Skip to main content

How do you know if you are working your core too hard?


I am terrible at this.  I am super competitive and very hard on myself.  I always feel that I should be able to do the hardest level and the maximum amount of repetitions. But experience, training and an excellent tutor has shown me that Pilates should not be like that.  It is better to have a deep connection with your body, tuning in to how you are feeling on a particular day at an exact moment.  The way to go is building a strong core through listen to your body, learning good technique and understanding which muscles you should be feeling. 

So how do you really know if you are working your core too hard?  

  • Firstly being able to hold your neutral spine throughout an exercise is a great sign that you are working at the right level.  As soon as you can't keep your core engagement and neutral spine for all stages of an exercise you are probably working too hard.  
  • Can you feel your tummy doming?  Another sign that you are working too hard.  
  • If you can feel your tummy doming you might be getting a little pain in your lumbar spine.  Another sign things are a bit too hard.  When I am teaching I often have to remind clients to slow the movement down.  Flow, precision and control are some of the fundamental elements of Pilates.  
  • It can often be easier to make a movement faster using a little momentum, however often a slower precise movement gives you a higher quality of exercise. So my forth watch point is don't move too fast. (Although, I love rolling like a ball).  
  • My final watch point is holding your breath.  If you find yourself holding your breath whilst completing an exercise, its probably a bit hard.  It is always better to breath.  Breathing patterns can help with core engagement, but breathing differently to what is being directed is preferable over holding your breath.  Some very respected teachers are moving away from prescribed breathing patterns and letting the individual choose a breathing pattern that works for them.

What can you do to improve? Spend some time getting to know your body.  Listen to how you are feeling throughout an exercise.  Throw away any preconceptions of how strong you are or what you should be able to achieve.  When you are in your class be really present with your body and the instructions, there is nothing else that is important. Start at level 1 and be really sure that you have perfected all elements of the movement before progressing.  As part of my personnel practice I sometimes go right back to basics and complete level 1 classes, focusing on technique.  Am I engaging my core without squeezing my bottom (I am terrible for that), have I nailed the breathing? (I am quite good at holding my breath, at times), can I feel the muscles that are working?  Finally, am I only moving the parts of my body that should be moving? I am very good at shrugging my shoulders up when doing some tricky leg work.  I know my shoulders are not going to help, but it just happens.  

Remember to enjoy your practice, be aware of your body and don't be too ambitious.  

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When I stretch my hip flexor muscles I feel it in the front of my thighs. Is this right?

 The short answer is yes!  In my first post I talked about the movement of hip flexion and listed the hip flexors.  We have already covered the iliopsoas the main flexor of the hip.  Today I am going to talk about the rectus femoris muscle which also assist with hip flexion.  The rectus femoris is the large muscles at the front of your upper thigh.  If you sit down with a tray on your lap, the tray would be resting on your rectus femoris. It is part of the quadriceps, four muscles on the front of the leg between the pelvis and the knee. Rectus femoris is the only quadricep that reaches over the hip joint as it originates on the front of the pelvis.   In class I often reference your ASIS ( A nterior S uperior I lliac S pine), you have two and they are the nobly bones you can feel through your skin at the front of your pelvis.  Well you also have two  AIIS ( A nterior I nferior I lliac S pine) this is another nobly part of the pelvic bon...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tight hip flexors from sitting at my computer all day! How to release this feeling at home.

At home there are a number of ways to release tight hip flexors.  Think about the main hip flexor the Iliopsoas for a moment. It originates in the lumbar spine attaching to the vertebra at the bottom of your back, it then attaches to the inside of the pelvis (illiac crest the bony bit you feel at your waist) and then passes through the pelvis and connects to a nobly bit of the leg bone your can't feel at the top of your inner thigh (the lesser trochanter of the femur).  Its helped by some other muscles, but to keep it simple we are going to only think about the Iliopsoas.  Now think about being sat down,  The front of your body is scrunched up.  Your legs are brought closer to your lumbar spine (the bottom of your back) and the Iliopsoas is contracted or squashed in size.  Now think about being sat for 3 hours.  Upon standing up you might feel tightness along the front of your legs/pelvis.  This tightness is from you hip flexors.  Humans are ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What is my rotator cuff?

 We all have two rotator cuffs which are very important to our shoulder operation, one inside each shoulder.  Your rotator cuff is made of four muscles that provide joint security (I love this term, a tiny little police force living in your shoulder making sure that the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint remains functioning).   Why does your shoulder need a police force?  Well the ball and socket joint of the shoulder is a bit rubbish (and also very good *).  It is not like a caravan and car ball and socket joint where you have a deep strong connection (a bit like the hip).  It is more like a scallop shell and a stick with a bulbus end. It fits ok, but really needs lots of tape and string to keep it together.  Your rotator cuff muscles are the police, the tape and the string that hold this amazing joint together.   The next part is only for reading if you are super interested in the names and actions of the muscles.  The four muscles of ...
Post a Comment
Read more