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Tag: core strength

The August Five

Fluid Movement & Massage offers five moves each month that incorporate yoga, Pilates, and strength exercises to help you build strength and increase your flexibility.

1) Lion Drinking

 

From hands and knees, inhale as you slowly bend your elbows to lower your nose towards the ground. Exhale to press back up (this is a smaller move than a push up, keep your back flat and shoulders wide.

2) Thread the Needle

From hands and knees, inhale as you extend right arm out to the side. Exhale and reach under your left arm, look to the left. Spine twist, hip stabilization.

3) Bridge

Lying on your back. Exhale as you press into your heels and curl your pelvis up towards the ceiling. Inhale here then exhale to slowly lower back down. Spine articulation.

4) Scissors

On your back. Round head and shoulders off the mat and hold on behind your right leg, extend left leg out away from you. Inhale and drag your left leg towards you, exhale and switch legs. Active hamstring stretch, hip and shoulder stabilization.

5) Yoga Dancer

Stand on your left foot and extend your left arm to the ceiling (or hold on to a wall for balance).  Hold your right foot with your right hand or a strap and gently pull your foot straight back behind you allowing your hip and quad to stretch.

New Pilates Mat Class at Sellwood Yoga starts tomorrow!

Join Anne for a sixty minute lunch time workout Wednesdays at noon at Sellwood Yoga 7970 B S.E. 13th Ave. We will be starting with Joe’s basic twenty-five or so core strengthening exercises.  Summer is just around the corner and it’s never to early to start working on your washboard abs!

Sign up online at Sellwood Yoga’s website or drop in.  Whether you are new to Pilates or have some experience with moves like the Hundreds, Teaser and Seal, Anne will provide exercise modifications so that you leave feeling successful and maybe a little sore (in a good way).

For more information contact Anne McCranie at 503-705-4762.

Do guys need to do "core strengthening" exercises?

According to this Wall Street Journal article, by Kevin Helliker yes they do.  Core strength is the new buzzword in exercise circles.  Everyone from elite athletes to weekend warriors are finding their inner strength (pun intended).

To quote Helliker:

After years of conquering the treadmill and bench press, I am now striking poses and performing movements that I had always considered “girly,” and the difficulty of it is humbling.

While he doesn’t specifically use the word Pilates, the three exercises illustrated in the article, glute bridge, pillar bridge and plank, look very similar to Pilates moves I do with my clients.

According to the author: “After three months of two core-training sessions a week, my body-fat percentage is down five points. My cruising speed on the treadmill has risen a full mile per hour, even though my weekly mileage plummeted to make time for the core exercises.”

Want to improve your running time?  Try adding some core strengthening exercises to your program.

Here are three simple and effective core strengtheners.  Shoot for one minute of each of these:

Plank hold:  Make a straight line from your shoulder to your knee.  Pull your belly button in and relax your neck.

Crunches: Rest your hands behind your head and slowly curl head and shoulders off the ground.  This is about half as much effort as a traditional sit up.  Think of flattening your abdominals and breathing.

Pilates Bridge:  Press into your heels to lift your hips towards the ceiling without gripping with your glutes.  Imagine your spine getting longer and your neck relaxing.

Try these moves two to three times a week for the next month and see if you notice a difference in your strength workouts.