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Pilates!

7 replies

NotUmbongoUnchained · 03/04/2018 14:43

Really enjoying doing Pilates and strength training, but I’m funding it impossible to keep my lower back flat against the floor when doing leg raises etc and it’s starting to really hurt. I have quite an exaggerated dip in my lower back.
Does anyone have any tips on how to keep it flat?

OP posts:
monday1983 · 03/04/2018 15:02

No advice but bumping as i have the same problem, just started pilates a month ago

Greenteandchives · 03/04/2018 15:07

Keep your knees bent. It is less strain on the back in the early days of Pilates. You can work up to straightening your legs.
It might be worth having a couple of 1:1 sessions if that would be possible, to make sure your technique is okay. It is so easy to get it wrong and potentially do damage.

NotUmbongoUnchained · 03/04/2018 16:46

Even with my knees bent my back arches.
Do you think like a wedge shaped cushion of foam thing might work?

OP posts:
Greenteandchives · 03/04/2018 16:52

I am not sure. I think it would be best to ask your instructor what she thinks.

NotUmbongoUnchained · 03/04/2018 16:55

I don’t have one, I just do it at home Sad

Guess I’ll have to experiment and hope I don’t hurt myself haha

OP posts:
ArsenicNLace · 03/04/2018 17:17

What Greenteandchives said. It would be worth either going to a few classes with an instructor or doing a couple of 1:1 classes.

You need someone to ensure you are doing the moves correctly. My Pilates teacher started doing Pilates from a DVD and it wasn't until she started her teacher training several years later that she realised she was doing it correctly at all.

You really shouldn't be doing legs raises without an inprinted spine. You will really hurt yourself. A good teacher can modify exercises to ensure you don't hurt yourself and can do exercises to strengthen specific areas.

TheRagingGirl · 10/04/2018 19:40

I don’t have one, I just do it at home

It really would be worth going to a few classes for some expert assistance and hands-on correction or adjustment.

Everyone has a curve in their lumbar spine. The idea of Pilates (and some other slow controlled movement techniques such as ballet or yoga or Alexander technique) is that you don't flatten that out, but you do have to work to strengthen the abdominal muscles that hold your centre like a corset.

If you have a pronounced lumbar spine curve, you may need to make an adjustment to the angle of tilt of your pelvis. Or as another poster says, bend your knees a little. But we can't see you, so we can't diagnose or correct what's going on.

It sounds as though you haven't built up core strength yet sufficient to hold the legs in an extended position and protect your back. So you need to see of the programme you're doing has an easier version of this exercise.

Then really focus on small movements, executed really precisely with the correct breathing pattern. Think "Navel to backbone" and try to think of your back and side ribs really spread out on the floor. Ensure there's no transferred tension in your jaw or neck.

You also need to learn to distinguish between 'strain' - the muscles starting to work in ways that they're not used to, and 'pain' - over exerting & damaging your soft tissues.

But unless you're quite experienced & trained in some form of movement and know your own body's capabilities really well, and can feel your skeletal alignment from the inside (as it were), you really can't learn Pilates from a video ...

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