Hi, I'm Lynne Robinson.
Welcome to this special edition Body Control Pilates video that we've compiled exclusively
for Kellogg's Special K. Just like Special K, Pilates is part of a healthy, holistic
approach to looking after yourself.
That way you can maintain a body shape that you're happy with.
After all, feeling good on the inside helps you to look great on the outside.
I hope the combination of Pilates and Special K helps you to feel special and stay special.
The 30 minute program we've compiled for you is a perfectly balanced workout and the
ideal way to start your day.
But first you need to take on board a few of our basic principles before you start the
main program.
We're going to be referring to the relaxation position in the program.
And for that you want to have your feet hip to shoulder width apart and in parallel, relaxing
back down.
You always need to exercise on a mat.
Have a firm flat pillow behind your head.
And we're going to be referring in the exercises to the neutral position of your pelvis and
your spine.
And that means we don't want your pelvis to be too tucked, nor do we want it to be too
arched.
Ideally, you want to have these two prominent parts of your pelvic bone in the same plane,
on the same line as your pubic bone.
That's your neutral pelvis position.
And when your pelvis is in the right position, it helps for your spine to maintain its natural
curves.
So you should have a nice natural curve in your back here.
It shouldn't be flat down into the floor or over arched.
When you've found your neutral pelvic position, we now need to move on to look at your breathing.
So if you'd like to place your hands onto your lower rib cage, the idea is that you
breathe wide and full into your sides and into your back.
So nice wide breaths.
Expanding the rib cage to the side.
And as you breathe out, the ribs close down and together and your breastbone softens.
So nice wide breaths, expanding the rib cage wide and full.
And breathing out.
And the rib cage relaxes.
And finally, you need to learn how to isolate your deep stabilizing muscles.
They're going to help protect your lumbar spine while you're moving.
And to do that, you need to maintain your neutral pelvic and spinal position.
Take a wide breath into your sides.
As you breathe out, draw up the muscles of your pelvic floor as if you're preventing
the flow of water.
And gently hollow and scoop your lower abdominals back towards your spine.
It's a nice gentle action that stays low.
And breathe in and just let the muscles relax.
And as you breathe out, draw up the muscles of the pelvic floor.
And gently hollow and scoop your lower abdominals back towards your spine.
You want to be working these muscles at less than 30%.
Breathe in and release.
Making sure if you do this, your pelvis stays in neutral.
You're not going to be moving or tucking the pelvis at all.
Wide breath in.
As you breathe out, zip up and hollow from the pelvic floor.
Spine stays still, pelvis stays still.
And then keeping this muscle engaged still, you're going to continue to breathe wide.
And wide and full.
That creates the strong center from which we're going to work.
Ultimately, we're going to be developing a whole girdle of strength around your middle.
Now that you've learned how to stabilize your lumbar spine, we want to work on your pelvic
stability.
So you need to be able to maintain this scoop and hollow with the pelvis in neutral as you
move your limbs.
So wide breath into your sides, breathing out, zipping up and hollowing.
Try sliding one leg away along the mat without allowing the pelvis to move.
It stays quite still.
Breathe in, breathe out, and slide the leg back.
Wide breath in, breathing out, zipping, hollowing.
Slide the other leg away.
Don't let your pelvis move.
Breathe in, stay zipped and hollowed.
As you breathe out, slide the leg back.
In a similar way, you want to be able to keep the pelvis still as the knee opens to the
side or as the knee folds up.
You always maintain this nice neutral pelvic and spinal position.
When you've got the hang of all those movements, we'll put them together.
Arms down by your side.
Breathe in wide and full.
As you breathe out, zip up and hollow.
Stay in neutral and slide the opposite arm and leg away, keeping the pelvis absolutely
still and the length throughout the body.
Breathe in, breathe out, zipped and hollowed, and slowly return the arm and the leg back
to the starting position.
Breathe in wide.
As you breathe out, zip and hollow.
As you slide the opposite arm and leg away from you, pelvis is absolutely still.
Breathe in, breathe out, and slowly return to the center.
We're going to combine spine curls now with squeezing a cushion between your knees.
This is going to mobilize your spine but also work the inner thighs and the buttocks.
We're going to breathe in wide and full to prepare.
As you breathe out, zip and hollow and squeeze the cushion between your knees as you send
your tailbone away from you and lift just a little off the floor.
Breathe in wide and full.
Breathe out, zip and hollow as you slowly lower.
Just be careful you don't come into an arch at this point.
Breathing in wide and full.
As you breathe out, zip and hollow and squeeze the cushion as you curl a little more of your
spine up.
Breathing in wide and full.
Breathe out, zip and hollow and slowly lower, lengthening away as you do so.
Coming back to neutral.
Breathing in wide and full.
Breathe out, zip and hollow.
Squeeze the cushion as you unpeel the spine.
Breathing in wide and full.
Breathe out, soften your breastbone and wheel the spine back down one by one, lengthening
away.
Breathing in wide and full.
Breathe out, zip and hollow.
Send the tailbone away as bone by bone.
You peel the spine up off the floor.
Breathing in wide and full.
And breathing out, wheeling and lengthening.
As you replace the spine right down to the tailbone.
You can stop squeezing the cushion and relax.
Going to work on a rotation of the spine with this next exercise and I'm going to show you
two versions.
A beginner's version and an intermediate version.
For the beginner's version you want to have your feet in line with your hips and you want
to have your pelvis in neutral, your arms out to the side and in line with your shoulders.
Palms up.
What we're going to do is we're going to take the head in one direction and the knees in
the other and as you do so I'm going to ask you to turn the palm down.
This is so that you keep your shoulder blade down into your back and as you bring your
head and knees back to centre the palm turns up.
If you've got a disc injury you might want to take some advice before you start this
one.
So arms out to the side.
You're going to breathe in to prepare.
As you breathe out zip and hollow.
Your knees go one way, your head goes the other and you're going to turn your palm down
to look at the back of your hand keeping your shoulder blade down into your back.
Breathe in, breathe out, zip and hollow.
The palm comes up, your head and knees back to centre.
Breathe in, breathe out, zip and hollow.
Head and knees in the opposite direction.
Your palm turns down, the shoulder blade down into your back.
And then breathe in, breathe out, strong centre to bring your knees back, your head back to
the centre, the palm turns up.
Breathe in, breathe out, zip and hollow.
Head one ways, knees the other.
The palm turns down, shoulder blade down.
Breathe in, breathe out and working the waist as you bring the knees back to the centre,
the palm turns up.
Breathe in, breathe out.
Head and knees in the opposite direction, strong centre, the palm turns down, shoulder
blade stays on the floor.
Breathe in, breathe out.
Head and knees to centre, the palm comes up.
And now for the advanced version, you want to check you're in neutral, zip and hollow,
fold one knee up and then the other.
You want to have your knees at a right angle to your body.
Take the ball, place it between your knees.
Just to show you that your hips are staying in line.
Again, your palms will go out to the side.
Same action as before.
You're going to breathe in wide and full.
As you breathe out, zip and hollow.
Your head's going to go one way, your knees the other and turn the palm down.
Breathe in, as you breathe out, head and knees back to the centre, you'll feel your
waist working strongly now.
Breathe in, breathe out, zip and hollow.
Head one way, knees the other, the palm turns down to look at the back of the hand, shoulder
blade stays on the floor.
Breathe in, breathe out, use your strong centre to bring your knees back to the middle.
Breathe in, breathe out, zip and hollow.
Head one way, knees the other, the palm turns down, shoulder blade on the floor.
Breathe in, breathe out, zip and hollow and coming back to centre.
Breathe in, breathe out, zip and hollow.
Head one way, knees the other, turning the palm down.
Breathe in, breathe out, head and knees back to centre.
And then remove the tennis ball, zipping and hollowing, replace the feet back down on the
floor.
We're going to work on strengthening the abdominal area now and all the principles you
already learned of alignment, breathing, using the deep abdominals and releasing tension
are going to apply to the traditional curl up.
Remember it is just that, it's a curl up, you're curling the upper spine up off the
floor.
So even though we're concentrating on the abdominals, think of what you're doing with
the spine as well.
There are three things you need to remember when you're doing these curl ups.
The first is that you keep your pelvis in its neutral position.
So just check you've got your pelvis in neutral.
If you tuck the pelvis while you're doing it, all you're doing is using these hip muscles
and we want to concentrate on using the deep abdominals, which brings us to point two.
Don't let your tummy pop up as you come up.
So if I do it incorrectly once just to show you, if I let my tummy pop up as I come up,
you've stopped using the deep abdominals.
You must as you curl up, keep that tummy scooped up, out and hollow.
And the third thing you're going to remember is that I want you to release the tension
in your neck and just soften your breastbone as you come up.
So the movement hinges from here.
So as you come up, you soften the breastbone and you gently hinge forward.
Okay, so before we start, we're just going to release the tension in the neck.
If you have a neck injury, it might do best to avoid this exercise.
Just gently release the tension.
Okay, place one hand behind your head.
The other's going to go on your lower stomach.
That's going to check your tummy doesn't pop up.
Check you're in neutral.
Breathe in to prepare.
Breathe out.
Just tuck your chin forward, soften the breastbone, hinging from here.
You're going to curl up.
No tension in your neck at all.
Keep your tailbone down and lengthening away.
Breathe in as you slowly curl back.
Breathe out.
Inhale to spine, keep your tummy hollowed.
Break from the breastbone as you curl up to look between your legs.
Keep a small gap under your chin and gently release back.
Change hands.
Place one hand on your stomach.
Breathe in, breathe out, hollow.
Inhale to spine, just tuck your chin forward slightly and hinge forward.
Breathing in as you come back.
Breathe out.
Hollow.
Keep it hollowed out, pelvis neutral.
Tuck your chin forward, hinge from the breastbone.
Curling the spine up and then bone by bone, curling it back down again.
When you're confident your stomach isn't popping up, you can do it with two hands behind your
head, but just be careful you don't pull on your head.
So breathe in, breathe out, hollow.
Enable to spine, soften the breastbone.
Just chuck your chin in and gently curl up to look between your legs.
Breathing in as bone by bone, you put the spine back down.
You can work up to doing about 10 of those.
We're going to work the oblique stomach muscles now which crisscross your body.
Have checked that your pelvis is in neutral, clasp your hands behind your head.
Keep that sense of openness in the upper body.
You're not going to pull on your neck at all.
And it's your shoulder that's going to come across towards your opposite knee, not the
elbow.
Breathe in to prepare.
Breathe out, hollow.
Enable to spine and curl the shoulder across towards your opposite knee.
Breathing in as you come back down.
And breathe out, enable to spine and curl the other shoulder across towards the opposite
knee.
Breathing in as you come back.
We're going to alternate sides.
And breathe out, enable to spine.
And curling out.
Keep that sense of openness in the body.
And breathe out, enable to spine.
And curl the shoulder across towards the knee.
Breathing in as you come back.
And breathe out, enable to spine and curl.
The pelvis completely square.
Breathing in as you come back.
And breathe out, enable to spine and curl.
And breathe in as you come back.
You can work up towards doing five to each side.
And then slowly release the neck by rolling it from side to side.
We're going to stretch the hamstrings now.
If you're more comfortable, sit on a folded towel.
You're going to take one leg out in front of you.
Make sure it's directly in line with your hip, knee cap facing the ceiling.
And take this foot and place it where you're comfortable.
It can either be on the inside of your calf or your knee.
But your pelvis must be square.
Weight nice and even on both buttocks.
You're going to breathe in and lengthen through the top of your head.
Breathe out, zip and hollow.
And you're going to gently come forward.
Shoulder blades down, chin forward.
You're just going to relax in this position until you feel a stretch in your hamstring
at the back of your thigh.
In this position, you're going to breathe in to the back of your rib cage, wide and
full.
Your chin just tucked in, shoulder blades down in your back.
Neck nice and long.
Just gently zipped and hollowed.
Really feel the back of your rib cage moving as you breathe in.
Just relaxing a little further forward each time you breathe out if it's comfortable.
And then slowly zipping and hollowing, you're going to rebuild the spine.
And we're going to change legs, so folding this knee in, take this leg out again.
Check it's in a line with your hip, kneecap facing the ceiling.
Place the foot where you're comfortable, either inside the calf or the knee.
Check again that your pelvis is square.
Lengthen up through the top of your head, zip and hollow as you gently relax forward.
Elbows open.
Shoulder blades down in your back and breathing into the back of your rib cage.
Just gently relaxing for a little further forward each time.
And then gently zipping and hollowing, you're going to rebuild the spine to come up nice
and tall.
Take the leg out in front of you and just let your legs roll in and out, just to loosen
the hips.
With this next exercise, roll downs, we're going to be working on creating flexibility
and strength in your spine.
Now you need a wall.
You're going to stand with your feet about 18 inches away from the wall and with your
knees bent as if you're sitting on a bar stool.
Now you're going to be rolling forward.
So those of you that have had a disc injury, you might want to avoid this exercise.
And if you have a back problem, you might like to slide your hands down your leg to
give you a greater sense of security.
Don't go too far.
If you feel uncomfortable, slowly roll back up again.
Okay, we're going to breathe in to prepare.
Lengthen up through the top of your head.
Breathe out hollow navel to spine.
Drop your chin on your chest and you're going to gently roll forward, peeling the spine
off the wall bone by bone.
Only as far as you can comfortably go.
When you get down, let your head and shoulders just hang.
Breathe in.
Navel to spine.
Now drop the tailbone down.
Bring your pubic bone forward.
See your back comes back onto the wall bone by bone.
Lengthening back up.
Breathe in to prepare.
Lengthen through the top of your head.
Breathe out navel to spine.
Drop your chin on your chest.
Let the weight of your forehead roll you forward.
Peeling spine off the wall.
Arms hanging free.
Breathe in.
Breathe out navel to spine.
Drop your tailbone down.
Putting each part of the spine back on the wall bone by bone.
Now when you're comfortable with that exercise, you can try it free standing.
But once again, we're going to have the knees bent.
It's much safer for your back.
Feet hip width apart and in parallel.
Breathe in to prepare.
Lengthen through the top of your head.
Breathe out navel to spine.
Drop the chin on your chest.
And again, we're going to roll forward a bit like a roller blind.
Keep your tummy hollow back towards the spine throughout.
Neck released.
Breathe in.
Breathe out navel to spine.
And as if the wall's still there, drop the tailbone down.
And then coming up bone by bone.
Breathe in.
Lengthen up through the top of your head.
Breathe out navel to spine.
Drop the chin on the chest and gently rolling forward.
Just let everything hang when you're there.
Just let it release.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Navel to spine.
Use the spine like a wheel.
Lengthening up through so that you're unfurling.
Coming up nice and tall.
So some directions for standing correctly.
You want to have your feet hip width apart and in parallel.
And the weight evenly balanced between the base of your big toe, the base of the small
toe and the center of your heel.
Now just check that you're not locking your knees back.
They want to be nice and soft.
The thighs released.
Your pelvis in its neutral position.
Just gently zipping and hollowing.
A nice long waist.
Soft breast bone.
Shoulder blades down.
Nice big gap between your ears and your shoulders.
Your chin should be parallel with the floor.
Just imagine someone is lengthening you up.
They're pulling you up through the top of your head.
And there's a tiny weight on your tailbone just anchoring you down.
So you really feel the length through the spine.
We're going to do an exercise now for the upper body.
It brings it into its correct placement.
We're going to breathe in to prepare and lengthen through the top of your head.
Then as you breathe out you're going to allow your arms to float up.
The shoulder blades dropping down.
And lightly clasp behind your head.
We're then going to breathe in and shrug your shoulders up towards your ears.
Breathe out as you drop them.
Breathe in and bring them back so the shoulder blades come together.
But you should still be able to see your elbows.
And then again as you breathe out you're going to slowly lower your arms, the top of your
head lengthening up as your arms come down.
Okay, we'll do that again.
You're going to breathe in to prepare and lengthen through the spine.
As you breathe out, zipping and hollowing, you allow your arms to float up.
Shoulder blades dropping down.
Lightly clasp behind your head.
Breathe in as you shrug your shoulders up.
Breathe out as you drop them.
In as you bring the shoulder blades back and together.
Let your upper body arch.
And then breathe out as you slowly lower the arms, the top of your head, popping up like
a cork out of a bottle.
And just once more, allow your arms to float up as you breathe out.
Gently zipping and hollowing.
Lightly clasp behind your head.
Breathe in and shrug your shoulders.
Out and let them drop.
In as you bring the shoulder blades together, opening the chest.
And then out as your arms come down, lengthening up through the top of your head to bring your
arms down by your side.
The simple version of the single leg stretch.
First of all, check that you're in neutral.
You're going to breathe in wide and full to prepare.
As you breathe out, zip up and hollow and gently fold one knee at a time up towards
your chest.
Take hold just below the knee with both hands.
Your upper body stays open, shoulder blades down into your back.
Breathe in to prepare.
As you breathe out, zip up and hollow and slowly straighten one leg straight up into
the air.
Breathe in as the knee returns.
Change your hand position.
As you breathe out, zip up and hollow and straighten the leg.
Breathe in as you come back.
Change hands.
Breathe out, zip and hollow.
And extend the leg into the air.
Breathe in as it returns.
As you breathe out, zip and hollow and gently straighten the leg.
Staying in neutral, breathe in as you come back.
When you've mastered that version, we can move on to the slightly more advanced version,
which means curling the upper body up off the floor.
Breathe in to prepare.
As you breathe out, zip up and hollow and straighten the leg.
In as the leg comes back.
As you breathe out, zip and hollow.
As you straighten the leg.
Your chin is just gently tucked forward.
Your upper body stays soft and open.
Your shoulder blades down into your back.
Let's add the arm movement in now.
With the next out breath, change the hands over.
You're going to put the outside or the outside of your calf and the inside of your knee,
elbows stay open.
Breathe out as you straighten the leg into the air.
Breathe in as the leg returns.
Change hands.
Breathe out, zipping and hollowing and straighten.
Now the lower your leg is, the harder this is.
So if we now move on to the slightly more advanced version, your leg will be lower.
You're extending the leg on the out breath.
And then to make it a little bit harder still, we're going to turn the leg out.
You stay in neutral.
You stay zipped and hollowed.
You're breathing wide and full into your sides.
Your chin is just gently tucked forward.
But your neck and your upper body stay quite released.
And you've done 10 repetitions with each leg, slowly lower your head, zipping and hollowing.
Return the feet to the floor one at a time and just gently let your head roll from one
side through the center to the other and back to the center again.
For the dart, you need to lie on your front, your legs hip width apart and in parallel,
arms by your side, palms facing your body.
Breathe in wide and full.
Breathe out, zip and hollow and slide the shoulder blades down your back to raise the
upper body.
Breathing in as you lower.
Breathe out, zip and hollow.
Slide the arms down, shoulder blades down.
Keep looking straight down, breathing in as you lower.
And breathe out, zip and hollow.
Arms sliding down your legs, shoulder blades down.
And breathing in as you return.
And breathe out, zip and hollow.
Shoulder blades down.
Keep the back of the neck long, top of the head lengthening away.
Breathing in as you lower.
And breathe out, zip and hollow.
Slide the shoulder blades down.
Long, long body.
Breathing in as you return to the floor.
Good.
Good.
Good.
Good.