You probably do Pilates moves in your workout, whether you call them that or not. Pilates has infiltrated nearly all types of exercise programs over the past 20 years. Here’s how (with a video tutorial) to get the most out of your Pilates inspired core work.
Pilates work includes common moves like planks, pushups, crunches, and bridges. All of these engage your core muscles, a key component of Pilates.
Pilates also has the added challenge of maintaining length through the spine. Focus on this and you’ll take your workout up a notch.
Why Work on Length Through the Spine?
Gravity pushes down on us all day long. This, combined with any poor postural habits, compresses and stresses the spine.
When we ‘lengthen through the spine’, we use a combination of muscles throughout our body to reverse the effects of gravity and poor posture. We seek to decrease the compression at the intervertebral spaces in our spine and free up our movement.
At its simplest, lengthening through the spine is what you do when you stand up tall.
In this video, I take you through lengthening the spine and then maintaining it with four common examples of Pilates inspired core work.
This sequence of steps to lengthen through the spine and activate you postural muscles will help you perform better quality movement as you do your core work. Once you get in the habit of lengthening, you’ll notice it simply feels better to move this way. And you’ll see it translate to gains in functional strength and fitness.
Stay fit!
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