Colleen Craig, author of Pilates on the Ball, tells
us that:
Pitting your gravity bound body against a mobile ball
requires balance, and balance recruits many of the body’s deep stabilizing
muscles. Most of these muscles are underused, resulting in the most common
injuries of the knee, ankle, shoulder or back.
Female athletes need to be particularly concerned with knee
injuries, especially ACL (anterior cruciate
ligament) tears. During sport participation, neuromuscular control of the
knee is maintained by the interactions between the quadriceps and hamstrings.The quadriceps are ACL antagonists.
Upon contraction, they place stress on the ACL. The hamstrings are ACL
agonists. Their contraction removes stress from the ACL.
If the hamstrings are much weaker than the quadriceps, they
may not offer adequate protection to the ACL. It has been speculated that many
women have a hamstring/quadricep muscle imbalance that predisposes them to ACL
injury. Performing the Pilates shoulder bridge series on the stability ball may
be an excellent way to re-balance these muscles.
Set Up
Action
Inhale to prepare. Imagine the space between your vertebra
is increasing.
Exhale. Engage your core muscles, and peel your spine away
from the mat, vertebra by vertebra.
Inhale. Straighten your legs from the bridge position.
Exhale. Bend your knees.
Inhale. Return to the mat, articulating each vertebra.
Repeat 4 times.
Both Sides Now
The US Ski Team trains on the Bosu. So should you. The word Bosu
is an acronym that stands for “both sides up.” Shaped like a half ball, it
can be used on either the dome or platform side. Given their similarity of
shape, many exercises performed on the Pilates Barrel can be done on the Bosu.
Advanced participants can practice the Teaser and Abdominal 5s series from the
top of the Bosu.