March Matness 2016: Swimming

Swimming is one of the Pilates exercises I have a love/hate relationship for..maybe you can relate?  Because it is a challenge for me to lift my body off the mat into an extension from this prone position this exercise is really difficult for me and I feel like I’m not doing it very well because I don’t have a big range of motion with my arms and legs.  This is why I don’t like it…it’s hard for me!  At the same time I know that it is exactly what my body needs and so I am trying to love the challenge of doing it well and not be so critical of myself as I do it! I’m focusing on strengthening my muscles uniformly while practicing at a working level for my body.

If you, like me and much of the rest of the world live in a world of flexion( slouching at the computer, forward head staring at a screen) you can easily see how strengthening the muscles that help reverse all that slouching and poor posture would help:

• maintain better posture and alignment in your body
• and hopefully help you avoid problems like an achy sore low back and tight overworked muscles in your shoulders and neck

The Pilates Swimming exercise will help you do just these things!! These are the things I try to remind myself of every time I do this exercise(and every time I think about skipping it in my workout!!)

In today’s video I’m showing you my favorite version of swimming that I try to do on a regular basis.  I’m using a small padded barrel under my hips because it allows me to lift away from the mat and get just a little more range of movement in my arms and legs.  I like to start with just lifting into the swimming position and lowering from it.  Then I lift into position and hold as I swim- alternating legs and arms lifting.