New Move - Roll Up!

I've decided to start posting a "New Move" so I can talk about the Pilates exercises that I love - each week.

This week it's the "Roll Up." This is one of the classic Pilates exercises that Joe Pilates taught in his original matwork routine, and it has not changed much since he first taught it. There are modifications now with the help of flexbands and fitness circles, but overall the exercise remains the same.

Roll Up

Sit up tall on your sits bones, with your pelvis in neutral, your legs straight out in front of you, toes either pointed or flexed. Your arms are reaching straight in frot of you with hands at shoulder height, palms facing down. (You may choose to bend your knees or you can use a flexband around your feet for more support as you build up to the full Roll Up.)

Exercise:
Inhhale to prepare (breath into your ribcage)

To Roll Down:
Exhale contract your abdominals, pulling your belly button to your spine.
Begin rolling off your sit bones, curling your tailbone under you. Continue
rolling back slowly, one vertebra at a time until you are laying flat on your back.
Keep pulling your belly button to spine and thinking of forming a big "C curve" with your body. As you roll down, your arms should still be reaching out in front of you, then above you as your upper back rolls, down, and then reaching over your head when you finish.

To Roll Up:
Inhale and nod your chin to prepare, reach your arms up to the ceiling.
Exhale and contract your abdominals, pulling belly button to spine. Stabilize your shoulders (using your serratus anterior muscle - the one that wraps under your armpit and behind your shoulder blades) and start to roll up slowly one vertebrae at a time. Try to imagine yourself as something sticky peeling yourself off the mat (i.e., a fruit roll up or a piece of taffy) Return to a sitting position with your legs straight out in front of you.

Roll Up - Explained
The Roll Up is all about spinal articulation. Spinal articulation is used a lot in Pilates. It is the motion of rolling one vertebrae at a time through your spine. Think of a slinky, a caterpillar, or one of those long articulated buses. As you roll back, you feel your hip flexors working like crazy - especially the Psoas Iliacus muscle. This is because the muscle is working "eccentrically" or during the lengthening phase of the muscle contraction. Most of us concentrate our work on the "concentric" phase of a muscle contraction - the shortening phase. The reason Pilates gives you long, lean muscles rather than short bulky ones is because it focuses equally on both the concentric and the eccentric muscle contraction phase.

When To Do this Exercise
This is a great exercise to do when you first get up in the morning or before you go to bed at night because it stretches out your spine and relaxes your entire body!
I tend to be stiff when I wake up in the morning, so this helps loosen up my back before I start my day.

Mom and Baby class

I invited photographer Barbie Hull to shoot some pictures of my Mom and Baby class last week.

The picture above is my personal favorite. Baby looks like she's trying to do "The Hundred" with mom! How did Barbie capture that? It almost looks posed! Barbie's specialty is weddings, but she also does pregnancy and baby photography. Check out her website to see more of her work: http://www.barbiehull.com/

The Mom and Baby class is one of my favorite classes to teach because I get to see moms and their adorable babies and it's so much fun to watch them change from week to week. It also challenges me as a teacher. I usually have an idea of what exercises I plan to teach and in what order, but I invariably end up changing it. It's a lot like being a mom - you do your best to make a plan, stick to a schedule, figure things out, but when it's all said and done - baby decides how it's going to be.

I teach the Mom and Baby class Thursdays at 4pm. A new 6 week series started last Thursday July 19th and continues through Aug 23rd.

Heat wave

Yesterday was hot. It was a toasty 97 degrees in Seattle. Today it's supposed to be even hotter.

Yesterday was also stressful. I put my 2 yr old daughter in her new jogger stroller and forgot to lock the wheels. I turned around to go in the house and lock the front door and left her on the patio. Next thing I heard was a crash. I ran outside and discovered - to my horror - that the stroller had rolled down three steps and tipped forward onto the cement patio - with my daughter in it. I screamed and ran to pick up the stroller, fearing the worst. She was crying, her face red, and she had dirt in her mouth. Oh no no no! Oh my god! Oh my god! I picked her up and screamed. I have to take her to the hospital, I thought. But my car was in the shop. This is a nightmare. How could this be happening? I took her straight to her daycare a few blocks away - and it turned out she was OK. Just a big bruise to her forehead. She seemed back to normal. Of course, I felt terrible and figured I would go home and cancel all my appointments for the day.

My husband came to take her to the hospital, but we ended up picking up my car at the shop. I cancelled my 10am appt and instead went home to do some last minute preparing for my 10 minute presentation at 1 o'clock. I was tempted to cancel and explain that my daughter had an accident, but I decided to go ahead with it.

I'm glad I did. Somehow, I pulled off the presentation and it felt good to know that I had the strength to do it.

My worst fear is something terrible happening to my daughter. My second worst fear is getting up in front of people to give a speech. I faced two of my worst fears in the same day - and survived. At 4pm I taught the first of a Beginners mat class series to a group of 4 eager clients. It felt great. My stressful day melted away and I was able to focus on something else - Pilates. I felt SOOO much better! And the 97 degree heat was an added bonus....maybe the next new exercise phenomenon will be "Hot Pilates."

Thoughts on a Tagline - "Strength For Life"

My challenge for the last few months has been trying to come up with a tagline for my business. How could I, in a few short words within a catchy phrase, communicate the essence of what I'm trying to do at Conscious Body Pilates? After months of thinking and obssessing, I finally came up with this:

"Strength for Life"

It seems to fit. I like it because it's short and gets to the point. What "Strength for Life" means to me is this: Pilates gives me a method to strengthen my core, which provides the strength and support I need to face my daily physical challenges. Since my car accidents in 1993 and 1996, I have always dealt with some level of back pain. In the beginning, it was so debilitating I couldn't sit, stand, or walk for more than a few minutes without pain. It wasn't until I discovered the Pilates Method (because of a wonderful Hellerwork practitioner and physical therapist named Linda Knickerbocker who was working with a Pilates studio called Erskine Fitness in Queen Anne) that I was able to overcome my back pain through Pilates exercise. After that, a new world of possibility opened up to me again. By gaining strength and control over my body, I also regained my confidence and my ability to enjoy life.

"Strength for Life" has a very personal meaning for me, but will it resonate with others? I'm testing it out this week. My focus group is a group of about 21 entrepeneurs in my BNI networking group. We meet at the Madison Park Starbucks each week. BNI (Business Networking International) is the largest business networking organization in the world and their motto is "Givers Gain." We give and receive referrals each week with the idea that the more we give, the more we get. Each week we stand up to give our 60 second commercials. Everyone ends their commercial with the name of their business and tagline. Some of the taglines are pretty catchy. Barbie Hull, a portrait and wedding photographer who captures the details of special moments in life says, "Barbie Hull Photography. Capturing the moments that matter." Another BNI member, Sarah Gaspar, who runs Gaspar's Handyman, ends her commercials by saying,"Gaspar's Handyman. We do your homework." Somehow my tagline had to live up to this level of catchiness.

For me and many others, "Strength for Life" means having the strength to to live a daily life free of pain. Through regular practice, Pilates provides the strength to literally "hold up" in our daily lives. We have endless To do lists, doctor appts, shuttling kids to school, doing the dishes/laundry/picking up messes/getting dinner ready, keeping in touch with friends & family, going to community meetings, keeping current on the news, reading the must-read novel, seeing the must-see movie, oh - and don't forget preparing your presentation for the mtg on Wed. People think I spend all my time exercising, but much of the time, when I am not teaching, I am at my computer sending emails. Now that I'm a busy mom-of-a-toddler-and-business-owner, I look forward to my Pilates workouts - it's my time for myself to connect with my body. And now that I teach Pilates - to connect with others. I cherish that time more than ever.

Pilates gives me strength for my busy life. I hope that I can help my clients discover the same strength for their lives.

"Conscious Body Pilates. Strength for Life." Sounds pretty good. I think it's a keeper.