Return to Life with March MATness!
“Pilates has been the perfect solution to maintaining strength and vitality in my life”. ~ Trudie Styler (Sting’s wife)
Let’s review the 5 spine shapes: flexion/round back, tall back, extension/arched back, lateral flexion/side bend, and twist/rotation.
With each of these spine shapes, there are challenges to each because there are things your body does that make you think or feel you’re doing it right, or even give the illusion that you’re making the shape right. Let’s discuss the challenges for each spine shape, and then a movement you can try as a check-in to see if you feel the work differently. Probably harder which only means you’re on the right path! <evil laugh>
Let’s take the flexion/round back spine shape. It’s so easy to drop the chin to the throat, and/or round the shoulders to think or feel that your spine is round. But do you realize what you just did – dropped the chin and rounded the shoulders. Try this: Lay on your back on your mat. Can you imagine you’re holding an orange between your chin and throat? Can you keep a wide, upper back? Now, can you round the spine between the tailbone and the top of the head WITHOUT lifting the head first AND rounding the shoulders? Can you feel the difference? Where did you feel the work initiate from to start the movement?
Let’s take the extension/arched back spine shape. It’s so easy to lift your chin up, and think or feel you have an arch in your back, but you just lifted your chin up. Try this: Lay on your belly on your mat. Stack palms on top of each other, or fists on top of each other. Place your forehead down on your hands. Keep the head on top of the hands, now lift your head, chest, arms as one unit off the mat. Get longer from the top of the head out through the feet. Can you feel the difference? Where did you feel the movement come from?
I think tall back spine shape might be the hardest because it’s a challenge to know if you’re really in a tall back shape in trying to get as much height as possible from your tailbone out through the top of the head. Sometimes I see people lift the chin for a tall back shape, which actually shortens the tall back. Try this: Sit in front of a wall with your sacrum, upper back, and perhaps the back of the head touching the wall. Can you keep your chin level with the ground, low ribs pulling back to the wall, and try to get your spine longer? Can you feel the difference? What had to work to achieve the tall back shape?
Whew – lateral flexion/side bend – do you collapse one side of your waist to feel the stretch on the other side? Raise your hand if this is you! Try this: Sit on your mat. Interlace your hands behind your head. Push your head back into your hands with hands resisting. Find your tall back shape with low ribs in, keep the lift, and side bend like your rib cage is going over a big beach ball. It’s a smaller movement, and a different stretch; that’s for sure. Can you feel the strength of one side of your waist to stretch the other side of the waist. Now, side bend the other way. TIP: This will always feel different side to side, and that’s ok. Can you feel the difference when you’re not dropping side to side? Where did you feel the movement come from?
Finally – twist/rotation. Did you know this is the first spine shape we lose as we age? I know, I was surprised to learn this too! Do you lean back or slump/slouch then add the twist? Do you twist by moving your arms? Do you twist by craning your neck? Do you want to know why twists are hard? First you must have a tall back spine shape, THEN add a twist. And know the difference between a twist and a turn. A twist is when the upper body is still, while the lower body moves left or right. Or vice versa. While a turn is when both the upper and lower body move together to face the same direction.
Try this: Sit on your mat. Interlace your hands behind your head. Push your head back into your hands with hands resisting. Find your tall back shape with low ribs in, keep the lift, now twist the spine while keeping your front hip bones facing forward. Try to twist the other way. Different, yes? Where did you feel the movement initiate from?
So, that twist was keeping the lower body still so the upper body can move. Let’s switch it up! Lay on your back on your mat. We’re going to keep the upper body still on the mat, and move the lower body to get the twist in the spine. Ready? Place your arms down on the mat, and press down. Keep both shoulder blades on the mat. Squeeze your inner thighs together, and lift both legs towards the sky. Up to you if you have straight legs, or bent knees. Bent knees is easier. Ready for the twisty part? Lift your left hip (your legs will go to the right), return to the mat, now lift your right hip (your legs will go to the left), return to the mat. Go back and forth between those 2 positions. Did your legs shift in the hip sockets so that one leg reached longer than the other? If they did, try this again. We’re after keeping the legs still, and just lifting one hip to move the legs to the side, and switch. You’ll feel the stretch in the low back in particular.
Only if you have no neck issues, and you want to add on here, you can add a head turn. Turn the head opposite of the legs to get a twist up in the cervical spine.
Now that we have a better understanding of the spine shapes, and moving better from our center, let’s group the mat exercises into these spine shapes.
Let’s review the 5 spine shapes using Pilates exercises.
Flexion/Round Back – hundred, roll up, roll over, rolling like a ball, single leg stretch, double leg stretch, single straight leg stretch, double straight leg stretch, spine stretch forward, open leg rocker, neck pull, high scissors and bicycle, jackknife, teaser, hip circles, boomerang, seal, crab, control balance
Tall Back – single leg circles/no hip lift, thigh stretch, shoulder bridge, side leg kicks, leg pull front, leg pull back, kneeling side kicks, push ups
Extension/Arched Back – swan dive, single leg kicks, double leg kicks, swimming, rocking
Lateral Flexion/Side Bend – side bend
Twist/Rotation – criss cross, corkscrew, saw, spine twist
A few observations I want to share with you:
There’s definitely more flexion/round back exercises than any other shape. In fact, it’s more than when you add up all the exercises of the other spine shapes. We’re working so many parts of our center to strengthen a full body.
Some mat exercises are a combination of 2 spine shapes. Examples: spine stretch forward and neck pull – It’s a combination of tall and flexion/round back spine shapes. Both start in a tall back before you flex your spine to a round back before you return to a tall back.
Sometimes, you can add a little something to an exercise, and turn it into something slightly different. Example is with the single leg circles. Adding a hip lift makes it a twist exercise. Remember it’s a lift of the hip, not just the leg crossing over the midline.
Just as when something doesn’t feel right in your body on a particular day, that it’s ok to leave it out – you may be familiar with this mantra: “when in doubt, leave it out” – it’s also ok to replace an exercise you can’t do with an exercise you can do of a similar spine shape that was already challenging. You can see all the options available to you in the list above.
Join my group mat classes on Sunday morning and/or Wednesday evening for March MATness!