| This week we thought we’d take a look at ‘Climb a Tree’ – one of the exercises in our new Find your Flow® program.
As always, we’ll offer a range of progressions over the course of the next few weeks. It’s great to take a snapshot of where you are at the start of the program, so that you can reflect on – and of course, celebrate – your progress over the course of the program.
Although we’ll be doing it on the Reformer, we can perform ‘Climb a Tree’ on the mat and the ladder barrel too. If you’d like to practise at home, ask your teacher about the mat version.
‘Climb a Tree’ isn’t a position that we find ourselves in on a daily basis, so why do we do this exercise?
As you can see from the pictures above, this is a fully body movement. Core muscles are active throughout. Both legs are active – you’re sending them away from each other in a form of splits. You’ll really feel your hamstrings (muscles at the back of your legs) working. You’ll also feel a stretch in the hip flexor of your ‘standing leg’. In the more advance positions you’ll experience spinal articulation and amazing chest expansion.
So, translating this to everyday life, practising ‘Climb a Tree’ is great for your posture – and a super release for any of us who spend a lot of time sitting at a desk, in the car, on a sofa etc. For walkers, runners, cyclists and others, it’s great for strengthening and lengthening hamstring muscles and hip flexors.
Quite apart from all of these benefits, it’s also a fun exercise to do – let us know what you think as we go through the program! |
