Pilates can do wonders for your flexibility! Keeping your body flexible can help you reach your optimum fitness level and may play a role in injury prevention.  When muscles are less sore, working out is easier and more enjoyable.

How flexible do you need to be? Not as much as you might think!  The general rule is that you need to be as flexible as your age and lifestyle dictate. (Of course, if backbend or splits is not your fitness goal)

There are numbers of exercises that you may practice regularly to improve your flexibility. The following is one of my favorites that will help you both test and improve your hips mobility. Research shows that limitation of hip mobility in many cases is a cause of low back pain. (More about back pain, causes and how to release it in my next posts). But even if you are back pain free it doesn’t mean that your hips aren’t tight. It is always good to work on hips mobility to prevent back pain. There are 3 tests I like to do:

• Hips flexibility (Hips Shift)

 Test how flexible your hips are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rwvS_i14HI&list=PLNqzYtCg6-8Aq9QGiAK7k91tLZwPVvSYa&index=1

How to do it: 

1. On a soft surface, get to the all-fours position (kneeling position with your spine parallel to the floor, your hips on top of your knees, your shoulders on top of your hands)
2. Spread your knees as wide as is comfortable while maintaining your shins parallel and back flat.
3. Push your buttocks back toward the floor like you’re trying to sit back onto your hips.
4. Hold for two breaths.  Return to the starting position and repeat for approximately 10 repetitions.  See if you can sit deeper with  each repetition.

You need to improve flexibility if:

• You can’t get your knees wide enough to do the stretch at all.

OR

• Your hips are barely moving when you try to sit back the first time, and you hardly make any progress after the tenth time.

What causes this:

1. Your lifestyle is too sedentary.
2. You lack hip mobility.
3. You have a tendency to activate your quadriceps while decreasing activation of your glutes during workouts (example: improper  squat technique with a tendency to lean forward when squatting.)

Solutions

 Move more and move in different ways. If you’re sedentary, just walking more will help. If you’re a regular at the gym but struggle with flexibility, add in exercises you don’t normally do.

Pilates exercises that will help:

Mat: kneeling hip flexor stretch, butterfly stretch, straddle stretch, single leg stretch and etc.

Reformer: lunges, feet in straps, stomach massage, and etc.

2. Hips Flexion (Test how flexible each hip in its own)

How to do it: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f02g-BCOem8&list=PLNqzYtCg6-8Aq9QGiAK7k91tLZwPVvSYa&index=2

1. On the mat, start in a prone plank position with your shoulders on top of your hands.
2. Lift your right foot and bring it alongside your right hand.
3. Place your left knee down to the mat.
4. Bend your elbows to increase the stretch (try to maintain your back as straight as possible, and keep your head in line with your spine)
5. Return to starting position and repeat on the other side. Continue for a total of 3-6 repetitions per side.

You need to improve flexibility if:

There is a significant difference between how close you can bring one foot toward the hand compared to the other one.

What causes this:

The most common reason for one hip being more flexible than another:

• asymmetry while sitting down at work (crossing one leg on the top of another);
• sleeping on one side of the torso (or on the belly) with one knee bent and hip flexed (climbing the mountain position);
• sports that emphasize one side of the body, for example, golf, baseball, soccer, and jumping. One side of the body becomes tight, but strong, while the other side becomes flexible, but weak.

While using one side of your body differently than the other can create balance issues, it can also cause the other side of the body to compensate for the imbalance. This can lead to muscle fatigue in those areas and eventually cause injuries.

For athletes, muscle imbalance and tightness along the hips can result in inefficiency in performance as well as sport-specific difficulties. Some examples are: low back pain for cyclists and swimmers, shoulder problems for tennis and baseball players, knee pain for runners, etc.

Solutions

Switch legs when you sit. This will not be as easy as you think. You will often catch yourself returning to the position with which your legs are most comfortable without even realizing it.

Try to place a pillow between your knees/thighs when you sleep. It will level your hips.

Try to do exercises that stabilize the flexible side and stretch the strong side.

Pilates exercises that will help:  stretching (lunges, down stretch), band destruction technique for hip mobility, strengthening (supine marching, foot work), pelvic stabilization (single leg/ foot work, pelvic lift, climb a tree, step ups)

3. Hips internal and external rotation

How to do it: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHoxq_BgjnE/

1. Sitting on the floor open legs apart and bend both knees.
2. Rotate torso toward one side so your both knees touch the floor and one knee is externally rotated and another is internally rotated. 
3. Without using arms rotate to other side. 

You need to improve flexibility if:

• you can do one side but can’t do another. 
• You can do both sides, but one side is way harder than another. It shows that you have muscles imbalance, and one hip is tighter and weaker.

What causes this:

The internal and external rotator muscles can become weak and tight due to injury, surgery, or prolonged periods of inactivity or the opposite, overused muscles (ballet dancers, for example).  Insufficient hip rotation can lead to gait issues, knee problems, tight back, SI joint pain.

You use your hip rotators to walk, run, squat, and crawl. You also use them when you put your weight on one foot and rotate your pelvis. Without hip rotation it would be difficult to complete everyday activities like putting on pants, getting into the car, stepping into a bathtub or pitching a baseball in sports. 

Solution. A regular program of stretching and strengthening exercises can help you maintain flexibility and strength in the hip internal and external rotators, which is vital for stability, movement, and injury prevention. And of course, Pilates will do magic!

Pilates exercises that will help:  

Hips internal rotation. Flexibility. Mermaid, Seated chair hip internal rotation stretch. Strengthening. Reverse Clams.

Hips external rotation. Flexibility: Piriformis stretches (Figure 4).  Strengthening: Clamshell, side leg lift