Are You A FOODIE?

Life with Lisa

by Lisa Klein

Do you like the idea of practicing Pilates but just can’t make time to get to class?  So why not learn these six great moves you can practice daily? These challenge and tone your core. All you need is a space to lie down and stretch out, like the floor. While practicing these exercises your goal will be to not hold your breath and keep your navel drawn in during the movements. Give them a try!

1. Bridge: Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor about hip width apart, arms palms down at your sides. As you exhale draw your navel to your spine and lift your hips off the floor using your glutes. Hold for a few seconds until you feel your glutes fatigue. Avoid tightening your neck and shoulders.

More advanced version: Just kick out a leg without changing your body position or dropping your hips.

2. Straight Arm Plank/ Full Push up Position-Start on your hands and knees, with your shoulders drawn toward your hips, stretch one leg out behind you and place the ball of the foot on the mat, then draw your navel to your spine and extend the other leg out to join the first leg. Hold your body in a straight line for several seconds without dropping your torso toward the floor.

More Advanced: Straight Arm Plank and lift one leg.

3. Pilates 100- Lie on your back with your legs in a bent knee position directly over your hips. Reach your arms down past your hips, a couple of inches from the floor; float your head off the mat to look toward your pelvis. As you draw your navel to your spine, pump your straight arms up and down while keeping the torso anchored to the mat and not moving your head. Perform for several seconds then rest. The name suggests this should be performed for one hundred pumps of the arms (good luck, its tough).

More Advanced: Hold an exercise ball between the legs.
4. Side Bridge-Begin by lying on one side propped up on the forearm, with your body in a straight line (flat at the hips), with knees bent so the lower leg is behind your body. Depress the scapula or pull your shoulders toward your hips, draw your navel to your spine and lift your hips away from the mat. You will be weight bearing on the forearm and the bottom knee. Hold for a few seconds. This exercise can irritate the shoulder joint. If you experience pain while practicing side bridges discontinue.

More Advanced: Side Bridge keeping the legs straight, weight bearing on the forearm and the edge of the bottom foot.

5. Flight-Begin by lying on your stomach, forehead resting on a rolled up towel, and with your arms down by your side palms facing the ceiling. As you exhale draw your navel to your spine and glide your shoulder blades toward your hips and back toward the ceiling floating your arms and your head off the mat. Hold for a few breaths then rest.

More Advanced: Swimming- Begin facedown with arms extended overhead palms down, resting on the mat. As you exhale draw your navel toward your spine and float your head off the floor continuing to look straight down at the mat. As you continue to breathe kick one arm and opposite leg off the mat simultaneously toward the ceiling, and then change to the other pair. Try to perform this movement briskly while only moving the arms and legs, holding the abdominals in tight and not moving the torso.

6. Side Line Double Leg Lift-Begin lying on one side, with your head resting on a rolled towel or pillow, and your legs straight. Draw your shoulders to your hips, navel to your spine and as you exhale float both legs a couple of inches off the mat. Hold and rest down for 6-10 repetitions, perform on other side.

An important principle of Pilates exercise is that we avoid sacrificing quantity for quality. So, perform only as many repetitions as you can do well. When looking through these instructions, you should have noticed reoccurring cues:

• Exhale as you move
• Shoulders toward your hips
• Naval to spine

No one gets this all coordinated at first, even after a short while, but that is why we practice Pilates to become stronger. These movements while foreign at first should feel good in time. If you aren’t sure you can always contact me for a quick lesson then you can be off to practice on your own.

Lisa Klein, Program Director, Co-Owner Intergrated Fitness.