My Pilates Body 2022

Throughout 2022 I will be spending a few moments each week and in every Pilates class I teach focusing on a particular part of the body. Teaching exercises to strengthen, discussing functional aspects and why its good to exercise that particular part. My hope is that once clients understand how a particular part of the body works, they can enhance their Pilates practice. Less copying an instructor and more really connecting and feeling your muscles work. Taking the time to focus on yourself and how you feel today.

The plan as it stands today look like:

January - Really find your core muscles (and exclude your bottom)

February - Care for your feet and ankles (don't undervalue them)

March - Hip and hip flexors (fun with rollers and other small equipment)

April - Glutes, min, med and max (could one of your bum muscles be weak?)

May - Abs (oh, no!)

June - Obliques (oh, yes!)

July - Spin, rotate, articulate and extend your spine

August - Quads and knees (how do they connect?)

September - Lumbar spine (how does it connect to your core?)

October - Shoulder girdle (what exactly are we talking about?)

November - Adductors and abductors (where and what?)

December - Triceps and biceps (So we are party ready)

Superman outside my mother in laws house Sep 2021

Comments

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...

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 ...

Pilates key principles: Breathing

Breathing, or the way you breathe is an important part of the development of your Pilates practice. As a Pilates teacher I meet lots of clients, all at different stages of their Pilates journey. When your journey starts, your focus is on core activation and generally just getting through a lesson trying to understand and translate the instructions from your teacher into movement. Once your core strength begins to develop and all your concentration is not used up in surviving your Pilates class, it is time to start thinking about your breathing. In Pilates we use a technique called lateral breathing. When you take in a breath to power movement we ask that you breathe into your ribs raising your chest up and out. But why? To take a large breath in you can either breathe into your tummy, or breathe into your ribs expanding them up and out. It is very difficult (possibly impossible) to breathe into your tummy and engage your ...

Katie Leaver Pilates

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