"Now, what was Alexandra saying about the pelvic floor and errrr....Christmas stress?......"
First of all, thanks to everyone who responded to me personally and took precious time out of their day to give me such good feedback. It seems the general consensus is that you guys want videos, which makes complete sense. I'm planning on that for the New Year and might be asking some fellow Mancunians to participate!
Sans video, I wanted to post again sooner rather than later and give you some tips for getting into your Pilates routine as soon as possible, or perhaps for revamping the routine you might already have. It's this time of year that we all (Pilates teachers included) find less and less time to devote to toning our bodies yet we're finding more and more things to put into our bodies. Stress and sleep deprivation don't help and neither do those pesky long lines everywhere you go. So what's the one Pilates exercise you can do anywhere and no one will no? Pelvic floor exercises, of course!
What is the pelvic floor? There's so much to say about it, but for today's purposes you need to know (speaking bluntly here) that it includes the muscles of the genitals, urethra and anus and expands to reach your sit bones (those boney bits located in the middle of your bum). Try to include the whole area when you do the exercises below, not just the "pee or wee" muscles.
Pelvic floor exercises are a good way to learn to feel your deep abdominal muscles, specifically your transverse (the deepest layer of abdominal muscle- good for stabilizing and supporting), because the abs have physical attachments in that area. Just like when you you squeeze your bum and you can feel the backs of your legs a little bit. Go on, try it. Now give your pelvic floor a squeeze and see if you can feel your lower abs. If not, no worries, I'll tell you how.
- Take a breath in and simultaneously pull up the pelvic floor. Try not to squeeze so hard as you would when needing the restroom badly, but just enough that you feel almost a 'tickle' of an engagement. A 20% contraction if you're a numbers person.
- When you exhale, completely release the pelvic floor. Remember to include every bit of the floor.
- Do 10 lifts taking each one a little higher, or more engaged/contracted than the next. Still paying close attention to working with the breath. The last one should be like you have to use the restroom badly. Around the last few, if you can, put your hand on your lower abs, just above your pubic bone (below the waistline of your pants or skirt) and see if you can feel something stirring in your abdominal muscles. If not, no worries, just keep thinking of the pelvic floor and it will come. It's quite small, nothing like an ab curl- more of a 'flattening' sensation.
- After reaching the top, work your way down by doing another intense contraction and about 10 more slowly making your way down to 20% again. Don't get too caught up with the number of contractions you make- emphasis is on feeling the different levels of muscle contraction.
- Repeat as many times as you like, but always make sure you're completely releasing- that's how strong muscles are developed. Try and let this be a relaxing exercise rather than a chore....could even help those of you who have problems shutting your brain off when going to bed.
This is, of course, just one way of doing pelvic floor exercises. It's important to keep it simple in the beginning. When in doubt, just lift when you inhale and release when you exhale. That alone is enough to start with, especially if you're a beginner. And funnily enough, it's a good stress buster to boot! You don't have to physically put yourself on a mat and do exercises- just focus on the breath and start finding those small, yet very important connections. In the months to come on this blog, it will prove to be the most important principle of your work.
