Best Pilates Classes in Edmonton, AB

Tuesday Teaching TipsnThe Roll Up is a classical Pilates exercise working on spinal and hip flexion. It utilizes the whole front kinetic chain: neck flexors to abdominals to hip flexors. Some new clients struggle with this exercise when there is a disconnect in the abs coordinating smoothly into the hip flexors - i.e. the motor control center of the brain doesn’t organize these muscle groups together in sequence. Commonly, the thighs will pop up (the first example in the video), or the person heaves the spine up as one block rather than smoothly rolling through vertebra by vertebra. nnA simple correction is to place the magic circle between the ankles, squeezing lightly to engage the deep hip flexors, the psoas and iliacus, anchoring the distal end of these muscles. With this deliberate activation, the brain is able to better sequence through the abs into psoas into iliacus to flex the spine and hips, or to roll down smoothly in the reverse direction. This is also a terrific correction when the hip flexors of one hip fire more strongly than the the other side causing a shift in the spine when rolling up. The circle enables the brain to better relate to the kinetic chain of these muscles. If you don’t have a magic circle, you can squeeze a ball or anything about 6 - 12 inches in diameter between your ankles.