Month: April 2021

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Pilates Reformer Short Spine Massage vs Long Spine Massage

I’m practicing Romana’s classical Reformer order this month. I loved having a whole month of the classical Mat order, and I wanted to keep it going. As I’m teaching and practicing the work, my client asks about the difference between the Short Spine Massage and the Long Spine Massage. They are similar in the benefits of getting mobility of the spine.

Last month I showed The Bicycle & Scissors up on a foam roller for low bone density.

The Short Spine Massage and Long Spine Massage are the same concepts. Finding the open chest and scapular stability in the upper body. They both are meant to strengthen abdominals, hamstrings, glutes and increase the flexibility of the spine and hamstrings while improving spinal alignment & balancing the spinal musculature. 

Both exercises are inversions where we have our feet in the straps. The straps are a great way to support the body to come into the position.      

They are both advanced movements where you’d want to have hamstring flexibility, be good with spinal flexion, and have no neck issues. 

I now modify for low bone density and do the leg choreography leaving the inversion out. I’m going to try it with my hips elevated on a yoga block to get that same inversion feeling but in a safe way similar to the hips up on a foam roller for the Mat Bicycle and Scissors. The footbar up can be helpful to get your feet in straps, just make sure the headrest is down. 

Here are some differences between the two:

Short Spine MassageLong Spine Massage
Regular strapsLong Straps (short loop on the shoulder rest)
Springs: RY-RR (I was taught that lighter uses more core) Go heavier if you are larger or stiff in your body.  Springs: RB-3R
More flexibility through the upper backMore flexibility through the lower back
Leg Choreography: Combo of lift/lower & frogs from feet in straps workLeg Choreography: Like rollover in Mat work, where at the top of the inversion you open the legs shoulder-width and roll down. You’d then reverse it.
Carriage stays moving as you go up.Beginner: Let the carriage bring you up
For more advanced, the carriage stays still as you roll up and down, either keep the carriage in or with the carriage held out (harder).
It’s keeping it still wherever you start at rolling up & rolling down.
Add on the hinge at the hips once at the top, bring the legs back towards the risers keeping the pelvis still then take the legs towards the footbar, then release down.
Progress to high frog and there’s an airplane version too!  

The straps and springs vary depending on what Reformer you are working on. 

These are to be avoided or limited with pregnancy, low back injuries, neck injuries, high blood pressure, eye problems, overweight individuals, and those with osteoporosis. 

I don’t typically teach these since the majority of my clients have some combination of the conditions above, including me with low bone density!  

Pre osteopenia diagnosis at my old house in Round Rock, TX

As I watch myself doing this exercise I see how much my body isn’t wanting to articulate fully and the roll-down part looks a bit like a whole chunk of my back coming down at the end.

Preparing to go up into Long Spine Massage.

Made it up!
Opening the legs.
Coming back down.

These photos are of me performing Long Spine Massage during my training days.

Back to the “Classical Reformer Order” I’ve listed the exercises and have “Reformer on the Mat” videos in the works! Check out the standing warm-up video below.   

Breathing w/arm lifts (inhale lift the arms, exhale lower) 3x 

Knee bends or Plies (focus on leg alignment, posture & abdominal control) 10x

This list below is modified for low bone density. I leave out the rounded forward flexion and inversion exercises or sub them out with the low bone density safe variations.

  1. Breathing supine: I like to add a pelvic clock here 
  2. Bridging 3x  
  3. Footwork 10x full sequence: I’ll be using a resistance band to mimic footwork on the Reformer
  4. The 100: Head down with the option to use a resistance band or dowel instead of arm straps
  5. Coordination: head down 6x
  6. Short Spine Massage 6x: No inversion, leg lowers & frogs in the resistance band
  7. Hug a tree 10x: I’ll use a resistance band or weights
  8. Stomach Massage: Chest up, may use a ball, roller, or just slide the feet out and in.
  9. Short Box Abs – 3-4x: Hinge back vs round back; gentle oblique version and possible climb a tree hold version.
  10. Long stretch 4x: Plank adding in flex and point
  11. Up stretch
  12. Down stretch: Using a roller for this one is so much fun! 
  13. Elephant 6x: Walking Elephant on the mat 
  14. Semi-circle 6x each direction: May use a fitness ball or play with bridging variations
  15. Long spine massage 3x each direction: No inversion, sub leg circles with a band
  16. Knee Stretch: Flatback and Jackrabbit 4-8x
  17. Running in place 25x: We can come up to run it out on this one!
  18. Pelvic Lift 10x: fitness ball and bridging variations
  19. Standing 6x each side: Resistance band work. 
  20. Rowing Front 1 – Flatback 4x: Resistance band or lightweights
  21. Mermaid 3x 

Finish: Sit on the side of the Reformer, hinge forward to stretch the back. HInge the spine back up & rise to stand.

I’ll be teaching this sequence Reformer revised to the Mat, next Saturday 4/24 at 3:00 PM CST in my monthly virtual community class! Link to join.

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Happy April! March MATness was a blast, here’s the last 5 exercise tutorials & full playlist.

I had so much fun posting March MATness last month. Here are the last 5 exercise tutorials to finish off March MATness 2021!

  • March 27th: The Boomerang –Strengthen your core & hip flexors while increasing the flexibility of your hamstrings & shoulders. Improve balance too!
  • March 28th: The Seal & Crab – Improve balance and get a stretch
  • March 29th: The Rocking – Strengthen the back body while stretching your front body
  • March 30th: The Control Balance – Develop core strength & control while stretching your hamstrings
  • March 31st: The Push Up – Strengthen your entire body!

March 27 – The Boomerang: 4 reps

SETUP: I start seated with one leg crossed over the other. Get up on sit bones, get the pelvis aligned and everything stacked. 

MOVEMENT: Instead of the rolling down part of this exercise, I hinge back, come down onto my elbows then I plank down taking my arms out to the sides as I go for support to keep lengthened in my spine vs rounding down.

Instead of the roll-over part of the exercise, I do the prep. Widening through the collarbones and allowing the shoulder blades to glide down the legs come up to the ceiling. The pelvis rolls away from your head and back towards you to get the hoovering feeling and abdominals active.

Instead of crossing the legs while in the rollover, I play with crossing my legs while my pelvis is down. Scissor, scissor, open. 

I roll to the side to come up and find my teaser position. I choose the elbow down variation.

I lower my legs and find the chest opening with my palms together clasped behind my back. I open up and stay lifted vs rounding forward. 

RECAP:

  • Sitting tall with one leg crossed over
  • Hinge back to plank down
  • Rollover prep & scissors
  • Teaser
  • Chest opening staying lifted through the spine

March 28 – The Seal & Crab: 4-8 reps

The Seal & Crab are both rolling exercises. For low bone density we can play with the balance for The Seal or do a figure 4 stretch and we can do a modified version of the Crab and play with legs crossed.

SETUP SEAL: seated with knees bent, hands under thighs.  

MOVEMENT: hinge back, find the curl of just the tail, and unweight your feet to come to a balance. Hands move onto the ankles while you keep lengthened through the spine and open in the chest. Feet come together to clap 3 times.

STRETCH: Come down onto your back for a figure 4 stretch if the balance is too much.

CRAB: Try to cross both legs after the figure 4 stretch if it’s comfortable for the knees.

Switch the legs to cross the other way. 

The other idea to modify is to sit and stand from the cross-legged position without rounding in the spine. (Only if your knees are ok with this)!

March 29 – The Rocking: 4-6 reps

I’m showing the one-arm rocking modification for low bone density that I learned from Sherri Betz. It’ll be a good quad stretch.  

SETUP: I come down onto my belly placing my forehead down, try to keep knees in toward midline while trying to keep my hip down. 

MOVEMENT: Reach the arm back long as you bend the knee to find your foot. If you can’t reach you can use a resistance band.

I think about my upper arm externally rotated and open.

See if you can lift up the thigh a bit.

PROGRESSION: Come up onto the forearm to get some upper back extension and opening through the front of the chest. I’m still anchoring down into my pelvis.

Try to lift using breath and feel the low belly helping to take the ribs off and leg up with the arm straight. 

March 30 – The Control Balance

I start with the rollover prep that is the safe low bone density option for inversions.

I scissor one leg towards me and find a place that is comfortable for me to pull my leg in as I use a sniffing inhale breath to pull in twice and an exhale to switch the legs. It’s the single straight leg stretch.

It’s a combo move that you can play around with alternating the 2 exercises to make it your low bone density control balance!

March 31 – The Push Up

Standing, breathing in as the arms rise up, hip hinge down to grab weighs if you like. I play around with an overhead press and hip hinge back down to set the weights down.

I walk out into a plank and show push-up bars for those who may have wrist issues. I also show using weights.

  • Option 1 is to hold the plank
  • Option 2 knees down to perform push-ups
  • Option 3 pushups from plank
  • Option 4 forearm plank with shoulder blade pushups

Coming back up, pike or down dog to then walk the hands back in

Complete list of March MATness low bone density safe Pilates exercises to use as a reference for your personal practice.

PROPS: These are all the props I used throughout the tutorials so you are able to gather them before your practice.  

  • Bath towel folded or small pillow
  • Rolled up small hand towel
  • Yardstick or dowel for tying on your back – or you can stick it in your shirt
  • Resistance bands
  • Foam Roller or small ball (can use rolled-up bath towel) 
  • A yoga block or thick books 
  • Push up bars
  • Ankle weights
  • Light hand weights
  1. The Hundred – head down 10 reps
    • option to add 2lb ball weights & 5lb ankle weights
  2. The Roll-Up – hinge back keeping neutral 3-6 reps
    • option to sit on a towel, yardstick tied to back & resistance band for rows 
  3. The Roll Over – rollover prep 
    • legs together to go up & open legs at the top to come down. Reverse it after 3.  
  4. The One Leg Circle – Small & large 4-8 each way
    • option to use a resistance band
  5. Rolling Back 6-10 reps
    • balance modification keeping a neutral pelvis (can use yardstick) and allowing a slight curl of the tailbone. 
    • bridge curling from the tail to get the “rolling” motion. 
  6. The One Leg Stretch – head down 8-12 sets
    • towel under my head, rolled up sticky under lumbar, 5lb ankle weights
  7. The Double Leg Stretch – head down 3-6 reps
    • option to use a low back support
  8. The Spine Stretch – hinge forward 4-8 reps
    • yardstick with resistance bands up on a towel
  9. Rocker with Open Legs – 4-8 reps
    • balance modification w/yardstick
  10. The Corkscrew
    • Low back support
  11. The Saw – 4-6 sets
    • Lean back version
  12. The Swan-Dive 3-6 reps
    • Towel under hips
  13. The One Leg Kick 6-10 sets
  14. The Double Kick 3-6 sets
  15. The Neck Pull 3-6 reps – hinge back w/yardstick
  16. The Scissors & Bicycle 4-6 reps on the roller or rolled-up towel 
  17. The Shoulder Bridge – 3-4 sets 
  18. The Spine Twist 4-8 sets knees bent option
  19. The Jack Knife 3-4 reps – resistance band under hips
  20. The Side Kick 6-10 reps 
  21. The Teaser modified 3-6 reps
    • Elbow start position
    • Hands start position
  22. The Hip Twist 3-6 reps
  23. Swimming 15-25 sets
  24. The Leg Pull Front 4-6 sets
    • The leg Pull Back 4-6 sets
  25. The Side Kick Kneeling 6-8 sets
  26. The Side Bend 4-6 sets 
  27. The Boomerang 4 reps
  28. The Seal & Crab 4-8 reps
  29. The Rocking 4-6 reps
  30. The Control Balance – rollover prep w/single straight leg
  31. The Push Up 1-3 sets 

Check out my photo collage of all the exercises!

View the entire playlist below and of course, skip through if you know the exercise because it’s over an hour and a half of content!

I filmed a zoom class that goes through the entire sequence for a better flow. Let me know if you’d be interested in that option vs watching through the tutorials.

April is all about the growing season & when trees and flowers begin to “open”.

My home Pilates studio has also grown to include a wall tower which can offer up 95% of the exercises you can do on a full Cadillac. This new addition will surely grow my home practice and allow so much more variety in exercises. I’m playing around using the Reformer and Tower together, also known as RTC (Reformer Tower Combo) which is really a cool double spring effect where you just feel everything working! Springs from the Reformer carriage as well as springs from the Tower are quite challenging and fun!

Here’s a tour if you didn’t catch it on my Instagram page @michiko.myers.

 

Weather is nice out and I’ve got a poll below for locals input! Thanks, Michiko