Humans were not made for sitting. Our ancestors where active and on their feet hunting, gathering and playing… The trouble with our 21st century life is we have become addicted to sitting we sit at work from 9 to 5 we get in and sit down with a nice cup of tea before standing briefly to make dinner before then sitting again to eat. I know isn’t quite like this and a lot of people make a real effort to exercise.
The trouble with sitting is it causes our abdominals to weaken, muscles in the back of your legs to shorten, your spine to slump and your shoulders to round forward. This can lead to lower back ache, and neck and shoulder pain. Doesn’t sound great does it!
Now, we all must sit for periods of the day there is no escaping that, try and think about your posture as you sit. Think about engaging your core pulling your belly button towards your spine, dropping your shoulder blades almost as if they were melting down your back and imagining you have a piece of string from the top of your head to the ceiling that is pulling you up making your spine longer.
Improving your core, back and hip strength will help you sit more comfortably and decrease the pressure you put on your spine. Pilates is the ideal exercise program to promote good posture and a well-balanced body.
Functional strength is the strength we need in our daily lives to live. To be able to pick up our kids, shopping, go cycling or running we need a balance between strength and flexibility. Pilates exercises build functional strength, by creating a balance between strength and flexibility you do not compromise your body alignment and therefore posture. Often heavy weight training can mean a shortening of your muscles which compromises your flexibility and posture.
Squats and lunges are great examples of functional strength training exercises. These integrated exercises use lots of muscles, whereas isolated exercises, such as leg extensions, do not.
Why do you need functional strength?
Here’s a scary stat: your muscle mass and strength will decrease 30 to 50% between the ages of 30 and 80. So start using those muscles if you want to do at 80 what you can do at 30!
Doing resistance exercises and movements that help you become stronger, more flexible and agile means you are better equipped to handle day-to-day tasks as well as helping you be less injury prone.
Functional fitness incorporates muscle groups across the whole body it is beneficial to nearly everyone no matter what your fitness goal is. It builds lean muscle and can help you lose weight if that’s your intention. Right up to high performance athletes functional strength training brings a well rounded training session to your otherwise highly targeted weekly routine.
I am going to post some good functional strength training exercises on my youtube channel that you can do in your house and garden.
If you want to be a ‘better’ cyclist you just put in ‘more miles’ right? Although to a certain extent yes, there are significant benefits to come out of ‘off bike’ training such as Pilates. Having a strong core can make it easier for you to climb and move around the bike. But many of us neglect our core muscles in favour of a few extra hours on the bike. A strong core can help revolutionise your cycling technique whether you prefer skinny or fat tyre antics.
So, what is Pilates? Pilates focuses on the ‘inner core’ of our bodies, developing strength from the innermost structures and works outwards. Rather than working our bodies through muscle isolation, Pilates focuses on posture, strength, mobility and flexibility from head to toe, moving the body in complete flowing movements, not isolated parts.
Why is Pilates good for cyclists? Besides the recognised benefits of taking time out to focus on you in a calming and relaxing environment, it can actually improve your cycling form, efficiency and power.
Pilates:
Develops a strong core and back for stable upper body
Builds cycling specific strength and muscle control
Increases flexibility and helps relieve tightness in cycling specific muscles
Reduces pain and discomfort from long stints in the saddle by building strength and stability in your muscles
Breath work helps to speed up recovery time as well as building focus and mental stillness needed for tackling trail features
Helps prevent and avoid injuries by creating an all-round more functional moving pattern
Increases balance by working on muscle control, this transfers to the bike, when you’re moving around the bike
Here is a little video on how to work your legs and core using Pilates principles.
To join a Pilates class near you and start feeling the benefits click here.
Balance and coordination are so important, as we get older we tend to lose our ability to balance and coordinate movements effectively. We spend our lives running around in shoes which give support to your foot, let your feet out of your shoes and try this simple balance workout at home.
This 5 minute balance video gives you some ideas on how you can work on your balance at home each day, only 5 minutes a day! Will you take my balance challenge? Let me know how you are getting on over on my Facebook channel.
If you like this video please subscribe to my channel for more helpful videos and workouts you can try at home.
My Pilates workouts start off with easy levels and increase in difficulty, please adapt and use the levels that are right for you. Reduce the range of movement or number of reps if you find it too hard. These are a great addition to one of my weekly Pilates classes.
What is Pilates?
Pilates builds functional strength, this means building strength throughout your body without compromising flexibility, and therefore good alignment and posture. It is a holistic fitness program which incorporates both eastern and western thinking. It requires you to focus on individual muscles and this added focus and concentration helps to create that mindful connection from your brain to your body. Unlike many exercises which target the superficial muscles, Pilates goes deeper starting with your core muscles and working out creating a strong and supple body.
Welcome to my new Pilates workout Wednesday series. Every week I am going to bring you a new Pilates workout you can do from the comfort of your own home. I know sometimes we are all time crunched and don’t get time to spend an hour on ourselves (we should!) so my workouts are all under 10 minutes long and can be done from anywhere by anyone in most cases.
This week is a mixture of exercises that are good for promoting improves mobility and strength through your core.
My Pilates workouts start off with easy levels and increase in difficulty, please adapt and use the levels that are right for you. Reduce the range of movement or number of reps if you find it too hard. These are a great addition to one of my weekly Pilates classes.
What is Pilates?
Pilates builds functional strength, this means building strength throughout your body without compromising flexibility, and therefore good alignment and posture. It is a holistic fitness program which incorporates both eastern and western thinking. It requires you to focus on individual muscles and this added focus and concentration helps to create that mindful connection from your brain to your body. Unlike many exercises which target the superficial muscles, Pilates goes deeper starting with your core muscles and working out creating a strong and supple body.
Welcome to my new Pilates workout Wednesday series. Every week I am going to bring you a new Pilates workout you can do from the comfort of your own home. I know sometimes we are all time crunched and don’t get time to spend an hour on ourselves (we should!) so my workouts are all under 10 minutes long and can be done from anywhere by anyone in most cases.
This week is a mixture of exercises that are good for promoting improves mobility and strength through your back.
My Pilates workouts start off with easy levels and increase in difficulty, please adapt and use the levels that are right for you. Reduce the range of movement or number of reps if you find it too hard. These are a great addition to one of my weekly Pilates classes.
What is Pilates?
Pilates builds functional strength, this means building strength throughout your body without compromising flexibility, and therefore good alignment and posture. It is a holistic fitness program which incorporates both eastern and western thinking. It requires you to focus on individual muscles and this added focus and concentration helps to create that mindful connection from your brain to your body. Unlike many exercises which target the superficial muscles, Pilates goes deeper starting with your core muscles and working out creating a strong and supple body.
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