Pilates Exercises For Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
The pelvic floor is a group of muscles, ligaments and connective tissue in the lower pelvic region. It acts as support of your inner organs, keeping them in place and helping them function properly.
The muscles of your pelvic floor - like any other muscle in the body - must have the...
Increase or Decrease the Range of Motion of the Pilates Chair Pedal
Many students have a hard time keeping their sagittal alignment during exercises like Footwork on the Chair. Sometimes, limiting the motion to a range that the student can control makes all the difference in keeping good alignment. In this case, a pedal stopper can come to the rescue! Don't...
Tight Low Back? Try This Pilates Cadillac Exercise
Rather than asking who has experienced low back tightness before, I should really poll "who hasn't". Fewer virtual hands will go up. Muscle tightness or even spasm is, unfortunately, an all too common occurrence these days. It can come on suddenly and range from mild discomfort to severe...
Don't Forget To Challenge The Sides of Your Body
How many side-lying exercises can you think of? Probably a few, but not nearly as many as supine exercises, right? There are not many exercises in the Pilates repertoire where the force to the core comes from the side, challenging the body in the frontal plane. When building a balanced body, it's...
The Stomach Series: Spine Corrector Versus Mat
The Stomach Series is great for increasing abdominal strength, control, and endurance. You're likely familiar with the exercises in this series. We have Single Leg Stretch, Double Leg Stretch, Single Straight Leg Stretch, Double Straight Leg Stretch, and Criss Cross. As you were reading this...
Pilates Exercises and Cues to Improve Breathing
When we combine movement with deep breathing, we feel a sensation that Joseph Pilates called an "internal shower". Maybe you've noticed it in exercises like the Hundred. The whole body warms up and feels energized. This is one of the many reasons we feel so great after class.
Deep breathing...
From Stiff Spine to Mobile Spine
To prevent injury and move efficiently, we need our bodies to have strength and mobility. Maybe that's obvious when we're thinking about our muscles, but people who are new to Pilates might not realize this also applies to our spines.
During their Pilates journey, they might start to...
Are Your Abs Working or Your Hip Flexors?
The Series of 5 or Stomach Series is a Pilates staple. And for good reason! These exercises build abdominal strength, endurance, and core control. I love to teach the Stomach Series on the Spine Corrector instead of the mat because it can be done more correctly by more students.
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Connecting the Upper Body to the Core
Seated Push-Through on the Trapeze Table is a great way to get the spine and shoulders moving, and your core activated. There are so many good reasons to practice this exercise like improved thoracic flexion, shoulder strength, and hamstring flexibility to name a few.
A major benefit that...
Make Sure to Strengthen the Posterior Chain of Your Body
In our daily lives, we spend most of our time shortening (and collapsing) the front side of our bodies. Sitting and slouching, for instance, shortens our hip flexors, pectorals, and abdominals. In our Pilates practice, many of the exercises shorten and contract the front side of our bodies...
