Tag: shoulder bridge

Why can’t I do a roll up? PART 1. Stiff backs and getting stuck.

Priya Tew

Roll ups can be one of those nemesis exercises that people struggle with and they can cause so much frustration. I’ve got a number of people in various classes who struggle with these so it’s made me get my thinking cap on. Why are they such a struggle? How can you get better at them? How do people suddenly manage to be able to do them?

What is a roll up?

A roll up can start from seated or lying down. I’m going to start from the mat. So we start with a curl up, chin towards the chest, working through the upper spine.

To do this you use primarily the rectus abdominus muscles (six pack muscles) and also the obliques (waist muscles). So this part of the exercise means you need to first off work on those curl ups.

The next stage is the most challenging part and brings more muscles into play. Bringing the ribs and torso off the mat. The aim is to do this segmentally, working vertebrae by vertebrae through the spine, keeping the shoulders down and not using momentum. So not only do you have too deepen and increase your curl up but you need to bend at the hips as you come up towards seated. This uses the hip flexors to pull your body up off the ground. Many people get stuck at this stage.

STUCK ON THE MAT: work on your breathing. If you get stuck at the ribcage, exhaling properly and using the diaphragm as you breath can help. It will open the ribs and help lengthen the spine. Also use spine stretches and the shoulder bridge to help mobilise your spine. Go back to the 1/2 roll back and focus on really deepening your C curve, this will stretch the tightness in your lower back and strengthen your abdominals. Think of scooping and bring your belly button towards your spine to really get the curve. When you try the full roll up, keep your ribcage heavy and down into the mat as you roll up, then once your ribs are up keep the lower back heavy on the mat and keep peeling the spine up.

For the roll up to work well you need your back to be flexible. It doesn’t matter how strong your abdominals are, if your back is stiff you won’t roll up segmentally. If you struggle with the rollover and rolling like a ball then this is likely you.

STIFF BACK: work on shoulder bridges. Get that spine moving piece by piece letting gravity help you. Focus on your breath as you do it. Breath out as you come down to the mat.

Use the spine stretch to stretch the upper-mid part of your back. Also work your C-curve. Focus on the half roll up and also rolling like a ball without rolling! So getting into that position really rounding the lower back and sinking into the tilted pelvis.

To learn more look out for part 2 of this post focusing on hip flexors.

The best exercises for your bum!

Priya Tew

A wonderful review of the scientific literature was carried out looking at the research between 1966-2010 on glut activation in certain exercises.

Let’s just recap first, where are the gluteal muscles? Well, they are your bum muscles. Gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the whole body and the one that you think about when you shake your booty. It has attachments on the hip, the sacrum and the coccyx. It inserts onto the IT band and the inner thigh muscles. It’s role is to extend the thigh backwards, such as rising up from a squat.

Gluteus medius is higher up and sometimes I find people confuse this with their lower back because it does attach there. It helps move the thigh out to the side and rotate the thigh.

 

 

Gluts:Posterior_Hip_Muscles_3

 

Poor posture often leads these muscles weak as can too much sitting! So building in some glut activation exercises is important. If you come to one of our pilates classes then you will be working those muscles in a shoulder bridge, an oyster, a squat or swimming for example.

Back to the research. They found the following exercises have the best activation of glut max:

Forward step up
Single leg deadlift
Single leg squat
Wall squat
4 point kneel with opposite arm and leg lift

glute-Max-activation

The glut med exercises giving the most muscle contraction were:

Side bridge to neutral
Single leg squat
Single leg deadlift
Side lying hip addiction (leg lift)
Wall squat

glute-Med-activation

This is not to say other exercises are redundant as sometimes we need to start with lower level exercises and build up. But it does make interesting reading and highlights the role of squats and bridges 🙂 2 of my fav exercises.

If you like to multitask then exercises that worked both gluteus medium and gluteus maximus at once:

Single leg squat, single leg deadlift, wall squat and forward step-up.

 

Here are some good starter exercises to try out:

Step ups, use your bottom step at home and step up and down.

<a href="http://worldartsme.com/">WorldArtsMe</a> Swiss ball or pilates soft ball squat against the wall with the ball behind your back.

Shoulder bridge making sure you squeeze and activate the bum muscles.

Shoulder Bridge End

 

The Top 5 Exercises for a Saggy Bum!

Priya Tew

I’ve fast becoming a bit of a glut fan. If you don’t what I’m talking about then you probably are not in one of my classes, as I talk about these a lot. The gluts are the bum muscles, pretty big global muscles which if they are not functioning properly can lead to a lot of problems. There are 3 gluteal muscle: Gluteus Maximum, Gluteus Medius and Gluteus Minimus. Pretty good names 😉

As you can probably guess, Gluteus Maximum is the biggest of the 3 and it’s one of the strongest muscles in the body, well it is meant to be. When you think of the bum muscles, it is usually this one you have in mind. It works to extend the hip, so you can move your leg backwards and out to the side. It also rotates the hip and extends the trunk.

Gluteus Maximus Muscle. © Sasham | Dreamstime.com - Exercising. Foot Moves Back To The Lower Block Photo
Gluteus Maximus Muscle.
© Sasham | Dreamstime.com – Exercising. Foot Moves Back To The Lower Block Photo

Gluteus Medius runs higher up towards the pelvis and out towards the side of the thigh. It helps extend the leg sideways and rotates it in and out. Glutus Minimus is the smallest of the 3 and it works with Gluteus Medius.

Glut Minimus Muscle
Glut Minimus Muscle © Sasham | Dreamstime.com – Exercising. Foot Moves Back To The Lower Block Photo

If these muscles are weak you may:

1. Have a saggy bum.

2. Have an abnormal walking gait and not optimal balance.

3. Struggle getting up from seated or from a squatting position.

4. Have lower back pain.

How can these muscles become weak? It’s often from postural issues and day to day activites. Sitting is a primary problem. You are not using your gluts when seated and your hip flexors become tight which stops the gluts from working. Other reasons can be having too strong quads from training and lordosis – a curve in the lower back which can lead to the bum sticking out. Common in pregnancy.

Top Exercises to help:

1. Squats done correctly. Try using a ball between your back and the wall.

2. Shoulder Bridge, add a knee fold in if you are strong enough. Make sure you tilt the pelvis and then squeeze the gluts so you are not just using your lower back.

3. Oyster/Clam. This works Gluteus Medius. Add a leg extension in if you are ready for the next level.

4. Plies. Squeeze in your bum and thighs as you come up to the top of the move.

5. Lying glut extension. Lie on your tummy, engage the core, let the pelvis drop into the mat and you should feel the gluts engage. Lengthen the legs and lift them off the ground, one at a time. You should be squeezing in the gluts as you lift and not feeling a pull in the lower back.

There are so many variations on all of these exercises, make sure you can master the technique and feel the gluts working properly before adding in too much fancy stuff 😉

Keep It Simple, Simples.

Strengthen your gluts (bum toners)

Priya Tew

 The gluts have become something of a hobby horse of mine lately. Why? Because I’ve noticed so many of my clients need to strengthen them, or cannot work them in certain exercises.

The gluteals are made up of 3 parts: gluteus maximus, minimus and medius. In general terms these are the bum muscles 😉 Weak gluts can lead to lower back pain, poor posture and a saggy bum!

Gluteus maximus is the heaviest muscle in the body and makes up the bulk of the bottom. It attaches in the hip, goes round to the sacrum and coccyx, then inserts into the femur and IT band. A big muscle. It is used in movements that extend the hip such as getting up from sitting and running, walking up stairs and jumping. I certainly notice these muscles are weak in a lot of my postnatal clients, usually as a result of poor posture in pregnancy and post-birth but also as a result of SPD/pelvic girdle pain.

Gluteus medius and minimus are a deeper muscles that helps support the pelvis. They are used for movements that require moving the hip to the side, such as a side step. A tight muscle can lead to lower back, hip and knee pain.

Glut strengtheners:

Shoulder bridge.

One of my fav exercises. However you really need to make sure you are squeezing and using your bum muscles when doing this so you don’t compensate and use the lower back muscles.

Pilates with Priya: Glut strengtheners, shoulder bridge

Glut Extension prone.

Try lying on your tummy and lifting one leg by squeezing in the bum. Again not using the lower back but use the glut to do the work here. If it isn’t working, try turning you heels in and your toes out (think ballet first position).

Pilates with Priya: Glut strengtheners, glut extension

Oyster or clam.

More for gluteus medius and minimus. Make sure you don’t roll back through the hips as you do this one.

Pilates with Priya: Glut strengtheners, oyster

Side lying leg lift.

Another for the glut medius and minimus. Focus on leg length and staying stretched out thought the waist (no squidging!). You should find you are not able to life the leg too high if you are stretched out.

Pilates with Priya: Glut strengtheners, side leg lift

Other good exercises include squats, plies and walking up hills or stairs squeezing your bum. My postnatal DVD “Beyond your Bump” has some good glut exercises on it that are suitable for all types of people, not just post-birth.

Watch out for glut stretches on a blog post very soon.