Abdominals are the core group of muscles responsible for how your upper body and lower body relate to each other. The primary focus of abdominal exercises should be developing the quality and strength of the muscles. Pilates routines are ideal in targeting core abdominals and inner abdominals (tranversus abdominus).

This simple exercise will save you time and deliver the abs you crave
 

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Starting Position

Lying supine (on your back) in the neutral spine position, keep your knees bent and slightly apart, slight engagement in the inner thigh adductor muscles, and feet flat. Feel an equal amount of weight on the balls of the feet and heels. Remember to keep the neck and shoulders  relaxed. Feel as if the hands are slightly reaching towards the feet.  TOP

Inhalation

From the rest, or neutral position, this is the phase responsible for the preparation of the curl. When you inhale, imagine your stomach expanding laterally, or to the sides.

As you inhale, imagine pushing your belly button towards the floor. Do not put any extra stress or tension in your legs or arms, as the movement is strictly isolated to the abdominals.  TOP

Exhalation: Rising into the “bridge”

Before any movement from the inhalation occurs, recruit the transverses abdominus muscles. These are the deep abdominal muscles that form a brace or corset around you abdominal organs. Draw the remaining abdominals down and in and begin to  tilt the pelvis toward your posterior. Curl the base of the spine up off the mat and continue to roll the spine up vertebra by vertebra until reaching a flat bridge position. As you move into this “bridge” position, you will begin to engage your hamstrings as well as your hip and back extensor muscles.  TOP

While you are in the “bridge” position, concentrate on keeping the abdominals engaged and ribs in

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Dropping the Bridge

While you are at the top of the bridge, prepare (no movement) for dropping out of the bridge. Inhale by focusing on lateral side breathing to assist in keeping the abdominals tightly engaged.

As you begin to exhale, sequentially roll the spine down vertebra by vertebra starting with the thoracic spine back to the posterior tilted position. Imagine as if your vertebra is a zipper that is slowly unzipping one at a time. As you exhale and release from the bridge position, do not engage your glutei muscles. Try and relax the back of the legs as much as possible and continue to focus on the movement of the abdominals.  TOP

Completing
the Curl

As you drop out of the bridge position, you now lay your entire spine into the position that you had started. Remember that the unzipping motion of the vertebra allows you to sense your spine to be mobilized by your abdominals. Push your belly button into the ground on the finish just as you had initialized the inhalation for going into the bridge.  TOP

Visualization

Imagine an imprint of the spine in the ground. Then lifting each vertebra out of its imprint in the ground, and then placing it back in. The result is the desired intricate articulation of the spine.

Wrapping Up

You have now completed one phase of the pelvic curl. Remember the focus on lateral breathing and the transverses abdominus.  All exercises must end with the way they started; focus and concentration on the abdominals in the way you initialized the exercise.

Points to remember when performing the pelvic tilt:

• The adductor (inner thighs) stay engaged the whole time. This means that the distance between the two knees remains constant. In addition, the weight on the feet must stay constant. Do not allow the feet to roll in (pronate) or roll out. (Supinate)

• Focus on quality and concentration of movement. Don’t focus on speed or strength, but rather see this as an experience to concentrate on the quality and precision of movement by linking the structures of you abdominal muscles with precise and controlled movements that will help define the way you move and look!   The Next Exercise after the Pelvic Curl is The Chest Lift

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