Back or Stomach muscles???

[Guest thumpinhippo]

Ok...I've made a resolution to work on and strengthen my stomach muscles but in under a week, I've already met an obstacle. I've just been doing simple Pilates hundreds and that weird cycling thing (on back with legs up, lower legs parallel to ground and shoulders off ground - make sense?) Anyways, the day after doing them the muscles in my lower back were feeling really tired and sore. I'm not sure if this is the exact cause however I'm worried that I'm using my back muscles where I should be working my stomach muscles... and that it's doing me harm in the long run. In the meantime, I've stopped any such activity for the sake of my back. How can I tell and how can I actually work the stomach muscles because as far as I thought, I was using them them! Big time!

[Alternatively, it could be because I'm also working on keeping my hips square in arabesque and that finds me arabesque-ing around the house a lot]

Help appreciated!

[Victoria Leigh]

In terms of the back hurting after the stomach exercises, it is likely that you are doing something incorrectly. Have you been taught by a Pilates instructor how to do the Hundreds? If not, please get instruction before doing them, or any other specific Pilates exercises.

 

As for arabesque, the hips cannot be kept absolutely square in that position if you expect to have a rotated leg above about 30º. Lifting the working leg front and side are very different from lifting it in the back, where you have a large muscle in the way. While the hip must not LIFT, it has to OPEN a bit, or there is no way for the leg to get past the gluteus maximus.