Pilates for Functional Movement
This month, I'm focusing on Pilates for functional strength. Pilates is the thing you do to feel even stronger at whatever else you love to do, be it dance, hiking, tennis, running, lifting your child, or MORE PILATES! We're going to be talking about working on pelvic stability and movements that build your core and the muscles around your hips to help your deep stabilizers take on some of the work your back often does instead.
First up, let’s talk about hip hinging. This is my favorite kind of squat to perform, as it’s a perfect example of using your Pilates knowledge to keep you healthy and promote functional movement.
A hip hinge is different than an upright squat because it involves keeping the knees positioned over the ankles when bending knees versus bringing the knees forward over the toes. This allows the spine to stay in its neutral position when bending over while simultaneously strengthening the hamstrings and glutes.
And both of these squats are different than folding at the lower back to pick up something off the floor, which puts all the load onto the lower back, which is precisely what we are trying to avoid. In all our Pilates classes, you get to practice different versions of hip hinging that help strengthen the core, glutes and hamstrings working together for hinging.
Examples include:
Kneeling and standing squats
Side lying leg work
Bridging with a hinge
I’ll be specific on when we are hinging vs articulating the spine and why so you can continue to work on building up your glutes and core during these simple movements on the mat and take them into your daily life and favorite non-Pilates activities.
