The foam roller adds a kick in the pants to your traditional Pilates abdominal exercises such as the Ab Curl and the Hundreds. Having the unstable environment underneath kicks in a lot of those stabilizers that don’t usually have to work when you’re on the floor. The previous posts help you to improve your body awareness and balance on the roller so you’re a bit prepared when we begin the abdominal exercises.
Exercise: AB CURL WITH THE FOAM ROLLER
• Start with the foam roller parallel to your mat.
• Sit at the end of the roller with the knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
• Use your hands to guide your back onto the roller.
• You should be balanced on the roller with the head to the tailbone supported.
• Find your neutral spine and pelvis (middle of the back of the head, mid back, and sacrum anchored to the foam).
• Inhale and float the long arms up so the fingertips are pointing to the ceiling.
• Exhale and roll the head and shoulders up. You should be looking in between the legs and the pelvis should have remained in the same position when you brought the head and shoulders up.
• Make sure as you roll up the shoulders are gliding away from the ears.
• Inhale and hold at the top.
• Exhale and slowly carry yourself down to the starting position with the fingertips pointing to the ceiling.
• Do 4 to 8 more reps.
Exercise: THE HUNDREDS WITH THE FOAM ROLLER
The Hundreds exercise will warm you up fast and will help to increase your lunge capacity. The foam roller will add an extra challenge to this Pilates signature exercise.
• The foam roller is parallel to your mat.
• Sit at the end of the roller with the knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
• Use your hands to guide your back onto the roller.
• You should be balanced on the roller with the head to the tailbone supported.
• Find your neutral spine and pelvis (middle of the back of the head, mid back, and sacrum anchored to the foam).
• Inhale and float the arms up so the fingertips are pointing to the ceiling.
• Exhale and roll the head and shoulders up.
• You should be looking in between the legs and the pelvis should have remained in the same position when you brought the head and shoulders up.
• Make sure as you roll up the shoulders are gliding away from the ears.
• Keeping the arms super straight, start a small vigorous pump of the arms.
• Take a long inhale for 5 pumps of the arms and a long exhale for 5 pumps of the arms.
• Ideally you want to do 10 sets! However, most people have to start with just 4 to 6 sets and gradually build up to the 10 sets.
• As you pump the arms and go through your sets, make sure the head and shoulders are not bobbing up and down. They need to stay in place as you pump the arms.
• Remember your Pilates breath. Inhale into your back/side ribs and when you exhale contract your horizontal, transverse abdominus, seat belt muscle. If you’ve forgotten, this is your deepest abdominal muscle which runs horizontally across the front of the pelvis just below the belly button.
• When you are finished with your sets, slowly roll down.
• If you feel up to it you can do one to two sets of the Hundreds.
Exercise: MARCHING WITH THE FOAM ROLLER
This exercise tests the strength of your core musculature to keep the torso and pelvis still as you move through the legs.
• Same set up on the roller as previous exercises.
• Keeping the eyes to the ceiling and your mid back and sacrum anchored, slowly bring your bent knees up one at a time and squeeze them together.
• As you move through the legs, the angle of the hip/knee/ankle should stay the same.
• You should hinge only at the hip as you lower and lift the leg.
• Starting with the legs in tabletop, inhale and lower the left leg down with the foot pointed.
• The toe can touch the floor or just hover above the floor.
• Exhale and lift the left leg (that same leg) back to the starting position.
• Inhale and lower the right leg down.
• Exhale and slowly lift the right leg back to the starting position.
• Continue for 4 to 6 sets on each side.
• As you move through the legs there should be no shifting in the spine or pelvis.
• Slowly bring one leg down at a time to finish.
Exercise: TOE TAP WITH THE FOAM ROLLER
This exercise tests the strength of your core musculature to keep the torso and pelvis still as you move through the legs.
This Toe Tap exercise brings it up a notch because there is a moment where both feet are off the floor and the core has to work to keep everything aligned.
• Same set up on the roller as previous exercises.
• Keeping the eyes to the ceiling and your mid back and sacrum anchored, slowly bring your bent knees up one at a time and squeeze them together.
• As you move through the legs, the angle of the hips/knees/ankles should stay the same.
• You should hinge only at the hip as you lower and lift the legs.
• Starting with the legs in tabletop, inhale and lower the left leg down with the foot pointed.
• The toe can touch the floor or just hover.
• Exhale and slowly scissor the legs past each other.
• The left leg will hinge up as the right leg hinges down.
• Inhale and hold.
• Exhale and scissor the legs past each other.
• Do 6 to 8 sets and finish by bringing the feet on the floor with the knees bent.
~ by Jennifer Gianni
We hope you enjoyed this foam roller work! Leave us your thoughts below!
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