However, ultimately, race day all comes down to you. As a Pilates instructor, I train my athletes with three main points of focus: improve efficiency, decrease the risk of injury and create more body awareness—all by optimizing the body's mechanics. Pilates is the perfect way to do just that. All efficient body strength and movement stems from a strong and functional core. There is no leg day, no arm day, no core day—just full body integrated movement keeping everything working together in one piece. In swimming, running, biking—every piece is working together propelling each specific movement.
Pilates puts less stress on already over-stressed muscles and joints by focusing on the smaller stabilizer muscles. Without working these guys, the big ones will soon burn out, resulting in injury or decreased output. An awareness about how your own body operates and how you can optimize your own movement is an empowering skill that can carry you through race day.
These nine exercises will get you thinking more about your own body's movement and help you become one with it through awareness in fine movement. The ultimate goal is synergy, precision and flow.
The Rolldown
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Setup: Stand tall with both feet at a parallel stance directly under the sit bones (more narrow than the width of the hips). Think of your plumb line here: top of the head, shoulders, ribs, pelvis, knees and ankles stacked one under the other grounded down through the feet.
Move: Begin with an inhale. Exhale while rolling down towards the floor, starting with the top of the head articulating down through the spine. Keep your knees soft—it is not meant to be a hamstring stretch (although you may feel a stretch there). Inhale at the bottom. Exhale and initiate through the abdominals, drawing in to roll yourself back up. Stack the spine up above the pelvis with the head being the last piece to come up. Do 2 to 3 at the beginning of your practice and 1 to 2 at the very end.
Think: Keep your hips above your feet through the whole movement. Keep your shoulders soft and away from your ears. Feel your feet rooted into the ground and lift up out of them as you roll back up to standing. Upon stacking back up, feel each piece coming back into place finishing with the neck long and shoulders in the back.
Why: Learn how to use the abdominals and hamstrings together to create pelvic stability without loading the lower back. The Rolldown allows the body to learn how to release certain parts and engage others while all working together to create synergy and harmony. It is also a great beginning exercise to release the lower back and lengthen the hamstrings while using the appropriate postural muscles that will transfer to the beginning of the race and through your run.
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Your Next TriathlonScapular Pushups
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Setup: Position yourself on all fours, with hands directly under your shoulders and knees directly under your hips. Your spine should be long from the tailbone to the top of the head. Avoid rounding through the back and or sagging the lower back and ribs.
Move: Keeping the arms straight through the whole move, inhale to drop the chest towards the floor while still keeping the integrity of length through the arms. Exhale to lift the chest back up engaging fully through the back and between the shoulders until the shoulder blades have found their "home". Do 3 sets of 5 to 8 reps. Take a child's pose rest in between each set.
Think: Think range here. There shouldn't be a significant sag when bringing the chest down and avoid rounding into the back when pushing back up. Keep the head in line with the movement.
Why: This is a foundational exercise that targets the Serratus Anterior—an all-important postural muscle that help us move our arms with great speed and control. Think of your posture on the bike. This exercise will help keep pressure out of the shoulders, neck, wrists and hands and allow you to ride more comfortably. While running, your arms should have a happy place to move from instead of excessively riding up into your ears.
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Your Next TriathlonTable Plank
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Setup: Position yourself on all fours, with hands directly under your shoulders and knees directly under your hips. Your spine should be long from the tailbone to the top of the head. Start with scapular, rib and lifted ab connection.
Move: Turn the toes under, inhale and, with the exhale, lift the knees about three inches, hovering off the floor. Stay here and breathe 3 to 5 breaths. With each exhale draw in deeper through the core taking pressure out of the hands and feet. Do 2 to 3 sets, resting in child's pose in between each set.
Think: It is so important in this exercise to think and connect to where each piece of the body is. Keep a good 90-degree angle in the knees. The work should be felt strongly in the quadriceps, and the scapula should maintain a connection through the back without rounding into the shoulders forward (if this is a problem keep going back to the Scapular Pushups). There shouldn't be too much pressure in the hands and wrists. Keep a wrapped feeling around the core. Your obliques, abs and back are all working together to maintain good stability while still allowing easy breathing to flow through.
Why: This a great exercise to build endurance in the body though core strength, with a deep emphasis on breath. Output can only be as good as the deep breath flowing through our bodies.
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Your Next TriathlonTable Plank - Advanced 1
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Setup: Position yourself on all fours, with hands directly under your shoulders and knees directly under your hips. Your spine should be long from the tailbone to the top of the head. Start with scapular, rib and lifted ab connection.
Move: Turn the toes under, inhale and, with the exhale, lift the knees about three inches, hovering off the floor. In this table plank position, inhale as you reach one foot up to the ceiling keeping the knee bent at a 90-degree angle. Foot should remain flexed with the heel reaching to the ceiling. Exhale as you reach the heel higher to the ceiling. Inhale as you bring the knee down just below hip height. Repeat 3 to 5 times on one side then immediately switch to the other side. If you are doing this advanced version—do one set of Table Plank first, rest, then do a set of this first advanced version before resting once more.
Think: While reaching the heel to the ceiling, think of lengthening the hip and quad of the moving leg. Keep the core connected. Everything else should remain as still as possible—no sagging in the lower back.
Why: This glute lift added to the table plank allows for a great dynamic stretch in the hip and quad. The combination of the core working, glute activation and movement through the hip socket can create greater speed and endurance when upright and running. Breath is an important factor here, as well as stability through the whole rest of the body.
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Your Next TriathlonTable Plank - Advanced 2
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Setup: Position yourself on all fours, with hands directly under your shoulders and knees directly under your hips. Your spine should be long from the tailbone to the top of the head. Start with scapular, rib and lifted ab connection.
Move: Turn the toes under, inhale and, with the exhale, lift the knees about three inches, hovering off the floor. In this table plank position, inhale as you extend one leg back all the way through the toes. Exhale and pull the leg back in, bending the knee. Repeat 3 to 5 times on one side then immediately switch to the other side. If you are doing this advanced version, do one set of table plank first, rest in child's pose, a set of the first advanced version, rest again in child's pose then finally a set of this second advanced version before resting once more.
Think: While extending the leg back, extend fully all the way through the toes. Get as much length through that leg as possible. Keep everything else as still as possible, stabilizing through the core, arms and the fixed leg. While pulling the knee back in, avoid lifting the other knee farther away from the floor or rounding the back.
Why: This exercise builds on the other two table plank exercises, giving more range through one extremity and creating more stability throughout the rest of the body. Proper mechanics in this movement allow for greater hip mobility and pelvic stability. Think of sitting in the saddle on the bike and the legs pushing through effortlessly. Also, while swimming, you want that full length from the hip flexor while maintaining a constant lift through the core.
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Your Next TriathlonCriss Cross
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Setup: Lie on your back with your legs in a tabletop position (at a 90-degree angle from the hip and 90-degree bend in the knees). Lift your head and chest and place your hands behind your head. Interlace your fingers so as to fully support the neck and head.
Move: Inhale to begin. Exhale and extend one leg, rotating the upper body towards the opposite bent knee. Inhale to center. Exhale and repeat to the other side. Do 6 to 8 reps.
Think: Keep your elbows slightly bent and your shoulders away from your ears so the whole upper girdle can support itself into flexion. Think of holding an orange between your chin and chest so as not to squash the orange (too much neck flexion) or let the orange fall (too much neck extension). Reach the leg at approximately a 45-degree angle—too low and the focus becomes about the hip flexor and lower back rather than the core. Keep your hips still as you move through rotation and try to keep your shoulders off the ground. Think of using your ribs like a wet towel wringing out around the spine.
Why: Proper flexion is important in all three of the triathlon disciplines. Both cycling and swimming require a "lift" through the abdominals—in cycling to support yourself in the saddle and in swimming so the back and legs don't sag. Too much extension in your upright stance while running will disrupt efficient output forward, as well as disrupt efficiency of breath. This move allows support for controlled movement of the upper and lower body in a dynamic pattern. The rotation in this move also allows for more thoracic mobility that is required in all three disciplines.
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Your Next TriathlonModified Femur Arcs
Beginner Exercise for Criss Cross 7 of 10
Setup: Lie on your back with your legs in a tabletop position (at a 90-degree angle from the hip and 90-degree bend in the knees). Lift your head and chest and place your hands behind your head. Interlace your fingers so as to fully support the neck and head.
Move: Staying in the chest lift position, inhale to hinge one table top leg down to the mat (hinging from the hip and keeping the 90-degree angle knee) and tap the foot. Exhale to bring the leg back to tabletop. Inhale and repeat with the other leg. Exhale to bring that leg up. Keep alternating sides. Do 6 to 10 reps.
Think: Keep your elbows slightly bent and your shoulders away from your ears so the whole upper girdle can support itself into flexion. Think of holding an orange between your chin and chest so as not to squash the orange (too much neck flexion) or let the orange fall (too much neck extension). Keep connected through the core by imagining arrows drawn on your stomach from all directions—from the ribs, sternum, sides of your waist and pubic bone—all pointing in towards the belly button. Try not to let go completely through the inhale. Keep your back and the back of your rib cage pushing into the mat.
Why: If the dynamic motion of the Criss Cross is too hard to manage at this point, this modified exercise is a great way to get that deep flexion and breath work while controlling movement in the legs.
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Your Next TriathlonProne Shoulders - T-Arms
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Setup: Lie face down with the back of your neck lengthened (tuck your chin in slightly). You can also put a small towel under your forehead. Spread your legs slightly apart and make sure your pubic bone is tucked into the mat so as to avoid excessive lower back tension.
Move : This movement can also be done over an exercise ball. Begin with your arms out in T position in line with your shoulders. Make a fist with your thumbs pointingup to the ceiling. Reaching long through the arms, inhale and send your arms up slightly. Exhale and bring your arms down. Do 6 to 8 reps.
Think: Keep the same width across the front of your chest and in the back across your shoulders. Maintain the feeling of being lifted up through the abdominals. Feel your breath throughout. Keep tension out of your lower back and avoid movement through your legs.
Why: Keeping your shoulders in their "home" position is so important through sports like cycling and running. These exercises work postural muscles, such as the scapula stabilizers and lower trapezius. Keeping the intricate muscular system through your back and shoulders in sync and in synergy will give fluidity to your upper body through runs—think less tension in your upper traps. It is also incredibility important to maintain complete shoulder health through swimming. Posture and an aligned body system is the best way to avoid injury.
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Your Next TriathlonProne Shoulders - Extension
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Setup: Lie face down with the back of your neck lengthened (tuck your chin in slightly). You can also put a small towel under your forehead. Spread your legs slightly apart and make sure your pubic bone is tucked into the mat so as to avoid excessive lower back tension.
Move : Begin with your arms by your sides, your palms facing up to the ceilingyou're your shoulders in a straight line (not collapsed to the floor). Inhale and push your palms up the ceiling. Exhale and bring your arms down. Do 6 to 8 reps.
Think: Keep the same width across the front of your chest and in the back across your shoulders. Maintain the feeling of being lifted up through the abdominals. Feel your breath throughout. Keep tension out of your lower back and avoid movement through your legs.
Why: Keeping your shoulders in their "home" position is so important through sports like cycling and running. These exercises work postural muscles, such as the scapula stabilizers and lower trapezius. Keeping the intricate muscular system through your back and shoulders in sync and in synergy will give fluidity to your upper body through runs—think less tension in your upper traps. It is also incredibility important to maintain complete shoulder health through swimming. Posture and an aligned body system is the best way to avoid injury.
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