Shoulders. Officially one of my picky points. Why? Well firstly because I know what it is like to feel you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders and secondly because it such an easy thing to spot.
Sitting in a meeting today I could see that 90% of the people in the room were sat with rounded shoulders and their necks jutting forward. Over time that becomes a habit and that habit leads to a muscular imbalance.
This week I have taught a few classes that are not my usual ones. It’s given me a fresh insight into how many people struggle with their shoulders and upper back posture. If you are in a class with me “Shoulders” is one of my common cues!
I used to have awful upper body posture. I can remember back to being 18 and having a massage. Even then the masseuse told me how tight my upper traps were. Sitting at a desk, working long hours at a computer and not exercising enough really did not help. Fast forward 10 years and Pilates found me. Walking down the road next to a Pilates teacher I remember being told “Shoulders” every 2 steps. Finally I got it 😉
I now spend time focusing on my shoulder function, strengthening my lats and traps in my back. It really works wonders. I also know my triggers – stress, feeding babies and carrying children. In any of these situations I really need to overfocus on my posture.
So how are your shoulders and what are they telling you?
Take a look in the mirror at a few points in the day and check out those shoulders. Are they level or do you have 1 higher than the other? Do you have any pain or tension in them? How do you sit, stand and move your arms?
Some great shoulder function exercises include: Chicken wings, Diamond Press, Sphinx and using weights for a chest fly and ribcage closure.
Do you sit a lot for work/travel? It’s well known now that sitting for long periods really isn’t good for our bodies, however it isn’t always avoidable!
Sitting can often lead to tight hamstrings, rounded shoulders and lower back pain. Here are some ideas to help you release tension, alleviate pain and correct your posture.
Ask for someone to look at your chair and work station with you sat in it. Looking at whether your feet can go flat on the floor, how upright you are sat, the position of your laptop/computer in relation to your eyeline, arms and shoulders.
Think about what work you can do stood up. Can you make a standing workstation? For example, I often use our breakfast bar as a place to work as it’s the right height for me to work on my laptop.
Take regular posture breaks. Make sure you get up and walk around, change position and check your posture every 30-40 minutes. Build it into your schedule. This could even be a walk to make a drink or go to the toilet!
Whilst sat at your desk use shoulder shrugs, shoulder rolls and gentle release exercises to release tension.
Stretch at the end of every day and during the day if you can. A decent hamstring stretch will really make your body feel much better. Combine it with a CAT and your lower back will love you.
Press ups. I mention them in class and people groan. I hear you. In fact I used to groan too. That was until I learnt how to do one correctly and felt the benefit of being able to do them. Using your bodyweight as resistance is an awesome way of gaining strength and challenging yourself. I’ll admit it, press ups are not easy. If you can’t do a full on press up then there are lots of options that will help you work your way up. So let’s break them down and work out how to do them properly.
Press Up Positives:
A great upper body workout . Strengthens pectorals major, anterior deltoids and triceps. That’s chest, shoulders and upper arms. So if you want to tone up your “bingo wings” and sculpt your chest and shoulders these are the bee knees.
Builds bone density. The weight goes through your wrists and forearms helping to build stronger bones. This has huge benefits for later in life. When you fall, you put out a hand to stop yourself, so a strong wrist is essential.
Gets your heart rate up. Some people aren’t a fan as you feel a bit out of breath and flushed after press ups. But that’s one of the benefits, you are increasing your metabolic rate and burning more calories.
Core strength. When done correctly with the spine in neutral a press up works your core, if it doesn’t you are doing it wrong, see my tips below.
Press Ups Problems:
Some of the top issues I see are:
1. Saggy back. Your spine needs to remain in neutral. No saggy lower back is allowed, it can be damaging and is not using the core properly. Keep your range smaller and go down a level to build your strength first.
2. Arm position. When doing a tricep press up your arms need to be narrow, shoulder distance apart and your weight right forward over your wrists. This will lead to your elbows bending under you and not out to the side. Often people do not have their weight far enough forward, it needs to be as far forward as you can take it.
3. Neck dipping. Your spine and body need to move in one unit. In an effort to get down lower some people dip their head and neck down. I totally understand why but you are straining the neck flexors and will just end up with neck pain, so make it smaller 😉
4. Breathe. The sheer effort of these can mean you forget to breathe. I wouldn’t advise that 😉 You should breath out as you push up from the floor, the hardest part of the press up.
5. Bums ahoy. The bum in the air look is not an attractive one 😉 It means your weight is not shifted far enough forward. Check it out.
Building up to a Press Up:
You don’t have to go right in and do a full press up… perfect the technique and work up to it.
1. Wall Narrow Press Ups – stand facing a wall, arms shoulder height and shoulder width. Take a large step backwards and stay on your toes, weight over your shoulders and wrists. Think about your alignment, slide the shoulders down in the back, find your neutral and engage the core. Inhale as you bend the elbows and lower yourself towards the wall, keeping in neutral and not letting the neck or lower back dip. Exhale as you press up.
2. Half Press Ups on your Knees – come down to the mat and progress to half press ups. Start in hands and knees to find neutral spine and engage your core. Then walk your hands out about 1 hands distance further forward, still shoulder width apart. Shift your weight forward so you feel the weight through your wrists. Now try out that press up just going half way down.
3. Full Press Ups – when you feel confident with a half press up and can do 8 well, then move up to the next level. Keep your full press ups small to start with and keep checking your technique. Use a mirror to check your alignment, no lower back sagging, no bum in the air and no neck dipping. Ensure you are working through your triceps, going too far too soon can mean you end up collapsing and using every other muscle possible to get back up! Less is often more.
Feet. I’m not convinced we give them enough credit, enough attention and enough love. Recently I’ve been doing quite a bit of research and reading into the whole area of being barefoot. It has truly been fascinating and is affecting our whole family.
Here are my top 5 reasons to go barefoot:
1. Most foot deformities are caused by wearing ill fitting shoes. Think about calluses, bunions, toes that grow at funny angles, the way your toe nails grow. So for more beautiful feet, go barefoot. Plus it is a great excuse to get a pedicure. Beautiful nails here we come.
2. Walking barefoot strengthens and stretches the muscles, tendons and ligament in your feet, ankles and calves. This can help with back, hip and knee pain. It is well known that you don’t want to put children in shoes too soon and it is best to have them in flexible, soft soled shoes to aid foot development. I’m not sure why as adults we change to stiff soles and high heels? Oh yes, because it looks good and feels safer. It almost makes sense, but I used to live in heels once too. I know you can’t go to work barefoot (unless you are me of course) but there are barefoot friendly shoes and minimalist shoes or just look for a flat, flexible sole.
3. It can help you be more aware and mindful when walking barefoot. You need to be aware of your surroundings and any sharp objects which can help you focus on your posture, your walking and your thoughts. Some find it almost a way of meditating. For me it just feels better. I spent a lot of my teenage years walking outside barefoot and used to walk around barefoot at work as often as I could… now I am paid to not wear shoes 😉
4. It is liberating. I love having my shoes off. Feeling the grass between my toes. Walking on sand. Even walking around the house and feeling how free my feet feel, how flexible they can be without the contraints of socks and shoes. Constantly wearing socks and shoes means your toes cannot spread and your feet cannot move as freely as they are made to do. Think about it. How can your foot flex, move, bent and react properly with a thick, hard sole attached to it? Since focusing on being barefoot more recently my toes literally shout at me when I constrict them in tighter socks or shoes!
5. It is free reflexology. Having your feet massaged, releasing the tight spots and stretching them out can have benefits all over the body. Having a tight spot in your foot can literally lead to a headache. Why? We it can mean you lean in on that foot, tightening up the side of your leg. This can lead to knee pain, which can affect how your use your hip leading to hip issues. That tightness could mean you are tilted and affect one of your shoulders, working up into the neck. tight neck flexors can lead to headaches. Amazing isn’t it.
So I’m encouraging you all to FREE YOUR FEET. Go Barefoot for some time daily. Kick off your shoes in the office, take them off when you get home, go for a walk outside barefoot. If you can’t be barefoot that often look into barefoot friendly shoes and socks. I love my toe separated socks for Pilates for this very reason. I’ve a post on this coming up.
Do you get pain when you lift your arm to the side? Or pain when rotating the arm so the palm faces to the ceiling? How about pain when taking the arm behind your back. If so you may have a rotator cuff issue. The great news is Pilates can help 🙂
The rotator cuff comprises of 4 muscles that go from the scapula to the humerus. These 4 muscles are the subscapularis, the supraspinatus, the infraspinatus and the teres minor.
The muscles work to lift the arm out to the side (abduct) and to stabilise the humeral head when the arm is abducted. They also have a role in keeping the head of the humerus in the correct position so prevent your shoulders from rounding. So if you have rounded shoulders your rotator cuff probably needs strengthening!
Movements that involve the rotator cuff muscles are brushing the back of your hair, back handed racket sports, overarm throwing and reaching behind ie, into your back pocket, or in my case I’m often reaching behind into a child’s car seat to pass something, or pick something off the car floor!
How to help rotator cuff issues:
Work in a pain free range – make your movements smaller so it does not hurt! Pain is a signal from the body that you need to stop and continuing can make it worse.
Quality of movement – think about how your shoulder blade is working. How does it feel, sound and look. Get it checked out by your GP, physio or Pilates instructor if you are not sure.
Slow down the speed of exercises to get the movements right and stay connected so you are thinking about the movement the whole time.
Exercises to strengthen:
Dumb waiter:
Start with the elbows close to your side, palms up to the ceiling, core engaged, good alignment.As you breath out, open the arms to the side, they may go to a right angle (mine don’t!), keep the elbows close to the body and keep the shoulder blades down in the back.
Floating arms to side:
Start in a neutral alignment, shoulder blades down in the back, core engaged, palms face in.As you breath out lift the arm with it passing out to the side of your body, coming in an arc to the ceiling. Keep the shoulder blade in position the whole time.Your end position. Now breath in and lower the arm back down.
Single chicken wing:
Start with the arm lifted to ceiling, shoulder blade down in the back. As you breath out bend the elbow letting the shoulder blade slide down in your back. Breath in to return to the start.
How long do you sit for on an average day? Think it through to include driving, eating, work, relaxing…. I bet it is longer than you would expect. Most people don’t realise how long they sit. We’ve turned into a society that wants to sit rather than stand. Standing is seen as harder work, however sitting is actually causing your body a lot of problems.
Britain has been found to be one of the most sedentary countries in the world. We spend an average of 8.9 hrs a day sitting. That’s over a third of our day sitting .
The Issues:
Sitting for 8-10 hrs leads to a 90% gtr risk of Diabetes and 18% greater chance dying from heart disease and certain cancers. Now those are huge statistics. No wonder diabetes is on the increase.
Sitting for 60 mins or more impairs the blood flow through the arteries. When the blood doesn’t flow as easily you are at higher risk of a stroke and heart disease. A simple 5 minute walk every hour can help negate this.
Sitting leads to a tight, less mobile back, lower back pain, tight gluteal muscles, short and tight hamstrings. This can all lead to back and shoulder pain.
Remedies:
Stand up every 30 mins and have a walk around.
Find more ways to stand up as you do things – e.g. take phone calls on your feet, walk instead of driving, stand up on the train.
Build in regular walks to your day – park your car further away so you walk further, have a lunchtime walk, get a dog!
Borrow small, active children that need exercising and chasing 😉 (mine are available on loan).
Look at getting a standing work station.
Use some simple leg and back stretches and mobility exercises daily.
Build Pilates in more than once a week – find the right exercises for your body and do them daily.
Pilates for me is constantly a challenge. I teach it, but I am also still learning it and I think I always will be. That is one of the reasons I love it so much. If something is too easy, it loses it appeal to me. I’m certainly not uber flexible, ultra strong or a Pilates Pro. I am however consistent, always looking to learn, able to listen more and more to my body and Pilates is an exercise I enjoy. Finding exercise you enjoy is always important, if you don’t like it you will not stick to it.
One thing highlighted to me this week is how Pilates is not all about how strong you are. Yes you need core strength to do a teaser and upper body strength to complete a good front leg pull back… but you also need hamstrings that are released so you can straighten your legs for a teaser and if your pecs are tight you will struggle to get the full range for the front leg pull back. So I’m introducing new release stretches into our classes. A tight muscle can be a weakness.
Think about it, what is different those weeks when you suddenly cannot do certain exercises. The roll up is one of those that often gets affected. Tiredness, tight muscles, overworked muscles, the breathing and lack of concentration all play a role – not just core strength.
So this week when going around your daily activities work out where you feel restricted movement, what areas feel tight. If you sit alot at work this may be your hamstrings, if you are on the floor playing with small children it may be tight pectorals from having a rounded upper body posture. Lifting, leaning, driving, looking at a screen, wearing shoes – unless we do these everyday activities with proper alignment we will get tight muscles somewhere.
My challenge to you – go and release them. Find a roller, a spiky ball, a tennis ball and get into those tight places. Stretch out with a band, a rolled towel or just on the floor. Think about what you are feeling and then see if you notice the difference. If you can, release some of these areas before your Pilates class. Then see what happens.
So I’ve back at the study at present. As part of a course I am studying I’m delving into Fascia. Quite simply fascinating.
Fascia is the web of fibres and proteins that form a layer that connects the whole body. It can be seen if you dissect the body. Sometimes known as connective tissue, it connects one muscle to another. Described as “the fuzz” in this famous video to those fascia geeks or as cotton candy or cling film. When you are tight the fascia builds up and you need to release and “melt the fuzz” or over time you will end up with an inhibition to your movement.
The theory is that tension, injury or a postural issue will affect the fascia and this then ripples out across the rest of the body along myofascial meridians. Imagine 6 people holding a sheet taut between them, a pull at one place will be felt by all of them. So that injury in your ankle will cause a build up of fascia (think thicker strands, more of them) that can have an affect higher up the body, in your opposite rib cage for example. Now it’s not new to know an injury in one part of the body can affect another. The difference here is thinking about the muscles not working in isolation but the fascia are the connections between the muscles and transmit tensions and movement through to other muscles.
So movement is good and staying static is not. Stretching and using our full range of motion is important. This is where massage and release stretches come into play. Using rollers, balls and hands to massage the fascia can that has built up in an area can be broken down. Hence why that not so comfortable roller massage is important!
Squats are back people and they rock. I’ve always been a fan of the squat, now that I’ve learnt even more about the body I’m an even bigger fan…. and it’s not just me, squats are everywhere I look. Why?
1. They work your pelvic floor without you having to think about switching it on… this happens when you push up to standing from your squat.
2. They’re simple and safe to perform throughout pregnancy, post-natally and beyond.
3. They work your thighs and glutes, perfect for toning those areas and for helping with weak gluts which is a frequent issues I see in people.
4. They are functional, so they train you for everyday activities. I squat when picking things up, and putting the washing in the machine for example.
Priya squats whilst pregnant.
Start in neutral with your feet hip distance apart, in parallel. Check your pelvis is in neutral, your shoulders blades are down in your back and your core is engaged.
Now sink your weight back, letting your hips go back and feeling the weight go right into your heels so your gluts engage. You may feel you are about to topple over so try it out near a chair or windowsill to start with, preferably with a mirror nearby.
Now in that squatting position check in a mirror that:
your back is not arched
you are not leaning too far forward through your upper body
your knees should not be further forward than your toes, if you can keep them over your ankles
your heels are down
you have bent from your hips and not your back
your core is still engaged
If you are pregnant the added bonus is… They prepare your body for labour (particularly useful if you’re wanting an active birth where you’re encouraged to stay active and move around during labour).
Many people come to us for help with their back pains and find that Pilates really helps. The act of strengthening their core, working on their posture, learning about neutral pelvis and stretching does wonders.
So here is the question. “My back hurts should I come to class this week?”
It’s a tough one. Sometimes the answer will be to rest it, sometime you will be better mobilising it in a safe environment. Here are my thoughts:
Why does it hurt? What led to it hurting in the first place? Knowing that can be very helpful to firstly preventing it happening again, helping us work out how to help you strengthen it and it will give us an idea what has happened. If you were bending down to pick up something and it twinged, then we need to work on your technique of picking things up, include some squats and core work in your repertoire.
Is this a new issue or a recurrent one. Your previous history is a great indicator of whether you should rest or keep mobile. For example if you have had disc issues in the past and the pain feels similar then you don’t want to be coming to class.
How much does it hurt? If it is a more of a dull back ache then you should probably come and let the teacher know so they can give you exercises to help. If it is a throbbing pain that you are needing painkillers for then you should be going to the GP and resting.
When you are in a class our advice is always – If it hurts then tell the teacher and stop. Pilates should not cause proper, full on pain. Yes your core will ache, your back may feel stretched, your shoulder blades may pinch…. but it is not a “No pain, no gain” type of exercise.
We are always here to give extra tips or to chat through things. For more specific exercises you can use at home remember you can always use our DVD or book a one to one.
Contact Us
To book onto a class or for massage please contact Priya (best by text/email).
