Top tips to support your spine and strengthen your core:
1 Be body aware
You need to look after your posture 24/7, not just an hour a week in a Pilates class. Are you sitting in good posture right now? Do you know how to sit, walk, drive and perform all your daily tasks in good posture?
You will probably find you could sit better and stand better. What posture advice would you give yourself? Use your knowledge of Pilates to become more body aware and try to make changes each time you sit at your desk, stand in a queue or walk anywhere. Little and often is the key to posture correction success. If you are unsure of the changes you need to make, ask your Pilates instructor for advice.
2 Cue the perfect you
Once you are aware of the changes you need to make to your posture, give yourself regular cues within your day. This could be to sit correctly when you drive, and to check your posture at each set of traffic lights. If you walk a lot, re-align your posture at each lamppost or tree. If you can, realign before answering the phone, and try to stay in good posture throughout the call. Try to find a ways of reminding your body to be in correct alignment more often within each day. Over time, as these muscles learn the position you are asking them to achieve, this will gradually become your new ‘normal’ which will be closer to your neutral spine than you originally were.
This takes time. Posture cannot be ‘fixed’ overnight. Imagine a glass bowl full of water. If you were to put 1 drop of blue food colouring in, it would hardly make a difference. If you put 1 drop a week in, eventually the water would start to change, but this would take a long time. 1 drop a day would make changes happen sooner, and several drops a day would make a massive difference. This is how we correct posture. Thinking about it once a week in a Pilates class would make little difference. Once a day would benefit you eventually, but to get real results, you need to align yourself several times a day. This is another reason why it is so important to ask your Pilates instructor to make sure you are correcting yourself correctly during the week.
3 Mobility and stability
Come back to basics with your Pilates moves. Even if you’ve been doing them a while. Take a step back and really focus on your technique and alignment. Do the beginner exercises really really well, and perform movements without losing neutral spine at all. The muscles needed to stabilise your spine against these movements, are the muscles that will strengthen your spine in this neutral position. As they become stronger, and your awareness increases with regular reminders, it is easier to stay in ‘good’ posture and keep your spine closer to neutral.
Is it easy? No.
Is it possible? Yes, and as they say, anything worth having is worth working hard for.
