Ten Ways to Recover After Shoveling Snow

Yesterday was The Pilates Studio’s first snow day of the year.  I really tried to get to the studio in the morning…I was even aided by a very helpful neighbor that was determined to push my car up the road until I hit pavement at the corner.  Well it didn’t happen, and once we got the car back into the parking spot, I went inside and then watched as the plow cleared the street effectively burying my car in clods and clods of snow.  Again I ventured into the world to start digging.  At first, I was saying I probably wouldn’t make it out of the parking spot, but its better to dig now than tomorrow morning.   Then something happened, as I continued to shovel, I became absolutely determined to get out of my parking spot.  Each time I bent my knees to propel a shovel full of very heavy snow, I knew I would succeed.  I knew that I would get to The Pilates Studio!

You might wonder why I was so determined.  You could say that it was because I wanted to be sure that my clients were able to have their sessions.  That I was that dedicated to being a pilates instructor.  I was determined to take care of every body that I could…You could say that, but then again…It wouldn’t exactly be true.

My determination came from a much more selfish place.  Each time I twisted my body through several planes of motion to hurl the world’s wettest most frozen snow, I began to think about the foam roller and how great it would be to lie on it.  Then with the next clod I started thinking about a psoas stretch…Then I even began to crave the magic circle (Really I was)…You see I became so determined to get to work, not to teach, but to recover from all of the crazy shoveling….Then  I thought about our little joke about the fact that there are only two seasons at The Pilates Studio:  Shoveling season and gardening season.   So I made it to the studio in time to do the workout I began designing while digging and digging and digging!

And here it is!

Each exercise title is a link to more information about that specific exercise on The Pilates Studio’s Exercise of the Day Blog.

Snow Angels on the Foam Roller

Elbow Circles on the Foam Roller

Psoas Stretch on the Foam Roller

Bent Knee Fallout Single Leg

Abdominal Curls with the Foam Roller perpendicular to the Shoulder Blades

Abdominal Curls combine with Bridge Shoulder Blades over Foam Roller

Magic Circle Inner Thighs Bridge

Lumbar Spine Stretch Pelvis on Foam Roller

Rolling out The Bottom of the Feet

Straight Leg Circles with Theraband.

Katrina Hawley C.M.A, PMA-CPT

Director of Instruction at The Pilates Studio