The Body & Movement

Could My Bed Cause Back Pain?

A made bed in our house is a very rare occurrence.

No matter how old you are, when your back hurts you feel ninety. Joe Pilates said, “If your spine is inflexibly stiff at 30, you are old. If it is completely flexible at 60, you are young.” I don’t normally suffer from back pain, but a few years ago, I had an ache in my low back that wouldn’t go away. Nothing calmed it. This was especially frustrating since I teach Pilates and I pride myself on knowing what is going on in my own body. I understand a lot about what causes pain and how movement can help unravel it. I stretched, massaged it, and did exercises. They were the right things to do, but nothing helped for a prolonged period. Nothing stopped the chronic pain.

I’d been dealing with the problem for a couple months when I went to visit my best friend Julie in Chicago. Before my arrival, she mentioned taking a bike ride or doing a program that was like P90x. I told her that was […]

Could My Bed Cause Back Pain?Maggie Downie2018-02-14T16:52:02-05:00

How to “Knit the Ribs”

One of the hardest basic principles in Pilates is referred to as knitting the ribs. The goal is to ensure that your ribs stay connected during movement and that they don’t pop. Most people when they move their arms, particularly over head allow their ribs to pop up—losing the connection with the abdominal muscles.

Knitting the ribs does not only provide you better ab-work, but it also created a healthier spine. This video can help you start to understand and visually see what it means to knit the ribs. Lying on the floor will make it easier to feel if are connecting because you can use the floor beneath you as a contact point. Once that starts to become easier you can play with the concept in a seated or standing position. Any overhead exercises are the time to check in on your ribs and make sure you are not arching your back in order to move the arms more.

As you experiment remember not to be forceful. You shouldn’t feel like you are jamming your ribs into the floor. Just like you don’t want to jam the back into the mat when you rock to imprint on pelvic tilts. […]

How to “Knit the Ribs”Maggie Downie2018-02-14T15:32:24-05:00

We think we can’t when we can

My brother and me. Nowadays he’s taller than me and he eats a variety of foods.

When my little brother was a child he would only eat white food. Pasta with butter, chicken fingers, vanilla ice cream, and Entemann’s Pop Em’s (not the chocolate ones) were not only his favorites, but pretty much his entire eating repertoire. Today, he’s open to trying most foods, and has a considerably more varied pallet, but I still assume he’ll only want pasta. It’s funny how the brain works. It can get wired to remember something from years ago, no matter how many times you’ve seen a change. It’s almost like our brain gets stuck in the past. We think we can’t when we can.

Sometimes that can be useful. Matt once […]

We think we can’t when we canMaggie Downie2018-02-14T17:47:39-05:00

Conquer the Full Roll Up

The Full Roll Up is one of the Pilates exercises that frustrates people the most. So many people struggle with this movement. They get discouraged and blame their abs. Sure, your abs might be a part of the problem. They may need to get stronger to do the exercise, but they also might just need to learn how to fire properly—meaning they could do it if they understood what they were supposed to do. Most of us weren’t taught how to do a sit up or ab exercises properly. Many of us use other muscles like hip flexors or the muscles in the neck to try to pull ourselves up to a seated position. Your abs might be strong enough, but they’ve never had to do the work before, why should they start now? And it’s not just about your abs. Tightness in your back could be getting in your way. So, how do we break it all down so you can conquer the full roll up?
First, cut yourself some slack. Yes, it’s true, you might not be able to do this exercise right now, but that does not mean you […]

Conquer the Full Roll UpMaggie Downie2018-02-14T17:41:48-05:00

Just Get Started

I went to Waterford High School, where I think I was lucky to have a number of really good teachers. One of my favorites was my junior year English teacher, Gail Dimaggio. She set up classes like Socratic seminars and asked us to think about what we were reading. It’s hard to teach someone to think, but that typically seemed to be her goal. One of her regular reminders was to “just get started.”

She told us that starting is always the hardest part, but once you start to write a paper the doing gets easier. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were wrong. It’s not the waiting that’s the hardest part. It’s the starting. Mrs. Dimaggio was right. There are […]

Just Get StartedMaggie Downie2018-02-14T17:44:43-05:00