In our Pilates programme last week, Aoife Lennon of Vanilla Matcha Pilates introduced several new movements aimed at activating our cores.<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s session will continue focusing on the core while adding new movements that target the upper back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll do a swan press, a thoracic twist, and an elephant shape,\u201d says Lennon. \u201cThese will focus on upper back mobility.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She explains that a lack of mobility in the upper back can lead to lower back issues.<\/p>\n
So, when we have a mobile upper back that feels nice and free when we\u2019re doing thoracic twisting, that will contribute to a nice, healthy lower back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She cautions that any movements focusing on extending the upper back need to be approached slowly, especially if you haven’t explored this type of movement before.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy advice is that when you’re exploring your range of motion, it’s important that you go really slowly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s movements will work well for most people who have developed rounded shoulder posture from working at a computer all day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lennon says hairdressers, bus drivers, and mechanics can also have upper back issues because they stay in a \u201chunched and tensed position\u201d for hours at a time.<\/p>\n
This week, the movements are designed to counteract those positions and \u201cdraw our shoulders back and pull our shoulders down the spine,\u201d says Lennon.<\/p>\n
\u201cPilates is about moving your body in lots of different planes, and in week three, that’s what we do.”<\/p>\n
Lennon says we can expect to feel our confidence \u201cincreasing naturally\u201d as we progress through the weeks. \u201cWith the growth in confidence, you may find your shoulders will drop.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She adds that as you become more relaxed, your back movements will feel a little freer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In our Pilates programme last week, Aoife Lennon of Vanilla Matcha Pilates introduced several new movements aimed at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[500,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-628744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-september-reset","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}