5 Ways Pilates is Amazing for Your Low Back
Pilates is amazing for the low back! With five key themes, Pilates brings flexibility to your lower back plus other parts of your body that work with your lower back.
Basic Core Strength:
I have written about core workouts before so reading or reviewing that article will help. Essentially, if your core is weak, your body relies on your low back to do a lot of work it shouldn’t, like keeping your spine erect. Building up your core is key. In Pilates, almost all of our exercises work the core in one way or another. Here are a few moves that show how we work this area of the body.
With the head curled forward, we work in an ab crunch in The Hundred, the number of breaths we take in and out, in groups of five counts. Arms pulse low, legs can extend from the hips or be on the floor. This move is a perfect example of the Scoop and Imprint, a traditional Pilates core position.
The Half Roll Back begins to bring our focus to our upper core. We roll halfway back, then bring the body forward with a rounded back, giving our back a nice stretch.
The Roll-Up begins laying down with a rolling up toward the feet. It should be slow and controlled with the upper section core doing most of the work. After three pulses toward the feet, you roll back down with the same amount of control.
Thoracic Spine Flexibility
As my article on the thoracic spine explains, keeping your upper spin flexible is important to good low back health. If your upper spine can’t twist as much as it should (which isn’t a lot), then the low back does the work. Pilates is one of the few formats that works on this area of the body.
With Spine Twist, you are not twisting your entire spine — only the upper part. This picture shows my deepest stretch, and you can see it is pretty shallow. I am focusing on the upper back, not the lower.
Seated Spine Stretch is done with a rounded back down the spine, shoulders staying away from your ears. We will feel a stretch in your hamstrings as well as down your spine. The rounding down and rolling up also stretches your upper back.
Hip Flexor Stretches
Tight hip flexors lead to tight back muscles. Pilates stretches the hip flexors in many ways.
Shoulder Bridge strengthens the glutes while stretching the front of the leg. In truth, most exercises we do in Pilates to strengthen the backside stretches the front side. That’s how Pilates works!
Low Back and Glute Stretch
Keep your low back and the connected glute muscles flexible so that they can work as intended. (At the same time, don’t assume pain = tight. Overstretching can hurt, too.)
You won’t get the whole move with a picture, but you can see how, in the Roll Over, you will get a stretch in the glutes and low back, as well as the hamstrings. My weight is on my upper back, NOT my head or neck.
Low Back and Glute Strength
Let’s face facts: if your low back muscles are weak, they will hurt when you go to use them. Mat Pilates works on strengthening our lower back without being too strenuous with low repetitions and using only body weight.
Breaststroke looks like how it sounds! First, your reach your arms overhead, you pull them back to your sides and pick up your upper back, tightening the muscles down your spine plus the glutes. This one is simple to execute but not easy to do.
Called Swimming, you move your arms and legs in groups of five breaths, like with the Hundred. Your goal is to lift your arms and legs off the floor as high as you can.
If you want to see the excercise you action, you can see my video on the same topic here, but the best way to experience Pilates is by joining my class. I offer a free Introduction to Pilates class every Friday in December at 10 am CST and you can registering here. You can also learn more about my classes on my website: www.pilatesforrealbodies.com. See you on the mat!
Linda Magid has taught group fitness classes for over 7 years. She is certified with AFAA and AEA, with special certifications in Pilates, TRX, and more. You can find her Pilates studio at https://pilatesforrealbodies.com. Contact her at @LindaMagidFitness on Facebook and Instagram.
