Help Me Sister!
Concerned in Virginia writes:
"Why is Pilates so strongly biased toward spinal flexion and shouldn't we include more extension exercises in every session to even it out?"
Why, indeed!
Beyond this question, have you heard the criticism that there is too much flexion in Pilates? Some of it comes from neutral spine proponents and some from folks who think too much of anything is not good. In fact and of course, extension work is part of a proper full-body workout Pilates session but it’s especially critical for clients with bone mineral density concerns.
But before we talk about safe extension options, let’s first understand why Pilates is extremely biased toward flexion.
It’s true that in the repertoire there are way more spinal and hip flexion exercises than extension, side bending or rotation, inward or outward rotation. By “way more,” I mean a ton more, tens of percentage points more, or, put another way (and to properly use a double negative) almost none are not flexion based.
Here’s the deal with why Pilates is so flexion biased.
Short Answer:
Humans are flexion biased!
Hel-lo!
Joe developed the work to mimic natural human movement and the correlation of flexion to extension exercises in Pilates is right in line with natural human movement. Also remember that Joe was spoiled by having zealots as clients. The frequency, physical ability and superior strength of his loyal following made it easy for him to teach Swan on the Long Box and Grasshopper; alas, few of us are so lucky.
Pilates is based on natural and normal ranges of movement and the average sessions should work the body in proportion to the ranges of motion relative to natural and normal movement. Humans are flexion dominant. Pilates is flexion dominant. It’s that simple.
Long Answer:
To break that down, we need to take a look at our skeletons. For those of you without photographic memories, go to your favorite anatomy website and pull up a picture of a stripped down spine, front, back and side – just the bones, none of the muscles.
Then pull up a picture of a pelvis with the leg bones still stuck in the socket, front, back and side – just the bones, none of the muscles.
First, let’s take a look at the spine and have a talk about what we see.
See those blades that stick out from the sides and the back of the spine? The ones that come off the sides of the vertebra are called transverse processes and the ones that stick out toward the back are called spinous processes. See how the front of the spinal column is smooth and how there aren’t any of those bony processes mucking up the front?
If we didn’t have those spinous and transverse processes helping to stabilize our spines, we’d be more like Weebles . . . we’d wobble but we wouldn’t fall down!
The reason for the ease of movement in the forward direction and the difficulty of movement in other directions is the way our bones are shaped and put together.
We move more easily in trunk flexion than side bending or extension because in flexion, the direction we’re moving toward doesn’t have a spinal bony barrier. Said another way, it’s easier to bend in any direction that takes us closer to the smooth front of the spine than away from the smooth front of the spine.
In extension, as in Swan or a back bend, we’ve got the spinous and transverse processes mucking it up on 3 sides and that’s why most of us really can’t go backward very far at all and when we do, our form is often suspect.
Don’t you find that many clients, even with direct and constant supervision, cannot extend their spines comfortably? In honor of this common problem and for a really long time with a new client, I teach a lovely standing Pull Straps and T-Press so the client is without question automatically impulsed for proper engagement and form before they disorient to lay on their tummies and pull a whole bunch of weight.
We’ve got precious few extension exercises to choose from and almost off of them are difficult to perform safely, especially for new clients. We end up in a Pilates pickle, to be sure, and I think most teachers wisely opt to leave out extension work because of these very reasons. It is absolutely, positively better to be safe than sorry – if you can’t teach your clients to extend safely and comfortably, completely omit extension. No doubt!
Of course, your Pilates Nun is full of suggestions about how to work the extensors staying well below the degree of difficulty inherent in the historic extension repertoire.
Here are a couple of things that should help you expand your thinking on extension beyond Swan, Grasshopper and Double Leg Kick.
The extensors work like little energizer bunnies to resist and align against the load when our bodies are even slightly cocked forward of plumb like it is on Shaving from the Rowing Series on Reformer, which, by the way, is 100% transferrable to the Mat. In fact, doing Shaving on the Mat is pretty much a guaranteed “next-day sore” exercise and guess where that guaranteed soreness is localized? Yup, the muscles that pull our spines backward and all layers of muscle that lives between and underneath from our shoulder blades to and across our spines. How cool is that?
I also really like the Power Pilates lifting of Head Heart Hands. Do you know that one? It’s where you lay on your tummy, hands folded under your forehead, get your Powerhouse on then gently lift your head, just your head, easily and slowly and without push, force or strain. See how far up you come and see how it feels and then put it back down on your hands. Do that a few more times. Go slowly. Then when you’ve warmed up those extensors, lift your head and keep going until your clavicles and sternum begin to lift . . . lift your heart. How lovely! Do that slowly, perfectly, easily and several more times. For your grand finale, pretend your hands are glued to your head and lift your head, your heart and your hands. Easily, slowly, perfectly. At the end of this sequence, you will have safely added quite a bit of weight to the work of the extensors and you’ll have been perfectly safe the entire time. Praise the Lord and Lift your Heart!
So rethink extension exercises to include standing versions of Pull Straps and T-Press, seated matwork versions of Shaving, and a smooth but strong Head Heart & Hands (H³!).
Moving on, now let’s take a look at the pelvis.
Reviewing a stripped down lower body skeleton, see how the ball at the end of the neck of the femur nestles in the socket, see how deep the socket is and see how the socket both sits and opens toward the front of the pelvis?
Think about how easy it is to move your leg forward and contrast that with how much harder it is to move your leg to the side or behind the rest of your body.
With the hip, again, humans move forward through hip flexion and our bones are set up to facilitate that. If our legs moved as easily backward or to the side as they do forward, we’d be far less stable, less powerful and nowhere near as fast.
Doesn’t that make sense?