Pilates has exploded in popularity recently, especially on the reformer, due to the way it can sculpt and strengthen the body, however it’s so much more than that. It’s also great for our spine and bones, helping us recover from injury and stay mobile for the whole of our lives. Firstly it focuses on the core and a strong core creates better posture and less pressure on the spine, resulting in less likelihood of pain or injury. All Pilates classes should start with engaging the deep stabilizing muscles of the body, starting with the breath: inhaling deep into the lower lungs, promoting diaphragmatic breathing to engage the deep abdominal muscles. It also focuses on spinal alignment, cueing pelvic positions such as imprint and neutral spine to protect the lower back and correcting negative movement patterns. Good Pilates classes will include exercises that move the spin in all ways: extension, flexion, lateral flexion and rotation, helping to decompress vertebrae and improve mobility. Pilates on the machine also uses body weights and sometimes hand weights to increase resistance, which helps to strengthen bones and muscles, working to prevent conditions like osteoporosis. Resistance training is very important to support posture as we get older, and prevent injury and postural conditions that can restrict mobility and cause pain.
Why It’s Important To Have A Strong Spine
Having a strong spine is crucial for health and wellbeing. It keeps us moving for the whole of our lives, ensures we have good posture, and can move and do the daily activities we do for work and fun without pain or discomfort. It also holds the spinal cord, the central nervous system, which communicates with the brain to allow us to move and feel. Keeping your spine strong and healthy protects this, and helps prevent nerve pain in other parts of the body.
Abbys top 3-5 moves to strengthen and mobilise the spine
1. Bridge – Lie with your back and shoulders flat on the floor, arms by your side, headrest down if on the reformer (3 red springs), neural pelvis, knees bent and heels on the footbar or mat. Inhale to prepare, then move your pelvis into imprint, continuing the movement up, peeling the spine, one vertebrae at a time off the reformer or mat until you are in a shoulder bridge with a neutral spine, and a straight line like a ski slope from knees to hips to shoulders. Inhale at the top, then articulate slowly down on the exhale, placing one vertebrae at a time down, through your imprint and landing back into neutral spine. Inhale to prepare and go again. Repeat 5-10 times.
2. Cat/cow – take a quadruped position on your mat or reformer, inhale deeply to prepare, then exhale to flex your spine, so you create a c shape, looking towards your belly button at the bottom of the exhale, like an angry cat. Inhale to slowly reverse the movement, 1 vertebrae at a time coming into extension, looking at the top corner of the wall at the top of the breath. Repeat each movement a few times.
3. Mermaid – sit on the mat or reformer facing the long right side of the mat/reformer, with your legs bend in front of you flat on the floor so that your left leg bends with the shin parallel to the front your body, and the right leg is to your right side with the shin parallel to the side. Take your left hand to the floor or footbar (1 red spring), and take your right arm straight up by your right ear on the inhale. Exhale to flex the spine over to the left while pushing the reformer out with your left hand, or pushing the floor away. Ensure you keep your spine in a vertical plane as if you were trapped between 2 panes of glass. Inhale to come back, raising the left arm by your left ear, then counter stretch the spine over to the right. Repeat twice then change to face the other side of the mat or reformer. You could also add in a rotation here, at the end of your 2 mermaid stretches on each side, rotating the upper half of your torso from your waist around to the left (when facing the right, and vice versa), taking 3 slow breaths, before releasing. By adding rotation to the lateral flexion mermaid stretch, coupled with the cat/cow exercises, you will have moved your spine in every direction. These 2 are great stretches to do daily, will only take a few minutes but could give you better spine health for life
4. Short spine – a personal favourite though not for beginners – this is performed on the reformer on a red and a blue spring. First, put your feet into the long loops, then extend straight forward in a lateral (turnout) rotation with a neutral spine. Inhale to rotate your legs to parallel then bring them up so your feet are above your hips. Exhale to articulate your spine up with straight legs, so the carriage comes into the stopped and your feet are directly above your face. Inhale to laterally rotate your legs again and bend your knees so your knees go out to the side and your feet are still above your face. Articulate your spine down, one vertebrae at a time keeping your feet still in space and straightening your legs until you can go no further down, then bend your knees pulling your heels to your bum and bring your spine fully down and back to neutral then extend your legs, still in the lateral rotation. Repeat 5 times ensuring you match each breath to each movement and going slow.
Credit: Abby McLachlan, Pilates Instructor & Founder of East of Eden