Pilates on the Ball by Colleen Craig

Author:Colleen Craig
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pilates/Exercise
ISBN: 9781594775932
Publisher: Inner Traditions / Bear & Company
Published: 2011-12-29T16:00:00+00:00

Extension versus Flexion

Not only are many of us discouraged by failures, exhausted by the chaos of our unbalanced lives, and fearful of falling, but we spend a disproportionate amount of time curling our spines forward. Take a moment to count up the hours per day you spend collapsed in front of a computer or over the steering wheel of your car. Our spines—and our hearts—have forgotten how to do the carefree backbends of a child. We desperately need to balance the flexion of our lives, the closing off of the body, with extension, an opening up of the body.

In the previous chapters we learned how the extensor muscles of the back work alongside the abdominals to create a strong inner core. When the abdominal powerhouse and the postural muscles are well trained the body is ready for safe spinal extensions as well as hefty, outer movements of the legs and the arms. Extensions on the ball strengthen not only the spine but also the back of the legs and the arms too. The goal is to have the abdominal powerhouse perfectly still and contracted while the legs or arms are moving.

After any extension exercise it is crucial to stretch out the spine with flexion—exercises that fold your body forward. If extensions invigorate and empower us with expansion, flexion folds us inward to a place of calm and serenity. Flexion releases the spine, especially the muscles in the lower back, and, in some positions, allows the hamstrings to relax and stretch. Shell on the Ball or Shell on the Mat are luxurious counterposes to extension.

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