Pilates exercises are commonly done at home or in the studio on the Pilates Ball. This ball was introduced some years ago and complements the other Pilates accessories and equipment. The Pilates Ball is versatile and lightweight, making it an ideal choice as an exercise accompaniment. The ball provides many basic movements often neglected in our daily lives.

Just by sitting on the ball strengthens your posture and aligns your muscles. The Pilates Ball teaches you how to sit like you should by balancing your body with your shoulders, arms, bottom and legs. Bouncing on the ball improves the endurance of your back muscles. While you perform these movements, you will learn the proper breathing techniques to enable your body to be relaxed.

Stretching your spine forward is the third step in the Pilates Ball exercise and involves pulling your belly button up and into the back of your spine. You should inhale at the same time while keeping the chin horizontal. This will lengthen your upper body. Then exhale and drop the chin. You will feel your body stretching and becoming more agile in the process.

The fourth step in the Pilates Ball exercise is to roll back and forth on the ball with arms wrapping horizontally across your elbows. This movement will exercise the abdominal muscles.

The final step in the ball exercise aims to elongate the spine laterally. Lift the left arm straight up and inhale, then slowly exhale by elongating that arm towards the right. Repeat the movement with the right arm and after a few repetitions, you will find that your body is more flexible and your muscles are relaxed.  

INCLINEDS are performed against a wall, on a chair, or a step where the head is higher than the feet. This variation is ideal for the person that is not quite ready for the standard push up and is working their way up to it. The head level can be adjusted lower and lower as the person gains strength until they are ready to perform a standard push up.

BENT KNEES are ideal for the person who is working their way up to a standard push up. They are also effective for people with lower back strain. Sometimes they are referred to as girl’s push ups. In any event, the knees are on the ground and are used as the fulcrum as the push up is performed. One excellent use for bent knee push ups is during supersets. Standard push ups are performed until exhaustion. Immediately, the knees are lowered to the ground and the participant continues with bent knee push ups until failure. This technique is very effective in building both muscle strength and endurance.

ELEVATEDS are performed by placing the feet above the level of the head, on a step, a chair or any other object. The raised feet not only cause a greater degree of difficulty but also work more of the upper chest due to the angle.

Performing ELEVATED AGAINST A WALL is an even more difficult version of the elevated exercise. Instead of the feet being placed on an elevated object, the feet are elevated above the head but placed against a wall. In order to successfully perform the exercise, the participant has to provide pressure towards the wall in addition to raising the chest causing even more pressure on the upper chest. As the feet are placed higher on the wall, the strain shifts toward the shoulders. I’ve added this technique to the earlier superset for a killer chest workout; elevated push ups against the wall to failure, followed by standard push ups to failure, followed by bent knee push ups to failure. That’ll pump your chest up!

SPIDERMAN STYLE is a challenging variation. When done correctly, they look like Spiderman climbing up a wall, but just on the floor. You’ll get upper-body and core work because you’ll be lifting a foot off the ground and alternate bringing each knee towards your head each time you lower yourself to the down position. There are plenty of videos on YouTube if you need a visual.

Finally, HINDUS are my favorite variation. I’m going to attempt to describe how to perform them but your best bet may be going to YouTube to watch it on video. A picture is worth a thousand words. First, get on all fours then put your behind in the air while supporting yourself on your hands and feet with your legs straight. Now you should like a triangle with your hands and feet at the base and your behind as the apex. This is the starting position. Your head should be aligned with your back facing towards your feet. Take a deep breath and then sweep down in a circular arc motion and bend back looking up at the ceiling and breathing out. From there, push back toward your heels into the triangle position and start over. Hindu push ups not only work the entire upper body, they provide a great stretch for the lower back. Again, there are plenty of YouTube videos of Hindu push ups.

To summarize, these exercise variations can be used to make circuits more or less difficult or to provide variety. If you can’t do standard push ups yet, you might want to do bent knees and inclines in the same circuit in order to build up your strength. If you are on the other end of the scale, you might want to use the elevated or the elevated wall method, or Spiderman style in your circuits. Experiment a little and find a combination that is beneficial to you.

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Clint Grimes, is a retired US Navy commander. He is certified by the California Interscholastic Federation and is currently the strength and conditioning coach for the boys soccer teams at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, CA.

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Why is physical fitness important is probably a question you won’t pay much attention to until your body starts to experience pains in the muscles and stiffness at the joints.

Why do you want to keep as fit physically as possible? To be able to move around free of pain later in life. And “later” don’t necessary means in the 60′s or 70′s, some people develop ache and pains as early as in their 40′s.

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The human body is a motion machine. It is designed to move, so we need to physically move it in order to stay healthy. Aches and pains are from lack of movement designed for specific body parts. Arms are designed for many other functions and movements besides just pecking away at the keyboard most of the time. Legs are for running, walking besides just sitting. Sitting for too long affects blood circulation, and you feel it on your feet and hands. Lack of motion or physical movement can lead to many other ailments. Motion is very crucial to the body’s operation overall welfare.

Unfortunately, we are living in a modern environment when most works can be performed sitting down or standing in place. While it provides us with many amenities, at the same time, it is ripping off our health. We don’t use our body parts as they were intended. We travel around by riding in cars or buses; even it is only 2 short blocks away, instead of walking. We mow our lawn riding on the lawn mower, instead of pushing the cutter by arms. We use the remote control to operate the TV or home theater set, so we don’t even have to get off the couch. We are keeping touch with friends and family through the Internet or telephone rather than actually go to each other’s house and pay a visit. We no longer walk or run sufficiently enough to stay in shape, or at least stay pain free. The more we move, the more we are capable of moving, and, obviously, the less we move, the less we are capable of moving. When you feel the muscle or joint pain, it is simply a warning sign, signaling danger of acute motion starvation. Muscle functions are retained only through enough use. Our body craves physical motion. There is no artificial replacement to movement. You just have to do it yourself.

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