Thousandfold Lotus

Pilates, Pelvic Floor & Women's Health

Pilates

Train your Deep Core by Engaging the Transversus Abdominis

by

Ever wonder the secret to training your deep core, having zero low back pain, and the answer to every body problem you’ve ever had? The secret is..firing your transversus abdominis.

I’m not even kidding about the last section, a properly firing transversus can prevent almost any injury! Hip, shoulder, knee, ankle wrist, you name it! All because it plays the most important role in your kinetic chain.

So how many layers of abdominals do you have in your body?  1, 2….not sure? Get ready to learn my friend!

(On a side note, if you’re a fan of video learning, you can always check this lesson out in my Free Foundations Course, sign-up and the videos will magically appear in your inbox!)

Where is the Transversus Abdominis and How do I Turn it ON?

It appears the abdominals are one strong sheet of muscle. However, there are actually 4 layers of abdominals!   

The deep abdominal layers fire best with a “mind-body connection,” where our brain literally communicates with these muscles to fire.

Initially, depending on a students’ mind-body awareness, kinesthetic sense or athleticism, this communication may be easily accessed or may need some extra work.  The communication can easily be compared to as a telephone line going from the brain to specific muscles (or even more specifically, fascial tissue) we want to fire. Thus, the name “mind-body” exercise came about.

Mind-body exercise, such as Pilates, requires these connections and create the mindful movements and quality exercises we perform.

For example: The biceps femoris (bicep muscle- think Popeye), will fire if you simply put a dumbbell in your hand and bend your elbow- no phone lines required.  The transversus abdominis on the other hand, not so much.

Why Transversus Abdominis is SOOO IMPORTANT:

The transversus abdominis (I’ll call the TA for short) is what I like to call your “personal corset.”

If you visualize a skeleton for a moment: at the bottom of the ribs, there is a big space, and then the hips begin.  Within that space, there are your spinal vertebra, carefully stacked on one another, with a few squishy disks in between.  Since there are no other bones in that space (besides our vertebra,) we have no structural support. Therefore; our “corset” is crucial for support and better be STRONG!

Why do you think most of the physical injuries and chronic pain are in the lumbar spine (lower back- aka that space I was just talking about.)

This corset, our TA, gets strong by:

  1.  Being able to fire it up with a mind-body connection
  2. Challenging it with resistance.

I created a Pilates video with the resistance band where you can use the straight legs to challenge the TA but have some support from the band as well.

How to Fire up the TA

To turn on the TA, think about gently drawing the belly button towards the spine.  Not in a “hollowing” or a “sucking-in” kind-of-way, but in a tough tightening kind of way (as if you were getting punched in the stomach at the same time). 

My favorite cues for firing up the TA:

  • Imagine you are “zipping” yourself into a pair of pants
  • Imagine cling wrap is tightening across the tummy
  • Imagine I am pulling your corset strings super tight
  • Feel a seat belt tightening across the front of your pelvis
  • Draw your hip bones together on the front of your body
  • Imagine you are drawing your pubic bone up towards your belly button

One thing you will notice with all of these cues, is that the muscle is essentially flattening and tightening. You will be able to see this happening by seeing the abdominal wall or belly button draw slightly closer when the muscle engages.  If you are performing these in front of a mirror you will see wrinkles showing up in the shirt.

You can also see my video demonstration and explanation on this in my free 6-day Foundations Course.

Emergency: When you can see that your TA is NOT ENGAGED!

If you are doing abdominal exercises with the legs out in the air and see the abdominals mounding upward in the center, like a loaf of bread raising- your TA is NOT ENGAGED!!! “Zip” or draw it in closer ASAP! I demonstrate this on video in lesson #2.

If you cannot “zip”, the leg load in the air is too heavy for your TA and you need to shorten the lever by bending your knees (bringing the legs into a 90 degree bend- we call “tabletop.”)  Get the TA stronger there, then move on to straight legs once it is strong enough to be zipped.  This is important to create a quality movement and strengthen the TA appropriately for it’s strength level- all ego aside here folks.

The most important thing to note while doing this TA engagement is that the spine and pelvis do not move- AT ALL!  No tucking your butt or smashing your lower back down! (I don’t care how many times you have heard to do that before abdominal exercises, but we’re trying to re-train the brain now).

This “TA zipping” occurs as the abdominal wall is drawing close to the spine without any boney structure moving. While watching yourself in a mirror, there is no sign of movement except the tissue drawing closer- absolutely nothing else moves.

TA fires under low loads:

An interesting quality about the TA similar to some other local stabilizing muscles is that it prefers light loads.  That’s right all my heavy-lifting, body building, gung-hoe fitness friends- we must use light loads to fire and strengthen this all important TA.  It will completely shut down and turn off if the load is too heavy.

For example, straight legs that are low to the ground and flutter kicking to work your abs and the TA not being able to ‘zip-up’ means the legs are too heavy.  Start small with this muscle. Re-connect if you are already on to heavy weights and have a weak TA. You can accomplish this by bringing the legs to 90 degrees or adding a resistance band to your straight legs.  Your lumbar spine (lower back) will sigh with relief and will thank you later.

Exhale to fire the Transversus Abdominis:

Lastly, the TA engages best when we do a proper exhale.  In Pilates we exhale through pursed lips as if we are blowing out a cake full of 100 candles.  That type of exhale encourages TA engagement. 

In Yoga, the exhale is typically through the nose and I do not find it to be as effective in firing the TA, therefore, if I am doing and abdominal series, plank, or chattaranga, I switch to the “pursed lips exhale”- personal preference based on my research and application 🙂 For a detailed post on the way you should breathe, click here.

Lets take it to the streets.  Give this a try:

  1. Lay on the floor with the knees bent and try to turn on the transverses.  Exhale through pursed lips and draw abdominals closer towards your spine (what I call “zipping.”) See how it feels: lay your hand on your tummy for tactile feedback, and feel the abdominals sink towards the floor while your back stays still.
  2. Now, get on all 4’s, hands and knees, with the hands shoulders directly over the hands and hips directly over the knees.  Engage the TA in this position on your exhale. Again, nothing should move except a tiny bit of fleshy tissue at the tummy pulling up towards the ceiling.  No boney movement means your back should not round up like a scared halloween cat. Additionally, the pelvis should not move, as if the tail were tucking under.  Look at your side view in the mirror to ensure your body is doing exactly what you think it is and what I am describing.
  3. To add more resistance, you can lay on the back again and start to engage TA while lifting one leg- or both. Start bent, remember, low loads.  If you feel strong maybe start to straighten the leg, but if the abdominals start mounding up, and you can’t flatten it out- it’s too heavy. If it’s too heavy, back off and stick with bent legs.  There is no shame in backing off, leave the ego aside and respect your body.
  4. I do all of these on video in my foundations course, if you missed it, click here.

Make it a habit:

Keep the TA in mind when you are doing planks and other exercises as well. While performing a traditional plank you can’t see the torso to know if it is “popping up,” but if you get familiar with it, you can apply the “zip up” motion in this orientation to ensure it is engaging.  Starting in a modified plank with the knees bent is a great way to start with a lighter load- which as we discussed- makes the TA happy!

While doing any other resistance training, fire the TA on the exhale 1 second before the actual movement it performed.  You will experience a whole new level of strength and support from your core.

How about a Video:

If you are more of a visual learner like me, I have a video discussing the TA and concepts in this post!  It’s the second lesson video in my Foundations Course, which I linked up below. If you haven’t signed up get, click on the course links in the text or on the form below and you’ll see a video covering the TA concept in the Deep Core lesson 🙂

How to Strengthen the Pelvic Floor and Why it’s so Important

by

What is Pelvic Floor?

You hear me talk about pelvic floor quite a bit, and you kinda-sorta know what it is, but you’re a little too embarrassed to figure out the real deal with this muscle group… sound familiar? If so, read on my friend, we are going to get this conversation going and develop some understanding.

I’m going to warn you right now, this conversation might make you blush a bit at first since we’re talking about “down there.”  However, it’s important we start a dialogue about this muscle group because we’ve been a little bit too embarrassed to talk about it for a little bit too long.  Meanwhile, you’re still tinkling in your pants when you’re jumping on the trampoline (not out of excitement).

In fact, 1 in 4 women over the age of 18 experience incontinence. 

I’m here to change all of that and be sure you’re training this muscle group just as often as your biceps 😉 To start, go ahead and claim my free 7-minute pelvic floor workout! By the time you’re done reading this post you’ll be getting it in your inbox.

The pelvic floor refers to all the the muscles that create a hammock shape at the base of the pelvis.  There are lots of muscles here, they run from your pubic bone to tail bone and from sit bone to sit bone.  “Sit bones,” is not an anatomical name for these bones but you can feel them when you sit on the floor, they are the bottom of each ischium, which are your hip bones.   Basically, these muscles encompass your urethra, your vagina, and your anus. Since the muscles encompass these bathroom excretion zones, when these muscles are weak, a little tinkle happens.  The real name for this is stress incontinence. 

What is “incontinence?”

Incontinence means leakage of urine.  There are 3 kinds of incontinence:

  • Urge incontinence: leakage with a strong urge to urinate. (similar to the way it’s hard to urinate after you had to hold it way longer than you wanted to and your bladder has a hard time releasing).
  • Stress incontinence: leakage during physical activity or when involuntary  pressure is put on the bladder such as a cough, sneeze, lift, or laugh.
  • Mixed incontinence: A combo of stress & urge.

Major functions of the Pelvic Floor

Some major functions of the pelvic floor include supporting essential organs in the body and controlling waste excretion from the body. These muscles lay the ground work for a TON of muscular firing throughout the rest of the pelvis and into the deep core.  A strong pelvic floor serves as the true core of the body and will decreases risk of injury, improve biomechanics and help with muscular imbalances.  You can think of the pelvic floor, as literally a floor (or a foundation).  You wouldn’t build a house without a strong foundation…right?

Why, oh why, are these muscles weak?

Here’s a list of some reasons these muscles get weak over time:

  • Sex
  • Pregnancy and childbirth
  • Eating disorder behaviors
  • Injury or trauma
  • Sedentary lifestyles
  • Natural aging process
  • High intra-abdominal pressure

What else happens when the pelvic floor is weak? Organ prolapse.

Organ prolapse means that organs such as the bladder, uterus, and/or rectum begin to fall out of place.  In some cases, these organs may  begin to fall down the vaginal canal and even protrude out of the body.  If you are experiencing organ prolapse, it is important to communicate that with your female health care provider.

A strong pelvic floor will help prevent common cases of incontinence and organ prolapse, so let’s figure out how to make that muscle group stronger! Click here to receive my 7-minute pelvic floor workout so you can start taking action on strengthening your pelvic floor now!

How do I make this floor stronger?

The pelvic floor muscles can fire up with a “mind-body” connection and it’s super important to make sure you can get that connection going in order to make these muscles stronger (and free yourself to jump on the trampoline again 😉 )

This is where the Kegels comes in! 

The term Kegel refers to an isolated pelvic floor engagement.  So when I say “engage pelvic floor,” or do a “Kegel,” I’m saying the SAME thing! Interchangeable vocabulary. 

This is important:

You should not be working on Kegels if you have any of the following:

  • urge incontinence
  • trouble initiating urinating
  • pain during intercourse
  • pain or tension in the pelvic area 

If you’re experiencing any of the above, you should seek help from a women’s health professional first in order to tackle the issue in proper order.

How To engage the pelvic floor/perform a Kegel:

(This part it really important to read over before partaking in my 7-minute pelvic floor workout)

Lay on the floor and find a neutral pelvis (where the hip bones and pubic bone are on the same plane). NOTE: There should be NO tipping the pelvis forward or backward, we call this a posterior pelvic tilt/anterior pelvic tilt. Additionally, no engaging the gluteus muscles (the butt cheeks) while performing the Kegel either. 

No one should be able to see you doing a Kegel because the pelvis stays still the entire time.

In between each pelvic floor engagement you want to release those muscles all the way! DO NOT maintain the engagement the entire time you are doing pelvic floor exercises.

Every time you perform a Kegel, be sure you lift the pelvic floor on the EXHALE! This balances the intra-abdominal pressure. If you are unclear on the purpose of the breathing and balancing intra-abdominal pressure, read this post.

Imagery for a Kegel:

While performing a Kegel, imagery is the best way to learn how to mind-body connect with these muscles.  Imagery techniques for pelvic floor may make some people blush or feel embarrassed but they are super effective in helping you develop that mind-body connection that is essential for this muscle group!

Here are a few imagery techniques that help women engage the pelvic floor:

  • Imagine that you are stopping the flow of urine and passing gas when you fire up the pelvic floor and then letting everything flow again while resting. 
  • Imagine that you are drawing a marble up the vaginal canal while firing the muscles then allow the marble to roll all of the way out during the resting phase.
  • Imagine the vaginal canal as an elevator.  During engagement the elevator is moving up the shaft and that the elevator moves all of the way down the elevator shaft.

The imagery takes practice to develop the muscle coordination.  Commit 10 minutes of time to lay on the floor and practice using these 3 imagery techniques to see which helps you fire the pelvic floor better.  After you have a better understanding of the proper pelvic floor engagement, be sure to get my 7-minute pelvic floor workout below so you can apply them, it’s free!

How will you know if you are firing the pelvic floor well or not?

There are a number of biofeedback techniques to figure this one out.  These techniques are both tactile (by feel) and visual (by look). 

These techniques discuss the perineum, which is the anatomical term for the muscular section between the vagina and anus.  Just to keep it classy for you, the slang name for this is the “taint.” 😉

  • Visual: Grab a mirror and look! While you perform the Kegel you should see the perineum move upward and inward towards the very center of the trunk. If there is bulging happening during this movement it is being performed incorrectly.
  • Tactile: Place your finger on the perineum (you can even do this with underwear on) and feel the perineum pull upward and inward.
  • Tactile: Place your clean finger into the vaginal canal to feel if the canal is clamping onto your finger. You should feel a distinct contract and relax. 
  • Tactile: The Kegel exercises can also be performed seated on something that touches the pelvic floor.  For example, if you sit on a ball, you will feel the pelvic floor resting on the surface, that way when you engage the pelvic floor you will feel it drawing upward and away from the ball.

Practice this kind of engagement for 10 minutes 2 times a day, such as morning and evening.  First, see if you can actually turn these muscles on, then begin with repetitions of them. 

How many and how often to train the pelvic floor you wonder?

Prescription wise, there are “short” Kegels and “long” Kegels.

  • Short Kegels are about 1-2 seconds long.  
  • Long Kegels are held for about 8-10 seconds.

Performing both will benefit the fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers in the pelvic floor.

Start with 10 short ones, then switch to 3 long ones. Cycle through that series about 3 times total.

Any of my clients will tell you, I’m terrible at counting when I teach, but we do 3 sets of these types of Kegels in my 7-minute pelvic floor workout, so sign up for it now and start taking action on getting your pelvic floor strong the correct way.

If at any point you feel that the muscles tire out, stop the exercises.  Rest the muscles, and come back to them later.  Continue working at it daily until they no longer tire out and you can complete the entire cycle.  Don’t beat yourself up if it’s challenging at first, it takes time to develop a mind-body connection to these muscles and then some time to get them strong once they fire up! 

Pelvic Floor During your Exercise: 

Once you are able to perform the Kegel prescription easily, it’s important to develop the pelvic floor strength with functional training. The pelvic floor will naturally move with large, dynamic movements such as deep squats, lunges, plies, etc.

While performing exercises such as Pilates and yoga, we only want the pelvic floor to engage a little over 10%.  That’s about the effort you would use to pull a tissue out of a box.  Often, the “thought” of pelvic floor during exercise creates enough engagement.

Too much emphasis on pelvic floor, such as the effort you are doing during the isolated engagements, will not allow the kinetic chain to function properly.  The transversus abdominis may even “turn off” if pelvic floor is firing at 100%.

Bring Intention to Your Pelvic Floor Health:

If you to set aside just 5-10 minutes morning and night to focus on pelvic floor exercises, you’ll be out there jumping on the trampoline in no time 😉

To make it really easy on you, I created a quick 7-Minute Pelvic Floor Workout for you to follow, you can find it below. Be sure to have a clear understanding of the proper way to perform the Kegel/Pelvic floor engagement before following the video.  Since this video was made with your busy schedule in mind, I don’t spend time on the biofeedback techniques to be sure you are performing correctly.

How Your Pilates Instructor Uses a Postural Assessment to Create a Workout Specifically for YOU!

by

How a GREAT instructor will give you a tailored workout: Postural Assessment.

Brace yourself, this post is jam packed with a TON of anatomical information! This is a summarized version of how Pilates instructors & body movement specialists develop a workout prescription designed specifically for you!!

One of the first things most Pilates instructors do after meeting a first-time student is complete some variation of a postural assessment. This postural assessment helps indicate what’s going on with your body and where you are out of alignment.

Don’t freak out, everyone is out of alignment or in other words, “deviates from neutral.” In fact, typically the most athletic clients deviate from neutral because they continue to repeat movements for their sport over and over again.

Take a runner for example, they repeat the same movement repetitively during the length of their run. A runner will inevitably develop imbalances overtime due to repetition of their personal gait.

On the other hand, someone stuck at a desk for 8 hours a day, will also develop classic postural deviations.  Commonly, the shoulders rolling forward, thoracic spine (upper back) rounding forward, tight hip flexors, and possibly elevated scapula on the right side from using the cursor all day. Sound familiar?

Once and instructor has this information from your body it gives them a general idea of how to begin creating a personalized program. This is SUPER important because no two bodies are the same.  If you are getting a cookie cutter routine, you should get the heck out! When I’m teaching, I then teach the foundations to everyone so they can apply them into their personalized workout.  (And P.S. I have made my foundations course free to you, because I love you, and I love saving you $65.00 😉 )

Usually assessments are a combination of static and dynamic.  A dynamic test is often a functional body movement such as an overhead squat. The instructor can see muscle firing patterns and know where to address.

Today I’ll discuss a static assessment:

Start the postural assessment from the ground up:

…hello feet, the most important part of the chain!

Typically issues in the feet begin to work their way right up the kinetic chain into the knees and hips. While looking at the feet we want to see if they pronate (roll in towards the arch) or supinate (roll to the outside of the foot).

I like to check out how much “out-toeing” the foot presents, since about 8 degrees is normal, some feet turn out further in order to compensate for a medial rotation in the lower or upper leg. There is also the opposite situation, commonly called pigeon-toe.

All of this is taken into account, because special attention is required while performing exercises standing or during footwork on the reformer.  The client needs to learn foot and ankle tracking, during such exercises to set up a happy kinetic chain!

For example, if you tend to pronate through the foot, and don’t pay close attention during a squat, the knees will often follow the pronation of the foot and start to roll inward.  Eeek! Not a great place for those knees. The last video lesson in my free 6-day foundations course discusses proper foot & hand placement, so if you haven’t signed up yet click here to sign up right away.

Speaking of knees, let’s talk about those next.

Next in the assessment, we move to the knees:

Simply pretend the knee-caps have “eyeballs” on them and see where they are “looking.” If the knees are looking straight forward, that’s great!

Sometimes, the knee cap deviates from neutral (“looking” straight forward) for one of two reasons:

1. Due to tight muscles in the leg/hip, or tight fascial lines/IT band. These muscles may literally pull the patella, the knee cap, out of alignment.

2. Due to a femoral rotation, the “thigh bone” being rotation one direction or the other. Which may result from a bone-in-joint situation or a tight muscle around hip joint situation. Once your fitness professional has been working with you and seeing your movements dynamically, they will start to distinguish what the situation is.

Remember, you have two legs, so sometimes one knee is doing something different than the other 😉  Simply stand in from of a mirror with shorts on and look at your knee caps, you may be surprised by what they’re doing!

While at the knees, I also check for a “knock-knee” or “bow-leg.” I simply ask my clients to bring their knees and ankles all the way together to see if both will touch. If the knees touch and and ankles don’t, you have a “knock-knee.” If the ankles touch and the knees don’t, you have a “bow-leg.” Again, you have two legs and it sound crazy but sometimes they are different!

There are a lot of muscle imbalances that cause the femurs to go either direction (creating knock-knee or bow leg), along with the shape of bone structure within the hip joint. While creating an exercise Rx, muscles can be targeted to provide more support for the knee joint which suffers from either femur deviation.

Simple changes can be made to classic exercises to help create well rounded muscle firing if you are experiencing any of these deviations. For example, if you have a bow-leg position happening, placing something between the knees whiled doing footwork on the reformer will allow the adductors (inner thighs) to fire better during the exercise. On the opposite spectrum, typically the glute medius could use a little “wake-up call” if you are knock-kneed, so a band around the lower thighs during footwork helps there.

Once we are adults, the knee/femur positioning can’t really be reversed; however, I have seen it be reversed in pre-teen clients before hitting their growth spurt. Pretty cool!!!

Next up is the pelvis:

The pelvis is one crazy puzzle in the body, and can get a bit jumbled from time to time.

First, I check to see if there is a rotation in the pelvis, which would be turned clockwise or counter clockwise. You can place the hands on front of the hip bones, on the ASIS, which are the points that stick out the most on the from of the hip.  You’ll see if one is more forward than the other. It always helps to check the back of the pelvis, on the PSIS, to confirm.

Then, I check if the hips are level from side to side. By the way, it is SUPER common to have one hip higher than the other. I think I see this in about 85% of clients (myself included). The hip difference will also create a leg length discrepancy as well.

Next, I like to see if the pelvis is tipped forward (anterior pelvic tilt) or backward (posterior pelvic tilt). You can look from the side and place one hand on the ASIS and one on the PSIS to see if there is a big difference in height between the two. In women, the ASIS should naturally be slightly lower than the PSIS.

All of the muscles that attach to the pelvis pull in a different direction, and sometimes only on one side. I use the analogy of “tug of war” a lot when I’m explaining this. Which ever muscle is tighter will pull the bone in that direction over the counter muscle.

However, don’t make the mistake of automatically thinking tight means strong. Often tightness in a muscle is actually weakness in the muscle. A strong muscle is also very supple and doesn’t “lock up” the way a weak muscle does.

A lot of times the imbalanced pelvis and trunk can be easily re-aligned with simple oblique engagements.  My how-to video of this is in video lesson #3 of my 6-day foundations course, which is free by the way. So no excuses, click on that link now if you’ve been procrastinating because there is no reason to not be exercising in the smartest way possible.

Moving up the body, we’ll next run into the ribcage:

After looking at the hips I check out the ribcage and then sometimes end up correlating a pelvic deviation with some torso funky-ness which goes right into the ribcage.

By placing the hands on the lowest rib, often one side will be pulled closer to a hip that was higher. It appears the side of the waist is synched.

I also look for rotations here, the exact same way as the hips will present a clockwise or counter clockwise rotation. Place the hands on the front side of the ribs and see if one is closer towards you than the other.  It’s best to compare to the back side as well to see if it’s showing the same rotation.

Sometimes I see differences in the development of the erector spine in that thoracic region. A big deviation in the musculature is often present in someone with scoliosis or someone who does a lot of one-sided heavy lifting.

Back up and look at the core from the front of the body:

The bigger “core picture” can be seen super quickly. I’ve started stepping away and just looking at the person’s trunk in a bigger picture.

Try this: stand in front of the mirror with your arms hanging down by your side.

  1. Look at the shoulders to see if one is higher than the other.
  2. Look down and find the space between your waist and the arms. The side that has more space if often a shortened side.
  3. Also note, if you have a bit of a baggier shirt the wrinkles created under each breast which sweep down and laterally to the side, sometimes they are different from side to side indicating a shorter side of the trunk.

These trunk deviations can be a number of things ranging from a difference between obliques, lats, QLs, etc. Remember they are all playing tug of war, and the goal is to make everything tug evenly.

On the back of the rib cage we have the scapulas (shoulder blades):

Moving up the chain I look at the scapulas, where all kinds of crazy things are happening. By the way, the scapula is the same thing as the “shoulder blades,” the bones that look like angel wings on the upper back.

The scapula are plopped on the back of the rib cage without any boney attachment except for way over on the edge of the shoulder at the clavicle. For that reason, these bones can be all over the place.

First, I see if they are protracted, retracted or neutral. I check this by standing behind the person, and measuring how far away from the spine the innermost edge of the scapula is.  I measure by fingers, 2-3 fingers is normal, 4 or more is quite protracted, less than 2 is retracted and is rather rare.  I also check the front of the shoulder for tightness or a rolled forward appearance in the shoulders where the chest and humerus (upper arm) meet.

Next, I check to see if the top and bottom edge of the scapula are in line with one another. If one is higher than the other it may be elevated. I can’t jump to conclusions though, remember our big trunk picture in the last section, if one side of the trunk is higher the shoulder may just appear higher due to a trunk deviation.

I also keep an eye out for “winging.” Winging is when the scapulas are not laying flat on the upper back, they pop out like angel wings.  Winging is usually a strong indicator that the serratus anterior muscle is not firing during the exercise or is weak.

Moving up to the head and neck:

Up top, we check out the neck and head positioning. I can glance at the entire head in relation to the neck or shoulders and also look at the nose to see more “direction.”

First, I check to see if the head is tipped to one side or the other, or even side-sliding to one side or the other.

Next, I’ll observe if the head is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise.  This is easily done by simply visually checking as opposed to palpating.  Visually I can see if the nose is pointing left or right.

Lastly, I’ll check from the side view, to see if the neck is shifted forward or backward in relation to the trunk of the body. I also like to observe the curvature of the neck in relation to the thoracic spine (upper back). Sometimes it is really extended (curved forward in a “c” shape with the round part of the “c” going towards the front of the body.  A big extension would indicate tight neck extensors and will usually indicate a pillow of some kind will be necessary for any exercises while laying on the back.

Spinal “S” Curve from the side view: 

Last, but certainly not least, the curvature of the spine is one of the MOST important aspects of the postural assessment.

The spine should have a natural “S” curve when you look at it from a side view. It goes towards the belly button on the low back and away from the heart in the upper back, creating an “S” if you looked from the side. The “S” shape curves are important for shock absorption and we definitely want to keep them there.  A stick straight spine would not be helpful for absorbing any shock, so no more smooshing the low back down to the mat during abdominal exercises on the floor!

Sometimes the curves get a little too curvy. The low back may curve inward too much which we call lordosis. Similarly, upper back may curve out way too much which we call kyphosis. A spine doesn’t always have both in combo, so it’s important to check the spine out and see if one or both are present.

Lateral curvature of the spine is called scoliosis.  This would be if an “S” were present when I were looking at the back of the body. However, we’re not here to diagnose, just observe 🙂  There are TONS of exercises that can be done to help with scoliosis, we’ll save that information for another blog post.  Be sure to sign up for the mailing list so you don’t miss that post when it comes out.

In the meantime, grab a buddy or place yourself in front of a mirror to see if you can observe any of these postural assessment aspects on yourself!

An Overview of Pilates Machines and Equipment

by

An Overview of Pilates Machines and Equipment

First of all, what is Pilates, and what are those crazy Pilates machines and equipment?  Pilates is an exercise method that Joseph Pilates created back in the day, 1930’s to be exact, using hospital beds and their inherent springs to create resistance.

He later used the same spring concept to engineer what we now know as the Pilates Machines. However, Just to help you set the lingo straight, in Pilates studios the machines are referred to as “apparatuses” and the small equipment is commonly referred to as “props.”

Joseph’s original equipment design hasn’t changed much since the 1930’s and almost the exact same model of the apparatuses he created are in Pilates studios today.

When I tell the average person I teach on the Pilates apparatuses, I usually get the sideways glance with a raised eyebrow. The machines are challenging to describe and don’t differ much from a mid-evil torture device.  I thought it would be helpful to post a quick little overview of common apparatuses (with pictures) for those who give me the sideways glance.

On a side note, no matter which apparatus or prop you are using, you will ALWAYS apply the foundations to your movements. Therefore, I created the FREE 6-Day Foundations Course, so you could get a head start and save $65.00 while you’re at it. Click the link now so you can get a head start on your Pilates.

Mat Pilates:

Mat Pilates, commonly called “matwork,” is the method most people are familiar with since this approach is often present at fitness centers, retreats and in online classes. In a traditional mat class, the only equipment a student would need is a mat.

If done correctly….I repeat, if done correctly, mat class is super challenging. The mat class provides A TON of core strengthening using the body’s own limbs for resistance. Additionally, you may find planks, side planks, and pushups in this modality. This class could be dubbed a “graced-up,” intellectual bootcamp with moderate repetitions 😉

Many props find their way into matwork, but don’t be mistaken, mat class will kick butt without any props at all.  All of the exercises require that you apply the foundations for the ultimate core strengthening, so if you haven’t gotten those foundations yet, get on it. To get clear on props, read the next section.

Pilates Props:

Everyone loves Pilates so much, entrepreneurs have created small “props” that have worked their way into the Pilates world to stay.

Such props include the Pilates ring, toning balls, resistance bands, BOSUs, foam rollers, large stability balls, medium stability balls, small stability balls….. you get the point. Tons of props have spiced up the repertoire since the beginning of time and I even have a 12 Minute Resistance Band workout you can do at home or while traveling here. Props are used for many purposes:

  1. Added challenge.
  2. Change the emphasis of the original exercise to a different muscle group.
  3. Modify a classic exercise to better accommodate a student that can’t perform the classic exercise at that time due to disability, weakness, or rehabilitation.

pilates-reformer

Pilates Reformer:
The Pilates reformer is the most common apparatus of the family.It was named the reformer by Joseph because, “it would only take 10 sessions to reform your body.” Sounds good to me!

The reformer has a “carriage” which slides along two railings that serve as the frame of the machine. The carriage has springs of varying resistance that hook up to the front edge of the frame that can create as much or as little resistance as you’d like for a particular exercise.

Students may lay on the carriage which creates a nice initial support system for the core while the limbs are being strengthened. However, it is just advanced enough that while working on arms, the legs must be in “table-top,” up in a 90 degree bend, presenting a constant core challenge. Alternatively this machine is so versatile, a student may sit, kneel, stand or be on all 4’s on the carriage facing forward/backward/sideways while utilizing the apparatus.

The 12 minute resistance band workout I mentioned above includes a variation of reformer footwork that can be done with the band at home if you don’t have a reformer at home.

Add the “box” on top (not pictured) in short or long position to create a HUGE variety of even more exercises. This machine is seriously the cat’s meow!

pilates-cadillac

Pilates Cadillac:

The Cadillac was Joseph’s “cadillac” apparatus, just like the car, fully loaded with all of the bells and whistles.

The cadillac consists of a long flat mat surface along with a tower on each end and connecting bars overhead (think parallel bars!) Many of these exercises are done utilizing the tower and mat section with springs of all kinds.  The springs are attached to a roll down bar, a push through bar, and have individual loops for arms and legs.  Attached to the bar are fuzzy hanging straps where you can hook your feet and hang from the parallel bars for spinal traction and serious abdominal work.

The cadillac truly provides a huge variety of level options. Students that are beginners, have limitations, or are rehabilitating can utilize this machine with tons of support for the body on the mat while strengthening any limbs. The advanced practitioner can find many challenges as well within the machine making this a well rounded apparatus.

Reformer/Cadillac baby & Springboards:
In recent years the reformer and cadillac have merged to be more efficient for small studios. In this case, there is a reformer with a tower at the end and an extra mat section that can be added on to the machine in addition to the carriage to create a long flat mat. (Not Pictured).

Additionally, some studios have even taken just the “tower” part and attached it to a wall.  This is commonly referred to as a “spring board.” A classic mat can simply be laid on the floor in front of the tower to simulate cadillac exercises that usually use the tower and mat section.

pilates-chair-thousandfold-lotus

Pilates Chair:

The Pilates Chair is one of the smaller apparatuses that still utilizes a spring system for resistance.

The base of the chair is pretty much a large block with a pedal attached. Springs are attached to the pedal to provide more or less resistance for a specific exercise. Some chair designs allow the pedal to be “split” into two separate sections allowing a spring tension for each section of the pedal.

Exercises on the chair include seated, kneeling, standing and laying on the chair base or on the floor to utilize the pedal for resistance. Since the base is soooo small on the chair, the core has to work even harder to stabilize the trunk and the pelvis while performing exercises on this apparatus. I have a Chair Workout that you can check out if you want to see what exercises look like on this apparatus!

pilates-ladder-barrel-thousandfold-lotus

Pilates Barrels:

The “Barrel” category in Pilates is wide spread and includes the ladder barrel, spine corrector and classic barrel.

The ladder barrel (pictured) is often as referred to as an apparatus due to it’s large size, where as the others may be more commonly referred to as a prop. All of the “barrels” are actually shaped as the top half of a barrel.

Largest of the barrel family, is the ladder barrel. The ladder barrel has a tall base with a ladder on one side and a barrel across from the ladder that looks similar to a horseback saddle.

The spine corrector is the next barrel, which is a step barrel with a flat elevated ledge off one side. The spine corrector can sit alone on the floor or on an apparatus. It commonly has small bars on each side of the barrel for added stability handles during exercises.

Lastly, there are arch barrels which are simply a single “barrel” in a arch shape- ground breaking 😉  Arch barrels may sit on the floor or on the apparatuses. All of the barrels are excellent for increasing spinal mobility and core challenge without stressing out hip flexors.

I’m excited to show you what exercises look like on these mid-evil torture devices, so be sure to connect with me on social media (they’re all linked up on the bottom of the website) and also subscribe to the website so you can see it all right after it’s released.

How to Properly Breathe in Pilates and any Exericse

by

When I tell you to breathe it should be relatively uncomplicated… right?

In Pilates, there is an enormous emphasis on how we breathe during the exercise. The breath is the foundation to all body movements.  Yes, it is important for oxygenation during exercise, which I’m sure you guessed already 😉 However, it is way more beneficial than that!  

In this post, I’ve laid out how to breathe, why to breathe, and when to breathe.

You can also find this lesson on video in my Free Foundations Course, which is the info I usually charge clients $65 for! So sign up now and don’t miss out on that opportunity.

First of all, when we begin our mind-body exercise with intentional breathing, it helps us turn inward and focus on our body movements, making them more efficient. The intentional breath automatically turns our mind away from daily distractions and helps us to focus on our body in the present moment. Once we become “tuned in,” we bring more awareness to our muscle engagements and form during the exercises that ensue.

Try this:

Stop what you are doing right now, close your eyes, sit tall, and take an intentional inhale for a slow count of four and exhale for a slow count of four. (Literally count to four in your head while doing this.) Do this inhale and exhale for about 10-15 repetitions. Notice how the mind changes, it’s now ready to focus on a task.

How to breathe:

Next, focus on how you are breathing. In Pilates, we take an intentional breath through the nose, as if you are smelling a bouquet of a dozen roses! When exhaling, you want to exhale through pursed lips as if you are blowing out a cake full of 100 candles. The forced exhale is super important, keep reading and you’ll see why.

After that, focus on where your breath goes.  Place the hands on the side of the ribs, when you inhale feel the ribcage expand into the hands and spreading the seams of your shirt out on the sides. The ribcage should move out and in, laterally, similar to an accordion.

Another way to get tactile feedback, is to wrap an exercise band around the rib cage and focus on expanding into the band, the exercise band should expand and contract with the breath. You’ll see demonstrations of these two techniques in the foundations course.

When to breathe:

Every movement typically gets an inhale or exhale. The simplest rule of thumb is the exhale on the exertion.

During any resistance exercise, we typically exhale on the exertion phase of the exercise.  A simple example would be during a biceps curl, we exhale as the weight comes up towards you.

The exertion phase of the exercise can be a little bit more confusing later when the exercises are full body.  Once you being to practice regularly, you’ll start to get a feel for when the exertion phase is. Worst case scenario, your instructor will usually cue it 😉

Why proper breathing is so important:

Proper Breathing Fires up the Deep Core.

There are muscles I refer to as the, “deep core.”  The deep core muscles include:

Those deep core muscles fire up during an intentional, forced exhale. The stronger the exhale the better.

The deep core muscles are key to pelvic and spinal stability, but only fire under low loads. Once higher loads are placed on the body, without prior gentle strengthening, these muscles cannot sustain their engagement.  It’s important to be patient and to allow these muscles to get strong, even though it doesn’t always feel like very much work. You’ll learn more about this in the transversus abdominis post where I’ll discuss how to fire up the transverses, keep it fired, and make it stronger!

Proper Breathing Balances Intra-abdominal Pressure.

One of the most important benefits of proper breathing during exercise is to maintain intra-abdominal pressure balance. The reason we exhale on exertion is because the diaphragm moves upward in the ribcage as we exhale creating more space in the abdominal cavity for all of the deep core muscles to engage. When the pelvic floor fires it lifts just like our breathing diaphragm. Similarly, when the transversus abdominis engages is flattens and draws closer to the body. Therefore, it’s best to exhale, allowing the diaphragm to lift upward to create space for this muscular engagement.

If you were to do it backwards, and inhale during exertion, we would have the pelvic floor lifting up, the abdominal muscles drawing in, and the diaphragm pushing down (on inhale).  Yikes, there would be a lot of intra-abdominal pressure created there!

I have an awesome demonstration of intra-abdominal pressure in the Foundations Course so sign up now, it’s free!

Basically, don’t be shallow.

Most of us are “shallow-breathers.”

Studies suggest that when the body isn’t receiving enough oxygen, our tissues don’t function properly. Consequently, we feel fatigued, mental fog sets in, and we experience increased stress. 

Additionally, proper oxygenation is the best natural pain management resource. (Why do you think you breath like a maniac when giving birth?) The body functions best with proper breath and manages it’s own pain when breathing is efficient. Let’s end the shallow breathing once and for all and get ourselves some O2!

Now that you know all of the ins and outs of proper breathing, let’s start applying it! Practice this efficient type of breathing and incorporate it in ALL of your exercise endeavors for highest efficiency of movement. The more you practice it, the easier it gets and becomes very natural during all of your exercises.

Want the video on this?

If you’re more of a visual learner like me, a video covering this topic is included in my 6 Day Foundations Course… which by the way, is FREE!!! (And, psst, usually $65.00!) It’s the first lesson video you’ll receive, so if you missed this course, sign up below!