still make it into the studio to teach my clients beginning at 6:00am – but then all I wanted to do was go home and take a nap or spend additional time with my little baby before teaching my group classes in the evenings.
I started realizing that I was tired from lack of sleep, but also had less energy because I wasn’t exercising. It’s easy to think that you should use that “extra 30 minutes” for a nap, but I’ve found an increase in my energy levels as soon as I re-introduced Pilates into my routine.
A friend on Twitter sent out a message for us to send her our workout plans for the week and she’d touch base to keep us honest. I immediately Tweeted back that I was going to find time on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for my own Pilates workouts. So, on Monday, I did a 30-minute mat routine and it felt GREAT – I actually ran some errands and went home to play with the puppy fully engaged and energized. By Wednesday, I was looking forward to my workout so I did a classical Advanced Reformer workout. Again, I left the studio with extra lightness in my step. By Friday, I was looking forward to my self-workout and did another Advanced Reformer workout with alittle AB series on the side for good measure!
So, here’s what I learned…
1. It’s easy for all of us – instructors and health professionals included – to fall off the exercise wagon.
2. Exercise has to be planned like anything else in our lives – put it on your calendar like a meeting and make sure you attend!
3. If you tell others you are going to exercise, you hold yourself to it (use Twitter, Facebook, email , whatever and have your friends ask you if you did it – Better yet, pair up with a friend and exercise together!)
4. Tell yourself you just need to get through 15 minutes of exercise – if you don’t feel better, go ahead and stop. You’ve done 15 minutes and that’s GREAT…but, more than likely, you’ll keep going and finish your workout.
5. It doesn’t matter what type of exercise is your favorite – Pilates, Yoga, Running, whatever – just keep exercising. You’ll feel better in the end!
Please join Jenn on Facebook PilatesFun and follow her on Twitter @PilatesFun
Butterball ABbie Award Bosu
Exercise A Gift or A Chore?
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Is it possible we have been going about getting people to exercise the wrong way? The ‘health’ and ‘weight-loss’ brand of exercise doesn’t seem to create desire in most people to exercise. Instead, many when asked will tell you exercise feels like a chore and a should, which undercuts their desire to do it. Have you ever said “I know I should but I’m just not in the mood”, “I know I should but I’ll do it tomorrow”, the I know I should but kind of thinking goes on and on. Sounding familiar?
Actually this ‘should’ approach is much like telling your child, “You ‘should’ eat your vegetables; they’re good for you.” Very rarely if ever does this approach accomplish the desired goal. As a child did you eat your vegetables with that line of logic? Probably not! Would you eat them now with the ‘should’ approach? Probably not. Most advertising has based promotion of exercise on a medical and logical model, that you ‘should’ exercise because it’s good for you. Sounding just like those vegetables, huh? One would think that’s it’s logical to do something that is good for us. People just don’t necessarily behave in a logical manner. Doesn’t sound logical does it?
The should exercise approach feels like a chore to many people, not like a gift we give ourselves. We love gifts but we’re not too crazy about chores. When was the last time you turned down a gift?
Perhaps we would be more affective at promoting exercise if a more motivational approach was taken. An emotional hook that creates positive, meaningful expectations of how exercise can enhance your life, a way to feel better. Let’s rebrand exercise as something we can enjoy, something that really feels good to do. A gift.
Exercise is a ‘Wonder Drug’, it’s the only proven ‘Fountain of Youth’ — there’s got to be something exercise can do to improve your life. I have an idea why not start thinking about what you can do that would be enjoyable. Something that felt more like a gift not a chore.
I’ll start. That’s only fair.
I love Pilates as it works both my body and mind. It’s the reason that I practice Pilates and the reason I teach Pilates as well!
I love walking or riding my bike along the Hudson River. Water soothes me.
Starting to get the idea? I bet you are.
Any thoughts please share them here. Pay it forward you may inspire someone else.
Susan Sommers is a Pilates Instructor in NYC to those 50+.
