The Pilates Reformer sessions at the gym have been stretching us out in the Swan on the long box, then of late, it has become Swan to Grasshopper. At the private classes, I repeated the moves for my pilates instructor because I kinda felt that at group sessions, I simply did the moves but not fully articulating the movement. This one-on-one attention meant that I would be guided to isolate each muscle and vertebrae.
I could see her trying very hard not to roll eyes. LOL She was all like, "It's meant to be spinal articulation, not contortion... it's a grasshopper, not a scorpion!" Oops. It’s really really about how far one could dive or how high one could rise. It’s all about spinal articulation and keeping the range exact, working each muscle as it should move. I also made her demonstrate how to do it. HAHAHAHA.
The pilates instructor wanted me to go back to basics to practice the swan. She got me off the Reformer and put me on the Chair. The lower pedals meant that I should have the aid of gravity. The resistance on the pedal meant that I couldn't cheat and would have to really move with just the upper back, then dive with the push from the lower abs and glutes.
I was also put on a lot of hip flexion rotational exercises. The hip flexors are really tight, and it takes daily and weekly stretches to remind each set of muscles to work so that nothing compensates for the other to cause aches. My knees felt okay; the popliteus muscle/tendon seemed to have recovered from the shock of the strain. It has only been a week, so yes, neither is anything torn or badly strained. The knees aren't not operating at 100%, but it's almost healed.
One session saw aching glutes, hips/thighs and knees. Another saw aches in my glutes (again) and upper back. The glutes are really lazy huh. The minute movements got me. That was when I knew I worked the right muscles, and the knees were on their way to a full recovery.
I could see her trying very hard not to roll eyes. LOL She was all like, "It's meant to be spinal articulation, not contortion... it's a grasshopper, not a scorpion!" Oops. It’s really really about how far one could dive or how high one could rise. It’s all about spinal articulation and keeping the range exact, working each muscle as it should move. I also made her demonstrate how to do it. HAHAHAHA.
 |
| This is the pilates instructor who was forced to demonstrate. She had to emphasize that the range of movement is meant to be small. |
The pilates instructor wanted me to go back to basics to practice the swan. She got me off the Reformer and put me on the Chair. The lower pedals meant that I should have the aid of gravity. The resistance on the pedal meant that I couldn't cheat and would have to really move with just the upper back, then dive with the push from the lower abs and glutes.
I was also put on a lot of hip flexion rotational exercises. The hip flexors are really tight, and it takes daily and weekly stretches to remind each set of muscles to work so that nothing compensates for the other to cause aches. My knees felt okay; the popliteus muscle/tendon seemed to have recovered from the shock of the strain. It has only been a week, so yes, neither is anything torn or badly strained. The knees aren't not operating at 100%, but it's almost healed.
One session saw aching glutes, hips/thighs and knees. Another saw aches in my glutes (again) and upper back. The glutes are really lazy huh. The minute movements got me. That was when I knew I worked the right muscles, and the knees were on their way to a full recovery.
No comments:
Post a Comment