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You've seen it plastered on t-shirts, coffee mugs and inspirational posters: " I bend so I don’t break."
This week's MoveMint insert is all about conditioning our back muscles, improving our spinal mobility and posture. Our bodies were made to move and yet we find ourselves doing quite the opposite. Sitting for extended periods of time at our desks or on the couch contributes to poor posture, limited range of movement in our joints and other issues affecting our health poorly.
We don't know about you but nothing motivates us to move more than a challenge. This week we have included a variety of 'back bending' or spinal extension exercises ranging from easy to challenging that will help you build up your back strength and improve your flexibility and posture.
Please be mindful that even although these exercises are safe and beneficial it is always recommended to check in with your healthcare practitioner on whether the level of difficulty of these exercises are suited to you.
Below we have listed the names of the exercises that are taught in order with their level of difficulty. If you would consider yourself a beginner body you could start with the level ranging from 1-3 and build your strength up to level 4-5. Each of the exercises could be repeated 6-8 times. Aim to select a minimum of 3 exercises at a time and repeat a minimum of 2-3 times per week.
A post shared by GLAMOUR Magazine SA(@glamour_sa) on May 28, 2020 at 11:58pm PDT
Exercise list
- Level of difficulty out of (5)
- Dart - (1)
- Cobra - (2-3)
- Bow pose - (3-4)
- Spine curl - (2-3)
- Bridge pose - (5)
If you found this insert helpful and you would like to find out more about our Pilates based movement classes, please head on over to our website www.mintcondition.co.za for more details alternatively you can get in touch via our email [email protected]
