Hi, I'm Dane, and these are podcasts for Balanced Body.
We're at my studio, North Star Pilates Solutions in Buffalo, New York, and this is Kim.
And today, Kim and I are going to be working on an exercise to assist with spinal mobility.
Any athlete that performs any sport requires spinal mobility because there's an element
of bending, twisting, rotation to every single movement.
So what we want to make sure of is that the spine has adequate ability to access range
of motion into flexion, extension, rotation, and side bending, sometimes multiple parts
of those happen at the same time.
So this movement is geared towards just developing an awareness of all of those positions and
giving your athlete the ability to feel what's happening in their spine in a controlled environment
here.
So we're going to start with the spine nice and tall, and Kim is going to grab onto that
bar, and the bar is sprung from above with one short yellow spring.
So we don't want a lot of resistance for this exercise because we want the spine to not
have to work against a lot of resistance, but kind of move in and out of the movements
on its own.
So we're going to start, and Kim is going to pull the bar down for me here, good, right.
So we're going to start arms out in front, and she's going to start with up posterior
tilt, so scooping the abdominals as she exhales and rolls back, scooping out, scoop, scoop,
scoop, scoop, scoop, good.
So she's going to inhale for me here, and as she exhales, press the bar down, and she's
going to keep that scoop of abdominals and hollow out over the abdominal contraction,
reaching as long as she can go comfortably with hamstrings and lower back.
Here's a great opportunity to feel a nice stretch in hamstrings and in through lower
back.
Now, inhaling for me here, she's going to exhale and roll back into a scoop, coming
right back into that full hollowed out position, take the bar up to the ceiling, and then just
lengthen through the crown of her head and lengthen through the thoracic spine.
So this is another opportunity to get from flexion through into extension with that nice
length, being aware of where their shoulders are positioned, making sure that that scapula
don't migrate too high up, but keeping a nice soft shoulder position.
She's going to inhale here, and as she exhales, gently roll back, soften the shoulders as
she rolls back into that scoop, pull the bar down in front, and then hollow out over those
abdominals, and reach right back over again, lengthen through the crown of the head, getting
the stretch in hamstrings and lower back again.
Good, inhale there, exhale and just roll right up into that scoop position again, good, rolling
right back, and then from here, push the bar down and come into neutral, beautiful.
So now we're going to add a little bit of circumduction and saw to the exercise as well.
So we started with just flexion extension, and now we're going to go into a little bit
of rotation to get some combined movements through different planes for the spine.
So I'm going to have Kim lean back for me in a neutral spine, good, so she's maintaining
that nice length through spine, arms are straight.
So she's going to start with her left hand, and her eyes are going to stay focused on
that left hand, so we're going to release the left arm for me, and gently rotate back
into that movement, good, letting the body follow the arm as she comes around and pause
right there.
So with this side bend and rotation to the right, we want to make sure that her left
hip stays anchored to the carriage, excuse me, to the table, just to make sure that she
has that nice length through the whole side of her body.
Now from here, she's going to release that rotation, come all the way back around.
Now as she comes around here, she's going to start to push the bar up to the ceiling
with her right hand, and reach around through to her opposite foot, good.
So one variation here is to just have her keep her hand neutral, or she can flip her
palm around and reach for the bar and grab on to it if she's flexible enough.
So turn your hand the other way, there you go, and grab on there, good.
Now the thing we want to make sure is that she maintains length through both arms to
reach longer through the right arm, and pull a little bit with that left, and what this
emphasizes is a nice stretch through the upper back and nice rotation through the spine.
So now from here, she's going to gently release that left arm, good, start to take that arm
all the way back around again for me, and she's going to hang all the way back, good.
And you can either stop here with the rotation, or you can take them all the way around again,
good just to get that spine moving, and then open her up, come all the way back around,
and right back to the bar for the starting position.
So let's do that on the other side just so you can see what it looks like.
So release that right hand for me, Kim, and then gently rotate, good.
Take the arm up and around, good, and pause right there for me, anchoring the opposite
hip.
Now she's going to release that rotation, and open the rib cage up toward the ceiling,
come all the way back around, now push that left arm up, and reach across your body for
that right foot and bar, good, pause there, great.
So flip the palm around, and grab on to the bar, lengthen through the right arm, pull
a little bit with the left, and that's going to give you that nice rotation for me there,
great.
So now very gently release the right arm, good, and come all the way back around, good,
and we're going to take you right back into that full circumduction again, good, right
across, keeping the right hip anchored, and then release, come all the way back around,
good, bring that arm back to the bar, ending in our nice neutral spine starting position,
good, bring the bar down and lean forward, great, and that's circumduction with the saw,
so part of push through with flexion extension.
And thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoyed.
