The Dangers of Pilates

The other day I read an article online regarding a British analysis of using Pilates for the relief of low back pain.  The article stated that not only was Pilates contra-indicated as a program to improve back pain, but that, additionally, it was dangerous and could make your back problems worse. 

While I continued reading the article I found that what they were actually saying was that individuals who were not doing Pilates correctly were having issues with their back and aggravating their back problems.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of not book-marking the article on my computer and now I can’t find it for reference.   The article does bring up a concern that I rarely see mentioned regarding Pilates…this is an exercise system that is easily and frequently done incorrectly.

I may have the entire Pilates community chasing me with pitchforks for my belief that the mat classes (and group classes on the reformer and chair) are so easily misinterpreted.  I took mat classes for 2 years with no one-on-one instruction only to find that I was completely relying on my hip flexors to do all my ab work!  Yet, from looking at me, I presented as though I was doing the exercise correctly.   After 2 years I had significantly shortened my hip flexors and I had an even bigger lordotic curve.  My back started killing me, my hip flexors felt like they were on fire.  That is no longer the case now that I’m doing Pilates as it should be done due to regular one-on-one training.

Today, I regularly take mat classes where I observe many of the students incorrectly performing the exercises.  There is nothing wrong with the methods of the person training the class.  She/he is giving accurate explanation of the exercises and guiding the class well.  The problem is that the student is frequently working above their abilities or hasn’t really absorbed the information in their body.  They may be ‘concentrating’, but they really aren’t getting it.  Instead they are using their old muscular patterns and creating worse ones.

Yes, individual Pilates classes are expensive, but they are worth it.  I am sure a few gifted individuals are out there who can take in the information and accurately absorb it, but honestly these individuals are few.  Due to the faltering economy, I see the Pilates business paradigm shifting more and more into group- based classes. 

I am sincerely concerned about whether this trend can help people find their alignment, balance their bodies and locate their deep postural muscles so that they can enjoy the true benefits Pilates has to offer.

Very open to discussion on this one…

OT: Mack's Earplugs

Ok.  Admittedly this post has little to do with Pilates per se, but anyone who has tried exercising (or doing anything important) after a sleepless night caused by too much noise (your partner snoring, the cat yowling, the trash pick-up, the ungodly sound of the lawn blower at the crack of dawn…you get the picture) will really appreciate this post.

I have recently been turned on to the best earplugs ever!  You can get them anywhere and they aren’t expensive.  They are called Mack’s Earplugs.  Don’t be cheap and get the generic version; go for the real deal.

Some tips about Mack's Earplugs:

1. take one plug and split it in 2.  place ½ plug in each ear.  DO NOT be tempted to cut corners and put ¼ in each ear; you will be sorry.  Your ear will suck down that little earplug and then you will have to go to the ear doctor and have a big bill.
2. you can use the earplugs more than once, but only if you wrap it in something like saran-wrap, otherwise it will collect dust and dirt and your ear will get messed up….another ear doctor visit will blight your calender.

These earplugs are made of silicone, are super comfortable, and nestle into my ear.   They allow me to sleep while my cat screams outside my door for no reason.  I am now feeling well rested and my body is happy.

Plus, for those of you who want to loose weight…aren’t they always saying that getting a good nights rest is key?

Check out Mack"s Earplugs.

Pilates and Sports

Maybe you are an athlete who is has reached a plateau or there are certain moves in your sport that you just can’t do.  Practicing doesn’t help because you have internalized a movement pattern that prevents you from going forward.  You might want to give Pilates a shot.

Here are some ways Pilates might help you improve in the sport of your choice:

The Rollup:

The massaging action of the Rollup helps promote the essential mind/body connection.  The rollup promotes shoulder integration, abdominal strength and spinal flexibility.

Re Sports:  the mat roll up will benefit any activity where you reach up over your head because the exercise develops range of motion and strength.

With improved stability and agility you can access your core power to enable more effective swings in games like tennis, volleyball and golf.

Leg Circles:

Promotes improved range and efficiency of movement in the hip joints, strong legs and hips and a strong/stable low back.  Additionally, you will develop balanced muscular use and strength of legs, hips and shoulders

Re Sports:  good for: walkers, runners, climbers and dancers

Rolling like a Ball

Develops healthy Pilates breathing and massages the spine, promotes balance

Re Sports:  good for: gymnasts, speed skaters, and mountain bikers…all of whom need balance, coordination, spinal flexibility, ab strength and hip and shoulder power.

Single Leg Stretch:

Increases range of motion and helps strengthen the hips, legs and abs for deep squatting

Re: Sports:

Helps you identify and eliminate imbalances in dancing, running, bicycling, rock climbing.  Helps deepen your squat when lifting weights

Double leg stretch

Builds on the freedom of movement and stability of the shoulders and the arm and extends the range of motion of your hip and shoulder joints.  Helps provide strength, endurance and stability

Re Sports:  good for over-head sports such as basketball, volleyball, pitching

Spine Stretch

Develops spinal flexibility, ab control and shoulder integration

Re Sports:  Pretty much helps with everything

Saw

Stretches the back and hamstrings.  Helps create pelvic stability and cross-patterning dynamic between the front shoulder and opposite hip.

Re Sports:  For tennis and golf, swimming, pitching or any activity that involves torso rotation and hip stability

Swan

Creates back strength and a strong ‘sandwich system’, shoulder strength and stability and chest opening.

Re Sports:  Gymnastics, diving, climbing, pitchers, golfers, tennis players and fly fishermen

Sidekicks

Creates strong well-balanced movements and coordination. Works the strength and balance of the pelvis

Re Sports:  Good for runners, hurdlers, dancers, gymnasts, skateboarders

Seal

Creates a flexible spine, powerful core, good balance and steady coordination

Re Sports: For skateboarders, gymnasts, divers

Efforting: Is More Better?

For most of my life I’ve lived by the credo:  if it’s worth doing, it’s worth over-doing.

I’ve been re-thinking this concept for a while now. 

I’ve spent the last 10 months recovering from a bike accident.  I started out with orthopedic surgeons, physical therapists, chiropractors, and other Pilates instructors, but I swiftly ran through an insane amount of money and didn’t have any improvement to show for it.  Through the process of my self-managed recovery I learned more than I ever imagined.

One of the fundamental realizations that helped me to recover was that I was trying too hard and moving too fast.  When I was putting in 150% effort there was simply no room for sensation.  You can tell when you are over-efforting because your body (and face!) will strain and grip.  So, basically you’re putting a lot of energy into straining and gripping.  Now, instead of working hard, I work smart, and it’s making my body smarten up, too.  I find when I back off a little bit my body will send me messages like:  this feels good, I want to be here instead of…ouch this really hurts!

The end result is a more balanced, flexible muscle.

I am finally moving forward instead of re-injuring myself over and over again.

Are you over-efforting?  This is something to think about whether you are recovering from an injury or not.

Pilates and Walking

    1.  Engage your belly and your back when walking.

Imagine you are a sandwich and you are pulling your belly toward your back and your back toward your abdomen.  Feel your upper body up and over your pelvis.

Pilates help:  Chest Expansion kneeling or standing w/roll back bar at the back of the Caddy, Knee Stretch series.  There are tons more, but I’m just mentioning a few exercises which get you off your back and more accurately mirror your real-world experience.

Why it works:  you want a lifted chest while walking.  Also the challenge of balancing when you are kneeling or standing helps engage the whole power house:  sides, back, front and pelvic floor (sandwich).  In order to do knee stretches properly you have to really sandwich the body and keep it still while the legs shoot in and out.

2.   Use your feet:

Strike at the center of the heel and roll through the foot. Your feet should be pointing straight ahead.  If you either heel strike on the inside or outside of the heel, you will probably end up pronating (allowing the instep to fall toward the floor).  Push off with the ball of the foot

Pilates help:  footwork on any of the equipment. 

Why it works:  There’s nothing like footwork on Pilates Equipment to address every part of the foot, especially if you are lucky enough to be working out on equipment that has a foot roll that stimulates your acupressure points.

3. Allow your leg to swing through

Every step has 2 phases, a stance phase and a swing phase.  The swing phase is what happens between push-off and heel strike on the same leg.  You also need a strong, elastic hip flexor for foot clearance (but that’s a book in itself)

Pilates help:  single leg circles on the mat, leg circles on the trap or reformer, side-lying leg series on the mat or the reformer.

Why it works:  Leg circles on the Cadillac or Reformer are the best way I know of to create differentiation between the hip and the legs, essential for an unrestricted swing of the leg before heel strike.

4. Get your glutes and hamstrings into your walk. 

Squeeze glutes on heel strike, leave trailing leg behind you for an extra beat and feel your hamstring fire.

Pilates help:  lunges on the reformer, butt-blaster

Why it works:  lunges engage your glutes, work your sandwich system, and help you find your swing rhythm.  Butt-blaster really targets your gluteus medius. Trust me, you can’t stand or walk if this muscle is weak.

5. Move your hips laterally (slide your weight from one hip to the other) and your shoulders horizontally as you step

Pilates help:  Swimming on the mat

 Swimming creates strength and the development of cross-patterning co-ordination of the back extensors and hip extensors

Other useful tips:

Keep eye gaze level with chin pointed down and slightly pulled in

Your steps should be shorter rather than longer.

Make sure your arms are moving in a fluid cross-pattern

Most of all:  go for a feeling of buoyancy.

Footwork

In Pilates one of the most fundamental exercises are the footwork sequences done on either the Reformer, Trap table or Wunda chair.  By observing the feet when we perform these exercises your teacher/trainer can figure out a lot about your body’s predispositions:  which side is dominant, do you pronate or supinate, do you have leg length discrepancy, do you have a tendency to grip your thighs, can you keep your hips still while you move your legs, …the list goes on and on.

Because Pilates is a functional exercise system it is a great way to address imbalances in movements we perform every day, such as walking.

Walking is getting a lot of buzz in the fitness industry lately.  Certainly it is a great to have a fitness option that can be done anywhere, anytime for the cost of a good pair of shoes.

Unfortunately, the majority of people assume that that walking correctly comes to us automatically.  Guess what?  It doesn’t.

There is a standard of walking and most of us deviate from it in many ways.  Once your weight bearing joints or you spine become twisted or compromised, your entire body will shift to accommodate that change and you won’t even notice it.  In the meantime, your joints often become over-loaded, and your muscles are forced to take on jobs they weren’t meant to.  To make matters worse, a weight- bearing joint that is out of balance will not show even an ache until it topples over.  This could happen as a result of strenuous exercise or just as easily from bending over to tie your shoe.  When a joint is at its limit, that’s it.

The aesthetic look of our bodies develops in response to the way we use our muscles.  Using our muscles incorrectly can result in potbellies, saddlebags, and loose butts even though we are working out. 

Working out in a class that uses weights that are too heavy for you or moves too fast for you to work in form are pretty much a recipe for disaster.  Perfect your form! 

Tomorrow:  more on walking and how Pilates can help transform your gait.

Cueing

Ok, so back to my problems engaging the pelvic floor:  the point that I was getting at is that sometimes the wrong word or concept can completely snafu you in your attempt to engage in an exercise. 

The ‘concept’ of doming worked for me, while the concept of ‘squeezing my pee muscles’ did not.  Even the words dome and squeeze have a completely different effect on me when I’m working out.

Honestly, it still amazes me how a new or different word can unlock your movement potential.

About 6 months ago I discovered the cue:  ‘pull your armpits low’.  Until then it was always ‘keep your shoulders out of your ears’ or put your shoulder blades in your back pockets, or something else that never worked.  With this new cue, however, my chest immediately opened up and I discovered the elusively correct muscles to connect my shoulders into my back. 

My clients are also having a uniformly positive response to this new cueing.  So, try it out if you haven’t already.

Domes of Uplift

About 5 years ago I was at a Pilates Conference taking a mat class with a teacher from Britain. (unfortunately I can’t remember her name).  She had us do a standing meditation where we aligned the domes of our arches with the dome of pelvic floor, the dome of our diaphragm and the roof of our mouth.  (For those of you who don’t know this; the roof of our mouth is where the top of the spine ends).

Once we were lined up, the instruction was simply to root down from our pelvic floor through our feet and to pull up from our pelvic floor up and out the top of the head.

This is an alternative method to finding our posture and experience centering.  It creates a completely different feeling than finding our posture through placing every bone and muscle in its correct place.  The sensation it creates is oddly freeing, and floaty, yet you are still arriving at improved alignment. 

Personally, the great thing for me was the ‘aha’ moment when I started doming up from my pelvic floor.  I finally got the strong internal lift that I had been missing with cues that referenced using my ‘pee’ muscles.  Adding a little squeeze together from my sitz bones and I was finally on my way to feeling the root of my pelvic floor and connecting to my transverse abdominals.

Wendy Leblance Arbuckle talks a lot about the domes of uplift.  It’s pretty interesting stuff.  Here’s a link: http://pilates.about.com/od/technique/a/Good-Posture-and-Gravity.htm

The Mystery of the Pelvic Floor

Ok, I admit I never got it.  When I first started doing Pilates I would routinely be instructed to engage my pelvic floor, and I was just…what????

My instructors mentioned using my ‘pee muscles’ and doing a kegel.  Well, every woman who has ever had a baby knows a lot about ‘the kegel’.  But I wondered… what about the guys?  Here are 2 links that give good instructions for performing the kegel, one for men and one for women.  These links also supply more information as to the importance of having a strong pelvic floor.

Girls go to:  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/kegel-exercises/WO00119

Guys go to: http://www.pelvicfloorexercise.com.au/formen.htm

Still, the kegel was not enough for me, or maybe it was too much for me.  Who knows?  It just wasn’t working.  Then I learned about doming and it all pulled together for me.

Tomorrow…more about doming and finding what works for you.

Conscious Breathing

With Pilates taking on so many variations these days, I think it’s important to remember that it’s pretty hard to access your core Pilates-style without focusing on conscious breathing.  Even after practicing Pilates for so many years I still catch myself breathing incorrectly, especially on the ‘in’ breath.

How to perform conscious breathing?

This type of breathing can be performed seated, standing or lying down, but if you are just starting out….

1. Lie down on a firm supported surface and bend your knees so that your feet are flat, pointing straight ahead 3-4 inches apart, find neutral spine with your hip and pubic bones on the same plane and your tail heavy.
2. Just breathe a couple of times to allow your limbs and torso to sink into your supporting surface
3. You are going to be breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
4. On your ‘in’ breath:  feel your ribs expanding laterally (like an accordion).  You should feel your upper back expanding into the surface beneath you.
5. On your ‘exhale’ engage your pelvic floor, scoop from hip to hip and pull in and up.

Here are some tips for accomplishing this breathing technique.

1. Be patient.  Some people know how to send their breath around their body, others don’t.  I had one client who took 3 years to learn this breathing technique.  Others can do it in a couple of sessions. 
2. Don’t put 100% of effort into it, save some room for sensation.  When you put 100% of effort into an endeavor your movement ends up tight and tense.  Your breath should feel more like a massage.
3. Place one hand on your rib cage and one hand on your stomach.  The hand on your ribs should move outward when you inhale, the hand on your stomach should not!
4. If you don’t know how to engage your pelvic floor…that will be in the next post!