The Power Trio: Connecting Inner Thighs, Pelvic Floor, and Core
How Recruiting the Power Trio Can Make Your Pilates Practice Even Stronger
We’re coming off a month of pelvic floor focus, and now we get to integrate our knowledge into our Pilates practice. The key to this integration is understanding the interconnectedness of pelvic floor muscles to the inner thighs, and lower abdominals. Using these three muscle groups in unison can deepen your workouts and strengthen your endurance on the mat.
Anatomy Lesson:
Pelvic Floor Muscles: As we discussed in the last post, the pelvic floor is a “sling” of muscles that run between sits bones, pubic bone, and tail bone. They support your pelvic organs and play an integral role in core stability and posture.
Inner Thighs: These muscles, aka the adductors, run along the inner side of your thighs. They help to stabilize the pelvis, support proper alignment, and contribute to overall leg strength and control.
Lower Abdominals: This area includes muscles like the transverse abdominis, which act as a corset for your core, providing stability and assisting in movements like spinal flexion and pelvic tilts. They can be hard to isolate because they don’t fatigue and “burn out” in the same way your upper abdominals do when doing movements like crunches.
How Do These Muscle Groups Work Together?:
Core Integration: The pelvic floor, inner thighs, and lower abdominals work together as a cohesive unit to create a strong and stable core. When you engage your inner thighs, it’s easier to activate your pelvic floor and deep core, especially if you imagine zipping up a tight pair of pants.
Functional Movement Patterns: Strengthening your inner thigh, pelvic floor, low ab complex will give you more strength in Pilates movements like bridging and double leg toe taps, which promote support for and de-loading of the lower back.
Having Difficulty? Use Props to Help: If you have difficulty connecting to your lower abs and pelvic floor, that can be totally normal! Again, because they don’t fatigue and burn out the way other muscles do, it’s not always clear when they're firing. Try using a prop between your inner thighs to deepen the connection of this power trio of muscles. Activating your adductors around a ball or block and imagining zipping up a tight pair of pants will help with pelvic floor and core activation, as well as pelvic stability and spine support.
We’ll use lots of props in our inner thigh work this month to help strengthen awareness and connection to the pelvic floor and deep core. Get your balls and blocks and get ready to shake!
By focusing on the connection between your pelvic floor, inner thighs, and lower abdominals, you'll build more strength, stability, and fluidity in your Pilates practice.
Other Pelvic Floor Resources:
Internet: @the.vagina.whisperer @vaginarehabdoctor @doclizziedpt @theoriginway
IRL Pelvic Floor PTs in NYC: flowphysiobk.com, drjessicababich.com
