Pilates Back Exercise: Use those Abs!

The best Pilates back exercise may not work the back at all. Instead, when you focus on strengthening the deep abdominal muscles you work to strengthen and stabilize the back at the same time.

The beauty of Pilates back exercise is that every movement in Pilates is focused on strengthening the core or the abdominal wrap, in turn strengthening the back from all angles.

I love to use Pilates for people who have low back pain and arthritis because they always feel better after a workout.

One of the main reasons people feel better after doing Pilates is that it is a low impact exercise, which means it is gentle on the joints.

By utilizing your own body weight and spring tension you can still exercise the back but with less stress and strain.

Pilates back exercise helps to strengthen and stretch the back at the same time.

When you are working the deep abdominal muscles that surround and protect the back they are stretching the muscles of the back at the same time.

These muscles may include the spinal erectors that run up and down the spine and the lower lumbar and muscles of the sacrum including the buttocks.

Let’s look at some basic Pilates exercises for the back that do both stretching and strengthening of the back at the same time.

BRIDGING

Bridging is an exercise that helps to articulate or open the spine by stretching it as you use the abdominal muscles to peel the hips and spine off the mat.

This is one of my favorite exercises to use as a spine warm-up in classes. The students love it as well! They can feel the results quickly as the blood flow through the spine energizes them.

This exercise can be found in the new Pilates ebook available here. The ebook includes other variations of this great exercise to challenge you further.

SINGLE LEG STRETCH

By keeping the head floating up during this Pilates exercise it works the abdominal muscles even more.

LEG CIRCLES

This exercise not only stabilizes the pelvis and works the deep abdominal muscles, but it also really stretches and strengthens the whole upper thigh, hamstrings, and muscles of the hips.

When these muscles are tight they can pull on and aggravate the back.

ROLLING

This feel-good exercise is not only like a massage for the spine, but it also helps to improve circulation in the spine and improve your balance by working the deep core muscles.

These muscles assist in the rolling up and down finding a balance or center point at each end.

The picture shows a modified version of Rolling. By grabbing under the thighs you can create a bit of momentum by whipping your legs to come up. Always keeping your chin down, eyes on your thighs.

The more advanced version is holding across your shins and tucking yourself as small as you can while rolling.

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