Is Pilates Good for Seniors?

          By Kathryn Russell

Pilates is a great exercise choice for seniors because it addresses many of the issues associated with aging such as loss of balance, decreased flexibility and stooped posture.  Pilates exercises strengthen the core and increase stability in the joints, which improves balance.   

There are many Pilates exercises that are designed to increase scapular mobilization which minimizes the rounding of the upper back.  Your Pilates instructor can guide you safely through spinal articulation exercises that not only feel wonderful but can help minimize compression in the spine and increase your flexibility.

Here is a warm up exercises to try at home:

Pelvic Mobility warm up

     Lay on the floor with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.  Have your heels in line with your sitting bones.   Flatten your shoulder blades onto the floor (you may need a pillow under your head ) and notice how your ribcage feels heavy and comfortable on the floor.

Imagine that your pelvis is a soup bowl with the pubic bone being one edge of the bowl and your belly button the other.  Bring your “soup bowl” into a neutral position and breathe without tipping your bowl.  Now tilt your bowl toward your feet (your back with arch slightly) and now tilt it toward your chest (your low back will flatten onto the floor).  Do this several times with control.  Doesn’t that feel great?

Does Pilates Improve Your Posture?

Does Pilates Improve Your Posture?

by Paul Meripol

I have been thinking about something my client Joe told me a while back.  Joe said that when he squeegees his shower door in the mornings, he moves from his core now.  He doesn’t just pull the squeegee down with his hand and arm, he pulls it from his center.  It’s the same thing when I reach up to close the windows in the studio - the effort originates from my center.  Pilates teaches us a new way to inhabit our bodies.  We stand taller, we sit straighter, and we bend and reach more efficiently and safely.  And those postural changes have profound effects.

Here’s something I want you to try right now.  I learned it from Dr. Brent Anderson of Polestar Pilates.  Sit back in your chair and slump down.  Round your shoulders and back, look down at your lap – sit like a teenage boy about to get called into the Principal’s office.  Now smile.  How does it feel?  Now lift up your chest and sit tall and balanced on your sit bones with your spine long, your shoulders balanced over your hips, and your head lifted over your shoulders.  Smile again.  Does it feel different?  Amazing!

Does Pilates improve your golf game?

by Kathryn Russell

In a word - Yes!  Every golfer will tell you that their game depends on concentration,centering, rotation, balance and stability.  Which is exactly what Pilates delivers.  Pilates teaches efficient and powerful movement through its focus on core strength (balance and stability), body awareness (concentration and centering) and body mechanics (rotation).  Pilates exercises correct faulty movement patterns while increasing strength and flexibilty.  

Here are two Pilates exercises that will help you improve your game!

SIDE LYING LEG CIRCLES

This exercise will improve mobility of the hip joint, stability of the core and increase balance.  Why is this important? If hip mobility is limited you will have too much lateral motion and not enough power in your swing.  In this exercise balance and core stability are working to support  hip mobility.

Lie on your side with the bottom arm straight in line with your body and your head resting on it.  The top arm is resting on the floor in front of you.  Stack your hips and shoulders and lift your waist off of the floor by engaging your abdominal muscles.

Inhale as you lift your top leg as high as you can without collapsing your waist into the floor.  Exhale as you begin to circle your leg keeping the rest of your body as still as possible.  Inhale as you finish the circle.  Repeat 8 - 10 times and then repeat in the other direction.  Make the circles as large as you can with your waist lifted off the floor.  

SPINE TWIST

This exercise prepares the spine for rotational movements and strengthens oblique abdominal muscles. Why is this important?  Rotation supported by pelvic-lumbar

stability and trunk strength is necessary for a powerful golf swing.  

Lie on your back with your arms extended out to the side in a "T" position, palms facing the ceiling.  The legs are lifed off the floor with hips and knees at right angles.  The knees are directly above the hips and the ankles are in line with the knees.  Draw the low back gently into the floor.  

Inhale and rotate the pelvis and legs as one unit to one side keeping both shoulders and shoulder blades on the floor.  Keep knees and feet together and even.  

Exhale and draw the pelvis and legs as one unit back to  center.

  

Does Pilates Help Low Back Pain?

by Paul Meripol

I originally came to Pilates hoping for a solution for chronic low back pain.  And it has helped immensely.  Yet for a long time, despite good instruction, some exercises – especially certain back extension movements – made the pain worse and not better.  The problem was not the exercises, it was how I was doing them.

The key to safe and successful back extension, especially for sufferers of lower back pain, is in the abdominals!  Proper abdominal engagement while performing back extension protects the low back, and helps put the work where we want it - in the mid back.  Once I learned this lesson, I was able to perform virtually any back extension exercise safely.

Here’s a simple back extension exercise example with principles that can be applied to any others you perform:

1.  Lie on your stomach on a mat or carpet.  Your nose is resting lightly on the mat, the back of your neck is long, and your arms are along your sides with your palms against your hips and your fingers reaching down towards your knees.

2.  Stretch your legs away from you.  I like to lightly engage my glutes and hamstrings as I do this.

3.  Here’s the key to the exercise: along with that engagement of your glutes and hamstrings, lift your belly button up off the floor toward your spine.  By doing this you engage your deep abdominals.  You should feel your pubic bone pressing into the floor.

4.  Now keep that tummy pulled up tight as you lift your head and chest off the mat.  Don’t overextend your neck.  Keep looking down at the floor.  Think of a turtle reaching its head and neck out of its shell.  Your goal here is to strive for length from top of head to toes.  Don’t worry about how high you lift.  That is definitely secondary.  You want to feel your back is hinging in the middle, behind the ribs.  If you feel you are hinging in the low back, or you feel any discomfort in the low back then come back down and recommit to your abdominal engagement before you try it again.

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