Why Your Core Matters, And How Pilates Can Help
4 Minute Read
Key Takeaways
What all Pilates has in common is to focus on the strength of the spine and the center of your body
Modern lifestyles have caused us to become limb dominant instead of core dominant, which can lead to back, neck, hip, and shoulder problems
Pilates can help you retrain your body to initiate every movement from your center so you can have a mindful and active life and reduce your risk of injury and pain
Pilates is a method of movement developed in the early 20th century by German-born Joseph Pilates. He is credited with inventing the reformer along with 25 other types of apparatus to help control and move the body. His original method of movement was called Contrology and focused on maintaining a straight spine when standing or flat when lying down. Since then, we have learned more about human anatomy and how the body moves. We now know there are natural curves to the spine we want to maintain and strengthen. Since the Agrarian society is mostly of the past, Pilates has modernized with contemporary versions to accommodate our current lifestyle and body types.
What all Pilates has in common is to focus on the strength of the spine and the center of your body. We want our bodies to be flexible and mobile, and that has to start with the spine. The spine can flex forward, extend backwards, side bend, and rotate. We also want to combine these movements in all directions, while bearing the weight of our body in different positions.
Our core = not just abs! It’s the center of our body & everything that stems from it.
Modern lifestyles often have us sitting behind a computer with heads forward, putting stress on our neck and shoulders. As we sit all day, our hip muscles are turned on and glute muscles off. Our bodies have reciprocal inhibition: one set of muscles relax on one side to allow the other side to contract. In theory, this process allows for optimal joint function and a full range of motion. But if we over contract one side all the time, then those muscles can stay tight. We often overuse our hips, back, neck, and shoulders while underusing our core – it’s partly why so many people have neck, shoulder, and hip pain. We’re not initiating movements from our core, but rather from our limbs. We’ve become limb dominant instead of core dominant. Back, neck, shoulder, hip problems can cast a shadow over your life for decades. It can be painful while preventing you from engaging in the activities you love, leading to anxiety and depression. The fear that you might need surgery due to pain is exhausting.
We mistakenly think of the core as just our abdominals, but our core is the center of our body and everything stems from it. In order to properly balance the body, you need to start with the center. Our core has a front, back, and two sides, starts at our underarms and goes to the base of our hips. This includes the deep back muscles, hips, and glutes, all which support our spine and pelvis. We need to develop our own internal support by strengthening the many muscle fibers of our core. It doesn’t take much to activate the deep muscles, but they are often neglected because you can’t see them.
Once you learn how to activate your core, the next step is to initiate movement from the center. This takes some re-training of the body and mind. We want to move our bodies intelligently, keep our joints open, and use the right muscles to move. When you’re walking, going on a bike ride, walking up the stairs, picking things off the floor, making your bed – you should be using and feeling your core muscles. Once you start to repattern your mind and body, it becomes habitual.
Engaging Your Core
You should engage your core, but what does that really mean? It’s something you’re told to do all the time, but never really shown how. Practice makes perfect, but it also makes permanent. So if you’re used to being limb dominant, you need to tell your body how to move properly. We like to think that movement is intuitive, but it’s not always. Proper movement is a skill. We learn how to move properly. We learn how to walk, then run as children. As we get older, we learn to skate. We learn to play tennis. We learn to ride a bike. But sometimes, we learn incorrectly. Most athletes spend time watching how other athletes move. Dancers watch others dance. Golfers watch other golfers and study swings. Football players watch games to take note of plays, but also how they move into those plays. So if you’re not a professional athlete, how do you incorporate proper movement into your life so you can golf, bike, swim, or play with your kids without pain? You can start with Pilates!
Find and activate your deep core muscles.
Develop a mind-body connection with your center and tell your body how to move properly. Steps 1 and 2 may require the help of a movement professional.
Initiate simple, functional movements to retrain your body and mind so every movement initiates from your center. Your limbs and head should go along for the ride.
Strengthen your small stabilizing muscles around your spine and pelvis (e.g., transverse abdominis, erector spinae, multifidus to name a few) with slow and steady controlled movements to help improve your stability and balance.
Improve the stability of your body. Proper planking with variations can teach your body to stabilize during complex movements.
Add on complex movements and sports for variation in strength in a core dominant manner.
Your new healthy, core dominant movement patterns will help you prevent and escape pain. Once you’ve retrained your body to initiate every movement from your center, you can have a mindful and active life and reduce your risk of injury and pain.
About the Author
Jeanne Lee is the founder of award-winning Pilates studio, Restore Pilates Chicago. Learn more about her here.
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