Pilates in The Car

So on this website, we've already proven to you that we can do Palladio's anytime. Let's think about maybe Pilati is anywhere Joseph [inaudible] believed that movie that should be a part of our everyday life and conscious movement should be incorporated in whatever we do. So we'd like to present a series where we are peaking your interest and making you think about where you can incorporate polities in your everyday life because a few hours in the studio every week really isn't enough to make the changes in your movement patterns that may be necessary for healthy movement, healthy back. And we'd like you to think about all the places that you find yourself outside the studio where you can incorporate a lot of these. So this is a [inaudible] ring, which you probably all know, but it looks suspiciously like a steering wheel.

So let's get out to the car and see what we can do with [inaudible]. One piece of equipment that we all tend to have access to for the most part is a car. And Joseph [inaudible] believed that appropriate movement patterns were important to incorporate in daily life. And since we find so much of our daily lives in something like this, it's probably important to realize what we can do with this piece of equipment. Please remember that these exercises are not intended to be performed while driving.

This is for stationary use in the car only while waiting to pick up your kids stopped at a stop light or stuck in hideous traffic. So we find ourselves in our own studio right here in our car and right in front of us we have a wonderful PyLadies ring just about the right size. It's really great in this instance to use the ring to stabilize the Scapula and get them to behave cause they can often be a little bit wild and crazy. So take the ring, take the steering wheel, press the palms on either side and pull the scapula down the back. And here all I want is isolate the glutes, the glutes.

So squeeze the glutes together and you'll feel yourself lifting the car seat. Let them go lift up. I'm only putting my hand here so you can see the rise and fall of the body as the glutes contract. And release. Keep pressing the ring and give me five of these. Feels great.

Now we want to try to tuck the pelvis without involving the glutes, so we're going to use only our abdominals to pull the lumbar spine back to the car seat, not engaging the glutes so we're not moving here at all. And and pulling it back to the car seat, not pushing with our feet and release. Pull the navel back to the car seat. Release back and release. Now pull it back and now engage with the glutes and rise up and drop down.

Pull it back first. Engage the glutes and relax. Tuck and now use the glutes and deepen that tuck and release. One more time. Tuck. Use The glutes, deepen that tuck and release. Put the feet together in a small Pilati Zvi.

The heels are touching toes or apart. Arms on either side of your ring. Again, Tuck the pelvis and lift up and roll it back down. Tuck the pelvis and lifted up off the car seat and roll it back down. Little Pelvic lifts up, roll it back down. The upper body stays absolutely quiet. Lifting it up and down last time. Roll it up and lifted down. So get well back in the car seat again. Palms are pressing towards one another on the ring. [inaudible] Tuck your chin and roll the upper body forward.

Keeping the lumbar in contact with the car seat and roll it back. Roll it forward and roll it back. And one more time. Roll it forward and roll it back. Sitting tall. Connect the back of the head with the headrest. Keep the lumbar spine engaged with the car seat and just lift the chest to extend the upper back and release.

Lifted up and release. Lifted up for a nice thoracic extension and release. So now we'll do a full roll up. Chin comes first. Upper back, lumbar away from the seat. Come up to a perfect straight line. And now lumbar comes back to the car seat. Then the middle back.

Upper back head comes back one more time. Drop the chin and roll it up. Everything up and starting at the bottom. Bring it back and role connect. One more time. Drop flex sitting tall and roll it back.

Let's do some extension. Sitting Tall, lift the entire back into extension and forward. Pressing the hands together and back and two and back and three and back and four and back. Roll it up and extend back. Roll it down, roll it up, extend back and roll it down. Now extend, come forward and roll it back.

Extend forward, and we'll look back. All right, now we'll discover the difference between the lumbar and the thoracic and how to control that junction. Tuck the pelvis well back into the car seat. Keep it there. And now slowly lift the upper back only so it's light against the car seat. May even pull away. Come back and let it go.

Tuck the pelvis, keeping contact with the car seat. And now lift only the upper back and let it back. One more time. Tuck the pelvis now lift the upper back only and roll it back down. Now the opposite.

We extend the lumbar and flex only the thoracic. Come back and let it down. Extend the Lumbar, flex the thorax, come back and let it down. One more time. Extend the lower back. Now Flex the upper back, roll it back and bring it down. Let's do a little arm work. Take your hands, put them on the far side of the steering wheel, palms facing you. Get a good connection with your biceps. Now extend the back end.

Just spinal extension with no help from anyone else. Make the biceps bring you forward and move it back. Bring it forward and move it back. Abdominals are in the entire time. Back is extended. No help from upper body at all. This is all bicep and one more time.

Ooh, let's get some rotation. Put one hand on the side of your leg, crossed the other over the pilates ring, steering wheel and twist without allowing your hips to twist. Twist the upper body only and bring it back and twist. Abdominals are engaged and bring it back. It's one of my favorites. Twist and bring it back and one more time.

Twist and bring it back. Now we'll do a little twist and we'll roll it up and roll it back down the side. Roll it up and back down and roll it up and articulate it back down. Now extend up, reach forward and twist farther. Come back and extension and contact the seat. Extend. Come forward to as farther and come back and roll it back.

We can do the same. On the other side are spinal twists and release and twist and release and twist and release. Notice that the hips are not moving. They're perfectly stable in the car seat and release and now articulation and back. Come forward and twist further and come back. Roll it up, twist farther, rule it back one more time. Roll it up and twist farther.

Shoulders down and roll it back. Thigh lift. Try first putting your fingers right at your hip flexors and lift one. And then the other. Lift the left knee and the right knee left and right now to try to deactivate some of that rectus femoris.

Take a pelvic tuck first and a strong abdominal scoop. And now lift that knee and lift the other and lift and the other. And one more time lift and the other. Do a hip twist. Both knees come to one side, hand comes on top and we twist right here in the car seat. Using the twist of the lower body and the other way, pulling that opposite hip back as far as you can towards the car seat. Beats, driving shoulder work, palms on the steering wheel. PyLadies ring, pressing to engage, retract the shoulder blades together behind you and move them forward in front.

Retract behind and press forward, retract behind. Press forward. You should feel them coming together. Feel the spines of the Scapula on the, on the back of the seat behind you. And then they move away and separate as you press forward. And one more time. Retract and extend.

So cervical twists, engaging the ring and steering wheel. Firmly twist to one side and press into the headrest. Come Center other side. Press into that head. Rest and press into the steering wheel. And again, for us, yes and [inaudible]. Yes. One more time. Each side for us and for us. And last.

So let's finish up here in our studio on wheels with a little lateral flection work. Uh, take the knees, push them together and bring the heels out, pushing out and bring the toes back in. So we're a little pigeon toed and our knees are pressing together. Pick up our piles, ring palms on either side. Press and keep the elbows pressing together as well. Get light on the back of the car seat.

And now flex the spine to the left, pressing on the ring and pressing the knees and come back vertical. Press the other way and press those knees, hands and elbows together. Come up one more to the left. Press, press, press and lift and flex, right. Hold it and press and lift. One more time left. Press those knees. Press those elbows and lift. And last time right and lift. Ah, what a great studio this car is.

So the last thing that we want to do, anytime we've been sitting in a car or an airplane or at the office for hours on end, um, we need to get some hip extension. I think in all of our lives we probably have far too much hip flection and need more of that hip extension. So take a moment when you get out of the car, out of the office, out of the airplane, take one leg back. Engage both glutes, lift tall and extend the upper back. As you press the hips forward and release, come back, back up on the toe. Engage the glutes, lift the chest and press the hips forward and back. Bring the heel down.

One more time and lift. As you engage those glutes, lift that upper back, pressing the hips forward, and come back. Change legs. Now engage those glutes and lift the upper back and roll it down. Lift. Engage the glutes, extend the upper back and push the hips forward and bring it down in. Last time, come up, press the glutes together. Lift that up her back. Oh, get tall. Press those hips forward and come down. And that lot he's in the car. [inaudible].