Pilates key principles: Centre

In Pilates your Centre refers to the core of you body and the body's Centre of gravity. For anyone who may have forgotten what exactly makes up the core, please read Your core muscles are like a tin can. When thinking about the body's Centre of gravity. This is an imaginary point where the body's weight is equally balanced, and around this point the body may rotate freely. As we are all individually built, our Centre of gravity is unique to us.

You will find the the Centre of gravity for a man is slightly higher than for a woman. Lets think about completing the perfect roll down: Starting sat up, knees bent to ceiling, legs and feet hip width apart on the floor. You squeeze your core, roll your pubic bone towards the ceiling and your back pockets start to come closer to the mat. You place your back pockets, then your waist band, each of your ribs and finally your shoulders and head onto the mat in a controlled sequence, keeping your head in line with you torso. If your Centre of gravity is higher, (you may have very good muscle development in your arms and shoulders), you will be moving more weight, requiring a higher level of abdominal strength. Remember lack of success in a particular move may have more to with body type rather than lack of strength.

Finally it is important to remember that your Centre of gravity is dynamic (it moves around). Depending on your position your Centre of gravity will change.

In Pilates we are building your Centre to assist you in your everyday life. Improving posture and safeguarding vulnerable places like your spine.

Pilates key principles: Breathing

Pilates key principles: Concentration

Comments

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 ...

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...

Flex, rotate, extend and articulate your spine.

Articulate your spine! How many times have you been asked to do this in a Pilates lesson? If you come to one of mine, probably lots. The cue, "articulate your spine" is used in the large pelvic tilt exercise and is used to promote movement between each individual vertebra. In a large pelvic tilt you start in the Pilates relaxation position. Firstly you tilt your pelvis so that your lower back moves closer to your mat and your pubic bone rises (a small pelvic tilt). Then leading from your pubic bone you peel your spine from the mat one vertebra at a time, until you reach a bridge position. To come back down, I like to think I am trying to imprint my spine into sand. So to make a really good spine print I have to get each vertebra to touch down individually finishing with my tail bone. Naturally I am engaging my core throughout the whole exercise. So what do we achieve by articulating our spines? We have lots of muscl...

Katie Leaver Pilates

Search This Blog