| This week we thought we’re looking at Bridging – it’s one of the movements in our Rowing Program. (Actually, it comes into many of our programs – it’s such a great exercise, as you’ll discover below!)
Bridging is one of the first things we learn when practising Pilates and we continue to focus on Bridging as our practice develops.
Variations of bridging can be done on the Mat, the Reformer, the ladder barrel, the trapeze table and the chair, so pretty much everywhere. Some of you will remember bridging with your feet on your sofa or a chair during lockdowns – you may also have done it with your feet balanced on a gym ball, or against a wall.
Why is it so important in the Pilates repertoire?
Bridging is great for those of us who sit for long periods of time – that probably applies to just about all of us! If we sit for long periods, our hip flexors (at the front of our hips) can shorten and weaken. This limits our ability to stand up fully straight. If our hip flexors are tight, they pull the pelvis out of alignment and can cause compression and pain in the lower back.
Bridging helps counter this by opening, lengthening and strengthening our hip flexors.
Bridging is also great for improving our hamstring strength (the big muscles at the back of our legs). Some of us find it hard to get our hamstrings to work effectively – with our quadriceps (the muscles at the front of our legs) taking the load. That can lead to imbalances when we move (walking, running, cycling etc). Bridging really helps isolate the hamstring muscles to get them working. (If you can’t feel your hamstrings working – have a word with your teacher!)
In our current program, we’ve incorporated Bridging with the Pilates Ring. We start with the ring outside of our knees/thighs and use the outer thigh muscles to keep pressure on the ring as we float into our Bridge. This helps activate the outer thighs, but importantly, it also prevents us from rolling our knees inwards – a problem for many of us! Using the ring between our thighs and squeezing helps us activate the inner thigh muscles – and a bit of choreography is always fun!
When we progress to single leg bridging, we’re increasing the challenge, but more importantly, we’re focused on keeping the hips and pelvis level throughout the movement. A stable, balanced pelvis is so important for our posture and in our daily movement (eg. walking). Misalignment in our pelvis can ‘travel’ downwards to cause problems in our knees, ankles or feet; and it can ‘travel’ upwards to cause problems in our spine, shoulders and neck.
That’s why Bridging is fundamental to the Pilates repertoire.
All of that said, Bridging is also just a ‘feel-good’ exercise. The feeling of the pelvis and spine floating and becoming weightless as they glide from and to the floor helps release tensions in the body as it finds length and space!
If you’d like to experience the joy of Bridging, reserve your place below! |
