The Amazing Stickie and Good Morning

The Amazing Stickie is a stickler for good form.  She knows that the good morning exercise is very similar to a deadlift, but because of the way the weight is carried it can actually help improve deadlift form.  To do good mornings, Stickie uses a weighted bar.  If no weighted bar is available, a broomstick is a useful tool.

 

Stickie begins standing in good posture with her feet about shoulder width apart.  She holds the bar across her back slightly below the top of her shoulders.  Then she hinges forward at the hips and straightens back up.  The bar helps her to keep her upper spine straight, which keeps her lower back from having to do too much work.

 

Sets of ten are good.

The Amazing Stickie and Medicine Ball Chest Pass

Today the Amazing Stickie is working with medicine balls again.  This exercise can be done alone or with a partner.  When Stickie does it by herself, she thinks of the part where she goes to fetch the ball as part of the work, but having a friend does make it easier.  Either way, she begins standing in good posture, holding the medicine ball at her chest with her elbows a little out to the side.  Using her arms, she thrusts the ball forward and tosses it away from her.  Sets of 10 are good.

The Amazing Stickie and Medicine Ball Soccer Throw

The Amazing Stickie loves to play with medicine balls.  Today she’s doing medicine ball soccer throws.  (She’s demonstrating doing it by herself, which means that after each throw, she has to walk and pick up the ball to do the next throw.  She could also do this with a friend and they could toss the ball to each other.)  She begins standing with good posture holding the medicine ball behind her head.  Maintaining good posture, she lifts the ball over her head and tosses it in front of her.  Sets of 10 are good.

The Amazing Stickie and Multiplanar Lunges with Reach

The Amazing Stickie loves making a basic exercise more challenging.  Today she is doing multiplanar lunges with reaches.  What that means is that she takes her basic front lunge, side lunge, and transverse lunge (or curtsy) and adds a reach with her upper body toward the floor.  It makes the movement bigger, which means it’s harder.  Additionally, it shifts the body weight more, making it more of a core challenge to return to the starting position.  She usually does a set of five in each direction.

The Amazing Stickie and Prisoner Squat

The Amazing Stickie knows that small variations can keep workouts interesting and fresh.  The prisoner squat variation will slightly alter the way she balances as she bends and extends her body.  She loves a balance challenge!  Sets of 10 are good.

The Amazing Stickie and Kettlebell Hang, Clean, and Jerk

The Amazing Stickie knows that using kettlebells challenges her in ways that dumbbells don’t because of how the weight shifts in different positions.  Today she is doing the kettlebell hang, clean, and jerk.

She begins holding a kettlebell in one hand.  She squats down, lowering the kettlebell toward the floor.  Then she stands up straight again, lifting the kettlebell to shoulder height.  From there, she lifts the kettlebell overhead.  Then she returns to the start position for the next rep.

The Amazing Stickie and Goblet Pour

The Amazing Stickie has amazing-looking arms, of course.  To maintain her beautiful shoulders, she often does goblet pours.

She begins standing with good posture, holding two light weights at shoulder level with the ball parts of the dumbbells pointing up and down.  Then she twists her arms as if the weights were goblets and she wants to empty them on the ground.  She repeats this motion about ten times.

The Amazing Stickie and Pilates Twist

The Amazing Stickie knows that many of us don’t do enough work on rotation.  Uncle Joe Pilates to the rescue!  Today she is doing his Twist exercise.

 

Stickie begins in a side plank position, the upper arm raised and her top foot in front of her other foot.  From there, she lifts her hips and pokes her non-weight-bearing arm through the arch she has created with her body.  Then she returns to the start position.

 

She likes to do about five reps on each side. 

The Amazing Stickie and the Pilates Pushup

The Amazing Stickie knows that when Uncle Joe Pilates does a version of an exercise, it’s going to be interesting.  The Pilates pushup is a whole-body experience.

Stickie begins standing with good posture.  Keeping her weight toward her toes to keep her hips from falling back as long as possible, she curls her spine forward until her hands touch the ground.  From there, she walks her hands forward until she is in plank position.  Keeping her elbows close to her body, Stickie lowers and raises her body three times, maintaining a straight line between her head and her heels.  Then she walks her hands back toward her feet, returning to the forward bend position before stacking her spine up again to return to her starting position.  Stickie likes it that each Pilates pushup incorporates three pushups.

The Amazing Stickie and Double Leg Stretch

This week, the Amazing Stickie is working on spinal flexion and abdominal strength by doing Double Leg Stretch.

She begins curled into a ball with her head and upper back off the floor.  From there, she extends her arms and legs up toward the ceiling, maintaining her upper back and head off the floor.  She circles her arms and legs around until she is back in position with arms and legs toward the ceiling and then returns to the starting position.  She thinks it is kind of like doing elementary backstroke in swimming, except that her head and shoulders are lifted.

The Amazing Stickie and Double Leg Kick

The Amazing Stickie is working on extension in her entire body today:  spine, shoulders, and hip flexors!  To do this, she is doing Double Leg Kick.

She begins lying on her belly with her face turned to one side and her hands clasped at her lower back.  From there, she bends her knees, flexes her feet, and pulses her heels toward her behind as if she were trying to kick herself in the butt.  Then she does a whole lot of things at once:  she turns her head back to a neutral position, she lifts her chest off the floor, she lifts her arms away from her back, stretching them toward her legs, and she extends her legs along the floor.  When she lowers back to the starting position, she turns her head to the other side to repeat.  She always does an even number of reps so she can do both sides the same number of times.

The Amazing Stickie and Leg Circles

The Amazing Stickie knows that synovial joints, like the ones in our hips, get their nutrition via motion.  She also knows that a stable pelvis is beneficial for all the things she likes to do in her copious spare time.  These are two reasons why she likes to do leg circles.

She starts lying on her back with one leg long and one leg extended up toward the ceiling.  (How high the leg is raised depends on the flexibility of one’s hamstrings!).  Then, keeping both sides of her pelvis evenly weighted on the ground, she circles the lifted leg across the midline of her body and around to the starting position.  She likes to do five circles in each direction before changing legs and doing the other side.

 

Stickie finds it surprisingly difficult to avoid shifting her pelvis from side to side as she makes the circles.

The Amazing Stickie and Corkscrew

The Amazing Stickie has, of course, amazing articulation of her spine and amazing abdominal strength.  Those of us who do not may opt for a different exercise; those of us with osteoporosis should definitely give this one a pass.

To begin, Stickie lies on her back with her legs toward the ceiling and her arms at her side.  She peels her spine up into the air, ending up in a position where she is looking at her own shins over her face.  From there, keeping her legs together, she circles them around and then peels her spine back down to the floor.  Then she repeats, circling the other direction.

The Amazing Stickie and Criss Cross

This week, the Amazing Stickie is doing a similar exercise to last week.  This one is called Criss Cross.  It also works her oblique abdominals and her spinal flexion.

Today, she begins lying on her back with her hands behind her head and her knees bent so that her feet are flat on the floor.  She twists her torso slightly so that one elbow is touching the ground.  From there, she lifts her head and shoulders off the mat, maintaining the twist, and raises her opposite knee toward the higher elbow.  Her other leg stays long, floating just above the floor.  Then, without lowering her head and shoudlers toward the mat, she switches the position of her legs and twists her body the other direction.

 

Sets of ten are good.

 

Stickie would like to point out that this exercise may look familiar to gym-goers who are not Pilates people.  This exercise is done with more control and usually less speed than the gym version.

The Amazing Stickie and Single Leg Stretch

Today the Amazing Stickie is doing the Pilates exercise Single Leg Stretch.  She begins lying on her back with her knees curled into her chest.  She puts one hand on the inside side of the opposite knee and the other hand on the outside side of the same shin.  On an exhale, she curls her spine up, bringing her head toward her knees while extending the leg she is not holding out parallel to the floor.  Then she switches legs and hand positions to the opposite side.  She finds that a good set is ten repetitions.

The Amazing Stickie and Rolling

Stickie loves to articulate her spine, so she enjoys the Pilates exercise Rolling.  She does not technically have bones and so is not at risk for osteopenia or osteoporosis; those of us who have either of those conditions should avoid this exercise.

To begin, Stickie sits with her weight just behind her sit bones.  She curls her spine in toward her belly and draws her knees up to her chest.  She clasps her hands around her shins to maintain her ball shape and points her toes.  As she inhales, she rolls back on to her shoulders, hips in the air.  She exhales back up, not letting her feet touch the floor.  (Note:  those of us who are not imaginary may want a soft surface underneath us.)  She continues as long as she is having fun.

 

Some of us may find that it is pretty challenging to roll all the way back and forth.  It is all right to begin by rocking and progress to rolling as we get stronger.

 

A variation of this exercise is called Seal.  Instead of clasping the hands around the legs, Stickie holds her heels or ankles with her arms on the inside side of her legs.  She can either put the soles of her feet together or point her toes, whichever feels better.  As in Rolling, she will roll back, but in that position she will clap her feet together a few times before rolling up, where she will clap her feet together a few times more.  (Seal noises are optional.)

 

In both variations of the exercise, it is important not to roll back too far and put pressure on the neck.

The Amazing Stickie and Side Lift

The Amazing Stickie loves all varieties of planks because of their benefits for her core and general strength.  One of her favorites is the Pilates side lift.

To begin, she lies on her side, her body propped up on one elbow placed directly below her shoulder.  Her hand is out in front of her body.  Her other hand is lying along the side of her body that is toward the ceiling.  She inhales to prepare and on an exhale, she presses her elbow into the ground to straighten her body from head to toe by lifting her hips up toward the ceiling.  She balances on the side of her bottom foot and her elbow for as long as she wants and then lowers herself (with control!) back to the starting position.

 

If she wants more challenge, once she is in the side plank position, she can raise her upper arm away from her body and lift the top leg.

 

Stickie also knows that it is possible to do this exercise balancing on an extended arm rather than on an elbow.  She advises trying all the variations until we decide which one we like best.

The Amazing Stickie and Saw

The Amazing Stickie knows that being able to rotate her spine and to bend sideways help keep her mobile.  This is another exercise that involves some spinal flexion, so it is best avoided by people who have osteopenia and osteoporosis.

She begins seated on the floor with her legs extended out in front of her about as far apart as a yoga mat is wide.  She holds her arms out in a wide V at shoulder height.  Stickie inhales to lengthen her spine.  As she exhales, she rotates her torso toward one side, simultaneously bending so that her arm comes across and down toward her opposite ankle, as if it were a saw chopping off her foot (no, I did not make that particular gory image up myself.).  Then she returns to the start position and repeats on the other side.

 

Four or five repetitions to each side are good.

The Amazing Stickie and Swimming

Today the Amazing Stickie is working on all kinds of good things, including spinal extension, core strength, and shoulder mobility.  She is doing all this by doing the Pilates mat exercise Swimming.

She begins lying on her belly on the floor.  Then she extends her arms and legs away from her until they lift up off the floor.  She makes sure that she doesn’t just use her lower back to curve her spine, but also involves her middle back in the work.  From there, she pulses her arms and legs up and down as if she were kicking while swimming and whacking the water with her arms.  As she does this, she pulses her breath as well, breathing out for four counts and in for four.  Eight cycles is enough.

 

She lowers herself back to the floor and takes a rest.

The Amazing Stickie and Single Leg Kick

The Amazing Stickie likes to ensure that she has strong glutes, mobile hamstrings, and healthy knees.  One way she does this is by doing Single Leg Kick when she goes to Pilates.

She begins lying on her belly with her torso propped up on her elbows and her hands pointing straight in front of her.  She bends one knee, flexing that foot, and pulses it toward her behind as if she were trying to kick herself in the butt two times.  Then she points her toe and stretches her leg out long to return to the starting position.

 

Stickie does about five repetitions on each leg.