How can I start to train my abs? (I can't do a chest lift)

Abdominal training is part of every movement in Pilates. How many times do you hear your teacher ask you to engage your core? (What do I think about when engaging my core?) Well your abdominals are a 1/4 of your core and are being used even when the majority of the exercise is elsewhere in your body. If you missed Your core muscles are like a tin can take 5 mins and give it a read, I hope it will enlighten you.

If you want to start from scratch having never trained before I would initially start practicing finding your core muscles. Sit or lie down quietly and focus on engaging your core. Then I would move onto an exercise like the bug. Where you lay semi supine (on your back with knees raise to the ceiling, feet hip width apart on the floor and a neutral sine position) and glide opposite arm and leg away from your body whilst squeezing your core. You could exhale and engage you core as you glide your arm and leg away and then inhale as they return. It sounds quite easy, but can you do it without wiggling in your middle and can you make your arm and leg reach their destination at exactly the same time? Try to notice if your rib cage is flaring up towards the ceiling when you arm reaches overhead. Can you use your core muscles to pull the rib cage down towards the pelvis and resist the flaring out? This is a great start to finding your core muscles and getting them ready for something a little harder. The bug is not an easy exercise. It is easy to get wrong, but take lots of concentration and control to preform correctly.

As always, don't do anything that hurts and seek professional advice if you are not sure about an exercise.

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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