Annie here!

I was at a fitness class the other day with some friends. I’ve taken it several times before (although not recently) and it’s among my non-LightSpace favorite work-outs. The teacher was lovely, and the music fun but not deafening. Then came that cue that I have learned to always tune out, “Pull your navel to your spine…”

We were holding a plank position at the time – something I do regularly in my Pilates workouts – and I have learned that “pulling your navel to your spine” just doesn’t work. Not for a healthy plank, or any other position! If you are continuously pulling in your belly you can’t breathe well, and if you can’t breathe well, you can’t use all of your core muscles AND you are going to get tense and tired a lot more quickly. Not to mention your body will feel anxious and tense in general because of poor breathing and circulation. We’ve all felt this before at one time or another, haven’t we!

Sounds silly, right? A Pilates instructor saying DON’T pull in your abs all the time? Absolutely!

Try it!  Wherever you happen to be right now, whether or not you’re in a plank. Take a breath, a regular breath. Now imagine you just started your vacation and you feel great.  Take another breath – not a deep one, just a regular one.

Now, pull your navel to your spine, really pull in that belly.  Tense those abdominal muscles, really tense them, and try to breathe. Take a breath and imagine you are trying to do a long workout right now.  Different right? And how does your neck feel?

See? If you know how to properly breathe and align, you won’t NEED to “pull your navel to your spine” to have a strong core – in fact you will find it’s unhelpful and counterproductive.  Check out a few photos I snapped of Allison demonstrating “good” plank (breathing) vs. “bad” plank (actually holding breath) and see what you notice. And as always, LightSpace is here to help you learn to exercise, find optimal alignment and posture……and BREATHE at the same time! Just ask!