The Body Works Pilates Studio

Tuesday Teaching Tip

The Spine Twist is the purest spinal rotation exercise in the classical repertoire. When the spine is a straight or neutral alignment, the spacing between the vertebrae is in the best orientation for maximum rotation. Spinal rotation is a complex coordination of muscular action, from the main drivers of rotation, the internal and external oblique abdominal muscles, to the rotatores muscles which link from one vertebra to the next below deep along the posterior surface of the vertebrae.

So, to optimize your spinal rotation, firstly sit up straight. If this means rolling up your mat or sitting on a yoga block to counter a slouched spine because of tight hamstrings, go for it.

The second point is to ensure the main rotators are indeed driving the spinal rotation. If you are turning to the right, you should be feeling for the left external obliques and right internal obliques pulling the left corner of the ribs towards the right hip. Often I see clients inadvertently throwing their arms around for momentum. To correct this, when turning to the right, touch your right hand fingers to your sternum. This will negate any possibility of throwing the arm around in the turn. The trailing arm is held out directly to the side. Take the arms out of the equation and you will better access your primary rotators of the spine.

From walking, opening the door, to swinging a golf club, even down to the hydration of the vertebral disks, rotation is a critically important movement for our daily functioning. The Spine Twist is a brilliantly simple classical Pilates exercise that helps facilitate this spinal motion.

Tuesday Teaching Tips

Swan - a full body effort to open the front of the spine.

The Swan, and even more so the Swan Dive, had long been my nemesis. I got into Pilates to rehab from two fractured vertebrae. So, back extension has never been a favourite direction. For the first several years into my Pilates journey, any back extension movements would only lead to over-firing my lumbar extensors, compressing my low back.

One of the movement principles Joseph Pilates espoused was whole body movement, everything works to support the movement. It was when I figured out how to do this that I was able to do the Swan without pain. Now, I can literally traction my whole spine in extension with this exercise. I still don’t have a very big range of hyper-extension, but do I need that in my mid-50’s now? No, I need a long, supple spine that can move in any direction freely and without pain.

The components for a good swan are:
Back extensors - working the multiple levels of extensors to articulate through each joint
Hip extensors - gluts and hamstrings leverage the pelvis off the floor and are continuous with the back extensors through the posterior kinetic chain and cues lengthening of the hip flexors.
Shoulder girdle - strongly sliding the shoulder blades down the thorax engage the lats and lower trapezius, adding more lift of the weight of the torso and countering the extensors to open more space between the vertebrae
Abs - use the entire length of the abs to support the front of the spine/torso with the eccentric contraction of the abs
Arms - the hands are fixed into the floor to anchor the shoulder girdle. Actively pull yourself up and down with the arm effort
Eyes - track up along the floor and back down to refine the smooth articulation from the top of the spine down and back.