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...

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 ...

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 ...

Katie Leaver Pilates

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