Have you ever watched an old country western movie?
Which one was your favourite?
I grew up on billy the kidd and emillo estevez in Young Guns.
Great actor, great movie, great memories.
I can still hear “blaze of glory” by Bon Jovi playing in the background.
How about Tombstone anyone?
Val Kilmer?
These ones aren’t that old, just memories for me in my youth.
What I do remember outside of the cowboys and gunslingers are the women and their corsets with their attire.
They were a mainstay from the 17th century to the 20th century as an essential undergarment for women to help train their torso and contribute to their overall posture.
They fell out of fashion in the 20th century around world war 2.
I am not going to make any correlation with the perishing of corsets and our posture but what I will talk about is the corset muscles within our body.
The transverse abdominis.
It’s the deepest abdominal muscles that just happens to have fibres that run horizontal and when activated will create a corset from our ribs to our pelvis.
If you have been counting this is the fourth area of focus when engaging the power house.
Most practitioners of pilates have more than likely heard the cue pull the navel to the spine.
This cue is to activate this muscle.
The lay man may just say suck in your gut or your belly.
Whatever works, works but I feel it’s best to layer these areas on one at a time and in sequence.
Here is another secret when you do pilates with a focus on stretching.
You won’t always feel your muscles engage when in different positions.
If you get into a stretch that these muscles won’t fire, it’s because they are weak and non existent in this range. You have to go back to the drawing board and start at the bottom.
The corset is your powerhouse.
The powerhouse needs fuel to engage the muscles
The fuel is your breath.
If you find yourself in a stretch or a range where you cannot breathe, it's because the muscles are more than likely very shortened and need to relax to lengthen in this position.
If your corset feels wrapped and stable it means it needs to be challenged.
If all you do is draw your navel in when doing pilates you may be engaging your transverse abdominis but it doesn't mean the rest of the muscles are firing.
The cue navel to spine is used by numerous fitness professionals.
You may need to go back a few steps first or add one more in.
Which would be the last cue.
Which takes us to knitting….