How do you keep your back fit? Strong yet supple? One of many wonderful ways to care for your back is to do Pilates. Designed to increase flexibility, strength, coordination, and posture, Pilates is a series of 500 to 5,000 different, succinct exercises and flowing movements. Pilates exercises encourage mindfulness, which leads to increased body awareness and greatly increases the productivity of your workout. Many exercises emphasize focusing on the spine, bringing greater awareness on how you use your back. Pilates also places a strong emphasis on strengthening the “core,” the abdomen as well as the back.
In Pilates the same exercise can have different names, so you may have done these under an alias.

Pelvic Curls
Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet “standing” i.e. hip-width on the floor. Notice whether there is distance between your waist and the floor. Press your waist firmly into the floor by either pressing your feet more into the floor or using your abs or some of both. Notice that your tailbone has moved away from the floor by curling toward the ceiling. Continue this action of curling the tailbone toward the ceiling, peeling one vertebra at a time off the floor until your weight is on your shoulder blades, but keep your waist hanging toward the floor so that it is not arching. Exhale while you are lifting your pelvis. Once your pelvis is lifted, slowly reverse the movement, rolling down through your spine one vertebra at a time while inhaling. Continue doing this movement six to twelve times keeping your chest, neck and head soft and feeling which parts of your spine you articulate and which you do not articulate as easily. .
Benefits: Brings your awareness to your back and which parts of your spine you can articulate. Helps you start teaching yourself how to better articulate in your spine. Gently rounds some vertebrae in your back. If you use your abs to press your waist to the floor, you will also be strengthening your abdomen.

Swimming
Lie on your belly with your arms long above your head on the floor. Let your hands be shoulder width apart and your feet hip width apart. Let your forehead rest on the floor. (This position looks like a front float in the water). Do this exercise in three parts:

1. Lengthen your right leg and your left arm away from each other and return to resting. Repeat with the opposite sides (left leg and right arm). Lengthening several times. 2. Lengthen an opposite side (i.e.: left arm and right leg) and lift left arm and right leg off the floor and lower. Repeat with other side for several times. It is important to lift your arm each time from your back. If you lift just from your shoulder, you may stress your rotator cuff. 3. Lengthen all four limbs and lift them all off the floor. Lift left arm and right leg higher (toward the ceiling) and lower to original lifted height. Lift opposite side (right arm and left leg) higher (toward the ceiling) and lower to original lifted height. Continue switching each opposite side higher in quick, short movements. Let your head be wherever your head and neck are laziest, which may mean keeping the head on the floor otherwise lift it the height of your arms.

Benefits: Strengthens the back.

Roll-Up
Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet “standing” i.e. hip-width on the floor. Reach your arms above your shoulders on the floor, lengthening in your waist by reaching your arms away from your torso. Now, keeping your arms long, reach your arms in front of you, shoulder height, so your fingers are pointing to the ceiling. Lengthen the back of your neck, bringing your chin toward your chest until your head lifts. Keep your chin rounding toward your chest as you round your upper back off the floor. Press your waist into the floor, allowing most of your shoulder blades to round off the floor. As you are rounding forward, allow your arms to follow your shoulders so that your arms stay perpendicular to your shoulders. And return, unfolding one vertebra at a time. Rest your head. Your arms should still be perpendicular to your torso. Now reach the arms above your shoulders to the beginning position. Exhale as you round forward, inhale as you return. This is a partial roll-up. You could do a full roll-up if you can keep your feet on the floor as you continue rounding forward to sitting. If your feet come off the floor, then either do the partial roll-up or place your hands behind your thighs to help yourself round forward to sitting. Repeat six to ten times.

Benefits: Strengthens the abdomen. Articulates the spine and rounds the back.

Pilates can be done in a group setting as well as one-on-one with a certified instructor. Workouts can be done on mats and/or utilizing specially designed Pilates equipment (the Reformer, Cadillac, and Wunda Chair). Whether in a group or individual session, Pilates can be useful for strengthening, increasing flexibility and mobility… and has been found to be effective for relief of back and neck pain, shoulder tension and more.

Lara Polsky Gillease teaches Pilates and Feldenkrais(R) in Asheville and has also created a method for golfers to improve play, decrease injury, and reduce scores with the Swing-ease Method(R) for Golf. She can be reached toll free at 877.544.2828 or skypol@earthlink.net.

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