The roll up is one of the 34 classical Pilates exercises, and one that my clients often sight as being quite tricky to master! The roll up is a super exercise for challenging the stability and strength of your core.
As I pointed out above the roll up is a challenging exercise and for this reason there are several ways we can adapt it to help which I shall talk about later on.
How to perform a roll up:
Take a few wide thoracic breaths as you check your alignment and tune into your body. We are going to start from C- Curve as the rolling down phase is often easier than rolling up this gives you time to tune into your body.
1. Inhale to prepare then tuck your tailbone under, and nod your head forward into a ‘C’ shape, begin to unfurl—vertebra by vertebra—down to the floor, as you exhale. Be sure to keep the legs on the floor and don’t let them lift off as you roll down. Check that your shoulders are relaxed and not creeping up.
2. Continue to set one vertebra after another down on the floor. Keep your upper body curve as you roll down slowly and with control. The arms are still outstretched and follow the natural motion of the shoulders as you roll down. Once your shoulders come to the floor, the arms go with the head as you continue to roll down to the mat.
3. Inhale to prepare then exhale and leave your scapula down as you bring your arms up overhead. As your arms pass your ears, pause for an inhale, let the chin drop and the head and upper spine join the motion to curl up on your next exhale.
4. Continue in one smooth motion to curl your body in an “up and over” motion toward your toes. This is the “tricky part” for many. Pull in your abs in and deepen the curve of your spine as you exhale. That’s what gets you up (not momentum).
5. Reach for your toes keeping the head tucked, the abdominals deep, and the back rounded. Ideally, the legs are kept straight throughout this exercise with energy reaching out through the heels. However, allow the legs to bend, if you need them too.
6. Do up to 6 repetitions.
The roll up is one continuous, controlled and flowing motion. Try to synchronise with the breath. If you do this exercise with full attention, 6 repetitions will be sufficient.
Common Mistakes:
Roll up is one of those moves which often comes with frustration at first. It is technical and there are a lot of ways your body tries to ‘help’ you out to make it easier, which are incorrect. Lets go through these now.
Using Momentum or Dropping When Half Way Down
Beginners may find themselves using momentum rather than muscle strength to roll up, and they may also have to drop down as they lose power when rolling back down. The Pilates roll up requires a lot of core strength as well as a flexible spine. It can be helpful to build the strength and flexibility for roll up by practicing the ‘C’ curve hold, initiate the start of your roll up as above but then hold this rounded position for 5 to 20 seconds. C curve is a great way to build strength in the core.
Lifting Legs and Feet From the Mat
Hands up! Who has tried the roll up and found their feet or legs lifting? The reason for this is that some of the muscles that help the upper body bend forward are also muscles that flex the hips (hip-flexors).
Abs in, ribs down and in, and a big ‘C’ curve of the spine are crucial. The transverse abdominus muscle compresses the abdomen and bends the trunk forward in flexion. It also helps close the ribs toward the hips.
Other abdominal muscles will be working in the roll up. But if you focus on the action of the transversus abdominus, it will help take the focus off the hip flexors and result in less leg lift.
Safety and Precautions
It goes without saying, stop if you feel any pain during this exercise. If you can’t keep good form, use the tips above to modify the exercise. This is a more advance exercise so I would suggest that beginners maybe start with a different exercise before trying to roll up.
While Pilates is excellent for post pregnancy recovery, it is necessary to get clearance from your health visitor first. Diastasis recti is very common and if the gap is larger than two fingers and your muscles within the gap feel loose and weak (think dipping your fingers in custard) you shouldn’t perform the roll up until you have started to build strength back in the abdominal wall. Talk to me about pregnancy and post birth Pilates.
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