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Pilates Exercise: Knee Folds

Photo via nocpilates.com

Knee folds are a component of the Pilates Fundamentals, which means they are a great tool for teaching beginners important concepts that will help them advance through their Pilates practice. Knee folds also help you find and work your deep core muscles while allowing you to feel how your legs can move while keeping your pelvis and torso completely stable. Additionally, knee folds teach moving without tension and maintaining length through the spine. In order to stabilize your pelvis and minimize tension during knee folds and other Pilates exercises, you must engage all of your powerhouse muscles from the abdominals and glutes to your inner thighs, pelvic floor and hip rotators. This exercise really allows you to engage all of those muscles to do just the right amount of work, teaching efficiency and movement without tension.

How they’re done
Knee folds are a very simple exercise:
• Lay on your back with your legs bent, feet on the mat, feet lined up with the middle of your hip.
• Find a neutral spine position, maintaining the natural curves of your spine.
• Keep the spine stable as you exhale, pull the belly button in to the back, and float one leg into a tabletop position (90 degree angle at the knee).
• Return the leg to starting position and repeat with the other leg.
• Continue alternating legs, exhaling on the lift, inhaling to return.

Why I love ‘em
What I really love about knee folds is that they are great for ALL clients, from first timer to expert. With the right variations, knee folds can be a huge challenge, and for everyone they engage the transversus abdominus muscle, instantly narrowing the waist and increasing your core strength and stability. Creating a deep fold in the hip socket while keeping the pelvis stable is a great core stability challenge and lesson in efficient movement.

Helpful hints:
• Engage your abdominals to bring your leg up.
• Think of your leg floating into tabletop position to keep the work out of the leg.
• Do not let your pelvis tuck as the leg comes up, maintain space between your lower back and the mat.
• BREATHE! Exhale to engage the abdominals and lift, inhale as you lower

Kick it up a notch:
• Try the knee folds while lying on a roller for an extra core stability challenge.
• Add a cervical curl (like a crunch) as you lift your leg.
• Once you find your core and build up strength try lifting two legs at once for a double knee fold.
• Try it while sitting on a physioball!

Be well!

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Pilates for Dancers

As a dance teacher I see dancers injure themselves, complain of aches and pains, and stress about their lack of flexibility, or upper body strength, or trouble balancing or any other “issue” from a list that every dancer keeps about their own dance performance.  Unfortunately, dance training can lead to imbalances in muscular strength and flexibility and may not address the “issues” or causes of injury that many dancers suffer. For example, a student who needs help developing ankle strength to avoid sprains and strains may not get that extra training from a typical schedule of dance classes.

That’s where Pilates supplemental training can make a huge difference for dancers.  Pilates provides core strength, increased flexibility, and most importantly a balanced musculature for injury prevention.  But there’s more; dance can make a huge impact on dancers’ performance at all levels.  Dance students and performers at all ages and levels can benefit from even just 1 hour of supplemental Pilates training per week.  Here are five ways dancers can benefit from Pilates:

1. Toned, Strong Muscles without Bulk

Pilates supports the dance aesthetic by strengthening and toning muscles while also elongating and slimming them.  The focus on the deep, intrinsic muscles of the body help to pull muscle into the bone, creating a slimmer frame but providing the strength and endurance a dancer needs each muscle to have.

2. Core Strength

There’s more to core strength than having flat abs.  The holistic core strength-upper abs, lower abs, obliques, and back-that Pilates provides helps dancers with balance and so much more.  Pilates offers core strength in the deep muscles below those famous “six pack” abdominals that allows the core to take over when the limbs want to move. This helps protect the back from injury and allows a quicker response time and movement efficiency.  Dancers can move around with ease, go off-balance and find their center without having to think about it when they do Pilates training.

3. Flexibility BALANCED with Strength

Pilates gives dancers flexibility in a different way than standard stretching for dance classes.  Dancers who do Pilates will gain more functional flexibility by performing dynamic movements that help lengthen and stretch muscles and create mobility in the joints.  The flexibility gained from Pilates is also balanced by strengthening that does not shorten the muscles so flexibility is not sacrificed, yet the muscle stays strong to prevent injury.

4. Improved Joint Alignment

Because the balanced strength and flexibility, movement efficiency, and joint mobility that inherently result from Pilates, dancers benefit from improved alignment of the hip, knee, and ankle joint.  This will improve balance and performance capabilities and vastly decrease the likelihood of injury.

5. Treatment of Injuries

If injury does occur, Pilates is an incredibly useful tool to speed recovery and help dancers stay “in shape” while they are rehabilitating.  Pilates can treat lower back pain and injuries, plantar fascitis, tendonitis, muscle strains and sprains, and much more. Many dancers find Pilates when looking for a way to treat an injury and get hooked for life.

 

Contact Hayley if you are interested in private Pilates specifically for dance or a Pilates class for dancers.

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