Where is Your Core?
As soon as you begin practicing pilates on a regular basis, you realize that your core is not exactly where you may have thought it was. Often, when we’re told that a class is going to work our “core”, we assume its basically going to be an hour of ab work. Unfortunately, there are many types of classes out there that do teach Core classes as just an hour of ab work- crunches, crunches, crunches. Don’t get me started on crunches. I want to work the TRUE core!
If you look at the image of the apple cut in half, you can see the center of it, it’s core. It runs up and down the full length of the apple. In fact, the stem actually branches upward out of the meaty part of the apple.
This is just like your body’s core, running all the way up and down your whole self, and even extending up and out through the top of your head (and out through your feet as well).
In the apple core, you can see that the center of the core is the hardiest, just like your abdominal area is the main focus of your body’s core. Imagine your deep abdominals drawing in toward your spine, and up along your spine to create a core like the apple core. Your inner thighs are also part of your core. During pilates, continue to draw them towards each other, even if they are not actually touching, so you can keep your total core active.
The pilates Magic Circle is an excellent tool to help find the core work from the inner thighs. Even if the circle is placed between the ankles, you are still using your inner thighs, and your full core, to hold the circle.
Whenever you find your core engagement, don’t just stop feeling the connection muscularly, contained within your body. Imagine your mid-line, which is your center line, which is your core, as extending up and out through the top of your head and out through the centers of your feet as well. No matter what position you’re in, think of the full core. You’ll use your whole body to do every exercise!
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