Pilates It is a training discipline that adapts to any age, physical condition and need, which together with perseverance promises to correct the postural hygiene, joint mobility, flexibility and strength. Likewise, with Pilates we also manage to relax, by concentrating much of our efforts on correct breathing.
By coordinating conscious breathing with the movements of this sport, so popular in Spain, especially among women, we achieve improve cardiovascular and lung health, lower blood pressureenjoy more energy, and relax physically and mentally.
He coach Saúl GarcÃafrom VivaGym Group, shares with us a series of specific exercises and information about what we can achieve with each of them. With 20 minutes a day of practice we can begin to change our silhouette, and our health in general, always under expert advice. The key is to combine the exact movements (he proposes 10 to spread throughout the week) for our expectations and circumstances.
“Twenty minutes a day of pilates can provide many benefits to our body, both physically and mentally. In this small training routine that I propose I have included exercises of variable difficultyhaving to adapt this difficulty depending on the physical state of the practitioners. In general, we should do between 5 and 8 repetitions of each one, ending with two minutes of breathing,” the coach advances.
1. Start with conscious breathing, a key point
In pilates there are three different types of breathing: breathing diaphragmatic, clavicular accessory respiration and costal respiration. Before getting down to work, the expert recommends learning to manage the three in a conscious way, since it will later help us get the most out of our exercises.
2. Activation of the pelvic floor
Do exercises that put you into action the pelvic floor It is especially necessary and interesting for women, since it helps us to have greater abdominal awareness and perception, and to strengthen an area that tends to suffer especially weakness during childbirth.
On all fours, wrists under the shoulders, knees under the hips, back straight and chin towards the chest. From there, being aware of the pelvic floor, we take three breaths, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth without arching the lower back. Then, we climb, parallel to the ground, one arm and the opposite leg.
3. Basic bridge, starting point to add difficulty later
This typical Pilates movement is the basis for other more complicated exercises, and it is important that at the beginning we use it as one of the fundamental and essential to be able to move forward.
Pilates puts the focus on core strength, in flexibility and correct body alignment, and many exercises work the pelvic floor muscles. Among them, the basic one consists of lying on your back, with your arms extended along your body, bending your knees, and raising your pelvis as much as possible, while still supporting your back.
3. Chest Lift
This exercise strengthens the abdominal muscles and above all it teaches us to correctly recruit the pelvic floor and transverse abdominal muscles.
Lying face up, with knees bent and the heels a hand’s breadth from the buttockswe place our hands behind the neck and on the floor. We go up releasing air and take it going down. Only the upper part of the chest is raised.
4. Hip arches
The fourth exercise proposed by the VivaGym expert, the hip arches, makes the abdominals work to stabilize and not to mobilize, so it is useful when a person does not have enough strength at abdominal level to perform a spinal flexion.
5. Leg circles to relieve tension
This exercise, lying on the floor with legs extended, is a good example of stabilization and mobilization. If executed correctly, you will achieve relieve tension in the lower back.
The One Leg Circle is one of the best Pilates exercises to work on core strength and flexibility. pelvic stability. The circles that we do with one leg offer a great opportunity to work the abdominals, maintaining the principles of Pilates: concentration, control, precision, breathing, fluidity and centralization. This is a key exercise of pilates method Traditional floor created by Joseph Pilates.
6. Shoulder bridge, evolution of the ‘basic bridge’
The Shoulder bridge goes one step further than the ‘basic bridge’ by being in an elevated position on the shoulders. We start from an unstable position, in which coordinated work of the abdominal muscles and knee flexors is necessary to promote posterior muscles of shoulders, back and legs.
It is an extension of the hips lying on the floor, raising the pelvis with the arms on the floor, and stretching the leg perpendicular to the floor.
7. Simple leg stretch
This exercise develops abdominal strength in an isometric manner, i.e. stabilizing the trunk and pelvis while the legs perform the movement. With these movements we strengthen the muscles to later perform more intense Pilates exercises.
8. Cat on all fours
In this case, two important objectives are intended to be achieved: spinal flexion and column extension. It is very appropriate for people who require little abdominal and back work, and need to mobilize the spine. It would be the case, for example, of pregnant womenin rehabilitation processes, and elderly people.
Positioned on all fours, with our knees resting on the mat, we round our back, bringing the pubis towards the face, drawing a large C with the spine, from the tailbone to the crown of the head. We return to place our column in neutral.
9. Quadruped swimmer
We stand on all fours with our backs in a neutral position. We place the hand behind head and we carry out the movement of swimmer or swimmer in a slow and controlled manner, accompanying the movement with breathing and concentrating on the movement of your shoulder.
With this exercise we also learn to stabilize the scapulae and elongate the spine.
10. Assisted Roll Up, abdominal strength
Assisted Roll Up, or Assisted Roll Up, serves to gain abdominal strength and learn to coordinate the abdominal muscles with the hip flexors, when flexing the trunk.
In this case, in a sitting position, we place both hands behind the knees, and lower our back slowly and in a controlled manner, until it rests completely on the floor. At the same time, as we go rolling backwards On the mat, the feet come off the ground, en masse.
Do you want to receive the best health and women’s content in your email every Thursday for free? Sign up for our Newsletter.
