Classical Pilates for Modern Life

Shining light on Pilates truths, honoring Joseph Pilates,

and supporting you in your Pilates journey. 

Are you doing the exercises right?

The hip flexors - the muscles of the front of the thigh are very often overused during Pilates workouts. When the issue is not addressed by the teacher, the client is not aware that it even exists. 

The hip flexors consist of 5 muscles (iliacus, psoas, pectineus, rectus femoris, and sartorius) but more often than not, only 2 get used in the action of hip flexion: rectus femoris (one of the quadriceps muscles) and psoas. Every time we take a step or bring our knee towards the chest, we are using hip flexors. Even when lying down, every time we are lifting the leg off the floor, or bending/straightening the knee, we are using the hip flexors. 

What happens to the other 3 hip flexors? Nothing much, they do not get used enough, and the essence of Pilates philosophy, which is: uniform development of the body gets lost in the workout. 

Joseph Pilates on his method of Contrology

 "...as we mature, we find ourselves living in bodies not always complimentary to our ego. Our bodies are slumped, our shoulders are stooped, our eyes are hollow, our muscles are flabby and our vitality extremely lowered, if not vanished. This is but the natural result of not having uniformly developed all the muscles of our spine, trunk, arms, and legs in the course of pursuing our daily labors and office activities."

 Return to Life

My two cents 

Next time when you are performing Pilates exercises pay close attention to how you are flexing your hips. What muscles are you releasing, and what muscles are you contracting? When all you are feeling is your upper thigh muscles working, try releasing them, by turning the knee out or slightly bending the knee, and focus on and engage your inner thighs and lower abdominal muscles instead.  

Try this approach and the way of thinking about the movement with the video above. 

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My goal is to reach as many people as I can to help them have a better quality of life through Pilates philosophy and movement technique. 

Thank you :)

Joanna

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