This month, the Exercise of the Month is Rolling- or more specifically: Rolling Like a Ball, Open Leg Rocker, and Crab. Swan dive and Rocking might find their way into the mix, too.

The rolling exercises in pilates are interesting because they don't really use a neutral pelvis the way most of the other pilates exercises do. Instead, the movements are created by pelvic tilting, along with the abdominals drawing in and spinal flexion to roll the body back and forth.


Purpose:
When Joe Pilates created the rolling exercises, his intention was that they massage the spine. This month at the studio, we'll experiment with different ways to find that masssage element, different ways to find a more round back, and different ways to find the deep core work in rolling!

Benefits of Rolling:
-core work, balance, spinal massage, balanced spinal flexion






Rolling is good practice for other pilates exercises:
-Short box
-Roll ups
-Stomach Massage
-Knee Stretches

It is very easy to do these rolling exercises incorrectly. Some common mistakes are:
-falling back onto the mat instead of rounding the spine
-rolling back onto the head
-rolling up and touching the feet to the mat
-throwing the head back to initate the movement
-thrusting the head or legs forward to roll up again
-not using the breath

So, we'll work with fun techniques for rolling correctly, and play around with cool variations on the rolling exercises, too!

Looking forward to getting things rolling! :)

Here's a good video of Rolling Like a Ball:


Here's Ellie Herman demonstrating a cool version of Rolling Like a Ball with the Rollback Bar:



Here's a bizarre video... and an excellent example of how NOT to do Seal:




Here's an older post I wrote about Open Leg Rocker:
http://headsuponyourbody.blogspot.com/2008/02/open-leg-rocker.html