Happy Wednesday everybody! We’re Halfway through the week 🥳 Here is the Semi-circle on the Reformer, an awesome exercise to undulate your way into the weekend. This is easily one of my favourite Pilates exercises. It takes a bit of wriggling to get yourself into the start position, but it’s worth the effort.
The Semi-circle allows you to feel all of the vertebrae in your spine working as you move from flexion into extension. All of your abdominals are involved to articulate your spine through the movement. Your glutes and hamstrings are fired up to push the carriage out and to lift your hips towards the ceiling. Your quads engage to extend your knees, and in the background your scapular stabilising muscles are all working to keep you stable across the back, joyous 😀✌️
Why would you want to put yourself through this? Articulating your spine gets the spinal cerebral fluid moving around the joints of your vertebrae.
Conditioning the muscles that flex and extend your spine will make you less prone to injury. Working your core, as well as your glutes and hamstrings, will help align your pelvis and reduce the chances of pain in your lower back 🤓
If you’d like to have a go at the Semi-circle, and Reformer Pilates, give me a shout through my website. I’m based in Newquay, down in lovely Cornwall ✌️