| As part of our new Rowing Program, we’ve been warming up with a variation or Rolldown Reach with the Spine Corrector on the Reformer.
A Spine Corrector?? That’s what it’s called, but it’s not the instrument of contortion or torture that the name might conjure up! It’s a wonderful piece of equipment that you can use on the Reformer or on the Mat. It helps us find length and strength through the front of our body, as well as in our shoulders and legs, while improving our spinal mobility.
We use can use it both in supine position (lying face up) and in side-lying. We also sometimes use it to help us find a good mermaid or Z-sit position. It really is a versatile piece of equipment!
So, back to Rolldown Reach. What’s it all about? We start the movement sitting upright on the spine corrector with our arms outstretched, knees bent and feet on the footbar. We then send our legs long as we start to roll back on the spine corrector. We’ll feel the front of our hips opening. Depending on our spinal mobility, we may be able to reach into full extension to curl over the arc. Once in this position, we take one or two (sometimes more!) long breaths to enjoy the stretch, before returning to the start position, resetting our spine and pelvis and going again.
It’s a really big movement and a position that our spines don’t get into very often. We normally ‘warm up’ by initially placing only our ribs down on the arc, breathing and returning to start. Then perhaps placing our shoulder blades on the arc, breathing and returning, before getting into full extension. We really don’t need to be in full extension to enjoy and benefit from the movement.
It’s a gorgeous movement and feels like a big stretch – the perfect antidote to sitting hunched over a desk, a laptop, a phone etc!
As well as helping us to feel good, Rolldown Reach is great for improving our spinal mobility into extension and for helping increase flexibility in our chest and ribs. It’s also enables us to experience how our breath can help us relax into and/or hold a movement.
If you’d like to try Rolldown Reach as part of our Rowing program, you can book your place in either our Reformer Plus Classes or our Reformer Fundamentals Classes and join in the fun! |
