Three ways to heat up your Ab Workouts.

Last week’s snowstorms were replaced by this week’s frigid temperatures.  The kind of temperatures that turn noses red and burn in the fingertips, the kind of cold that shows in the breath and runny nose, the kind of cold that causes all human beings to rigidly shake when they make it inside with an animalistic, “BRRRRRRR!”  And yes this is the second week in a row that I am writing about the weather in The Pilates Studio’s weekly blog…

Why?  It is partly because I am fascinated with the way that the body protects our beings from our environment.  How is it that in most climates our bodies can maintain a homeostatic temperature of about 98.6?  How does our movement add to this process?  What are the after effects on our posture?  Does the cold make us sore?  And how can we use movement to protect us from the cold?  The frigid, bitter, frostbiting cold.     

Last week’s snowstorms led me to write about keeping our bodies safe while shoveling mounds and mounds of wet snow, but there’s something we didn’t talk about.  Shoveling snow is hard exercise.  While we all need to protect our bodies from the wear and tear caused by this inevitable winter task, when we shovel we get the added warming benefit.  We begin to sweat through our first layer.  Our cheeks get warm.  We start breathing rapidly, and after a lot of shoveling, we may even start to strip layers of clothing off of our bodies.  Maybe even baring our arms to get that scarce New England Vitamin D. 

Shoveling snow keeps us warm, but in the frigid cold of this week, the snow has been shoveled and thus the warming effect is gone.  Our shoulders keep inching towards our ears to keep our neck warm.  Our spine rounds forward to protect our most important organs from the cold.  Our muscles stiffen.   Our movement lessens, and unfortunately we just seem to get colder. 

Well, Pilates to the rescue.  The following exercises are a great body-warming recipe.  At the end of the workout you’ll be ready to enter the cold.  And you’ll at least make it to your car and be warm long enough for its heater to start blowing warm air.

First the classic: The Pilates HUNDRED. 

This exercise is often seen as a killer abdominal exercise, but Joseph Pilates intended it to be a heater!  HE intended this to increase circulation and to heat up the body.

To get all of the warming effects from this fabulous exercise be sure to check this link for THE HUNDRED and use the sniffing breath.  And if you’re bored with just one version of THE HUNDRED. then read every post for the entire month of November.  You could heat your body up in 30 different ways.

The next heating step, is rigorously engaging the large muscles of the thighs.   This is what warms us up when we are shoveling, but in the absence of snow try the following video.  It is a lunge series that will improve your balance and create great blood flow!

Finally the shoulders and the cold don’t mix.  Try these few exercises to recover from a walk in the cold.  You know the kind of walks where your arms are crossed and your shoulders are hiked to your ears.  Your head is down to keep the wind out of your ears…These protective measures can reek havoc on your neck and shoulders.  Try the following to recover, and enjoy the added benefit of improved posture.  

Opening the Spine over the FOAM ROLLER

Snow angels on the FOAM ROLLER

Elbow circles on the FOAM ROLLER