This exercise opens the hip joint (the front of the hip), while your deep core muscles stabilize your pelvis building core and lower back strength. You will lengthen your lower back muscles and force increasing demand on your abdominals as you move.

Directions:

Start sitting on your sitz (butt) bones, feet hip distance apart, knees bent. Feet flat. Curve your torso forward creating a capital “C” from your tailbone to your head. Look down between your knees, arms directly forward, shoulders relaxed. 

INHALE to prepare.

EXHALE to roll entire upper body backwards, keeping your feet flat.

INHALE to return to the starting position.

Breathing:

• inhale through your nose, taking the air into your back

• exhale out your mouth as if you are squeezing the air out of your lungs

Creating Stability:

• stabilizes the spine in a curve (flexion).

• stabilizes the scapula (shoulder blades) down your back.

Creating Mobility:

• mobilizes pelvis in relation to your femurs (upper leg bone).

Target Muscles:

• engaging your pelvic floor muscles (zipping) assists your deepest core muscle (transversus abdominus) to do its job.

• your oblique muscles fire together to maintain the curve in the spine.

• your rectus muscles support the curve.

Tips:

• work to pull your navel deeply into your spine throughout the whole exercise so you maintain the abdominal connection.

• roll backwards only as far as you can keep your feet flat.

• maintain the “C” curve in your spine the whole time. It never flattens out.

Why:

This exercise gets you to flex (bend) through your spine creating mobility and strength through your lower back. Your deep core muscles are supporting the torso while the bulk of your body weight is rolled back of your sitz bones or ‘off center’ so those core muscles work like crazy. The movement promotes lengthening through your low back, elongating and stretching those muscles.