Hello friends! I've decided that June will be the month of the core. I mean, middle of the year, middle of the body, right? I'd love to say I thought that out beforehand, but I won't lie to you - I did not. Let's roll with it anyway, shall we?
So I'm very excited about the special session we're doing this month on the core, because it's definitely NOT what most core classes are about. No crunches, no sit ups, no sucking it in and tensing it up. Instead we're going to get really curious about having a truly functional core and all the things that this means (and doesn't).
BUT! Just in case you can't join us on our fantastic adventure, I am issuing a CHALLENGE to all those who accept it. And it begins with three secrets.
Here's the first secret. We've been sold a false bill of goods when it comes to core strength. Yes, we need it. Yes, it's important. But doing a bunch of core exercises is not going to fix it.
'WHAT!?!?' you cry. 'How can you say such a thing! You're a Pilates instructor for goodness sake! Have you lost your mind?'
Well maybe. But hear me out.
We're going to do some core exercises. But those exercises alone are not the solution. Here's the second secret - we've been outsourcing our core strength to the furniture. What does that mean? It means that unless you are holding yourself up under your own power you simply do not have any reason to use your core. So you can tense it up and suck it in all you like, but that's just tension and sucking. As long as the chair or couch (or slouch) is holding you up, your core isn't. And no amount of core exercise can make up for a whole day of being propped up by the furniture.
So here's the third secret, and the challenge - if we held ourselves up more, we'd need less core exercise because we'd already be exercising our core all day. It's about aligning ourselves in an upright position and being unsupported by other means. This will be engaging the core in a low level way, with no tensing or sucking required.
What does that look like? Glad you asked. (slideshow with captions)
And not to be a Negative Nelly, but let's just review some not-so-core-supported sitting (slideshow with captions:
So do you think you can challenge yourself for the month of June with some serious core work? You can do it anywhere, anytime, in any outfit. You'll be clocking HOURS of core strengthening every day. Just imagine how strong you'll be by July!