Strength Training on the Ball: A Pilates Approach to Optimal Strength and Balance

325 Pages·2005·7.56 MB·English

by  Colleen Craig

Acknowledgments
Two key pieces of luck have blessed my career. In 1997 I was introduced to Stott
Pilates by Moira Stott-Merrithew, an outstanding Pilates teacher and director of
what has now become one of the most important Pilates certification centers in
the world. When I wasn’t training with Moira, I worked with other talented
teachers and colleagues: Beth Evans, Mariane Braaf, Syl Klotz, Elaine Biagi-
Turner, Connie Di Salvo, Laura Helsel, and Danielle Belec. My luck in
intercepting with all these outstanding teachers and colleagues at a time in my
life when I was searching for a new direction astonishes me. The second piece of
luck has to do with the intersection of my life with the ball. I am most grateful to
Dayna Gutru, Gloria Miller, and their associates at Ball Dynamics International
for supporting my work. I also want to thank Donna Micallef, Contance Rennett,
the staff at Know Your Body Best in Toronto, and Dr. Nevio Cosani and the
Cosani family in Italy.
I have had the good fortune of seeing the ball worked to tremendous
advantage in many different places. Either in person, or through their books or
tapes, the following exercise ball teachers and movement professionals have
been instrumental in my understanding of the ball: Joanne Posner-Mayer,
Ninoska Gómez, Rick Jemmett, Mari Naumovski, Cheryl Soleway, Trish Scott,
Beate Carrière, and Paul Chek. Many people worked tirelessly to make sure my
workshops abroad took off without a hitch and I would like to take this
opportunity to thank them. In Italy: Paola del Fabbro and Enrico Ceron; in
Zagreb: Asja Petersen, Rozi Dragicevic, and Sandra Ukalovic; in Hungary, Lajos
Rozsavolgyi and his colleagues Mikail, Evette, Bea, and Eva; and in South
Africa: Daniella Smoller of Thera Med and Christell Botes. Lately, I was
reminded of an image I had of Poland before I made that trip: a dated vision of a
rosycheeked woman with a kerchief tied at her chin. That in no way fitted with
the participants in their designer sweats and sports bras, packing their oversized
gym bags. Many thanks to Anita and Kamilla of Meden-Inmed for hosting the
Warsaw and Krakow workshops and making sure ninety balls were blown up in
the shortest time possible. Finally a warm thanks to my South American
collegues: Maria Del Huerto Segura in Argentina and Renato Daher and Maira
Antas in Brazil. Please invite me back soon.
I had never in my wildest dreams planned to make a career out of balls. My
dreams for myself were about living in the world of books, not balls. Yet
somehow my dreams have been realized, though not in the way I might have
predicted. Pilates on the Ball is not only selling well but being translated into
different languages! My second book, Abs on the Ball, is also being translated. I
have no one to thank for these miracles but the tireless efforts of staff members
at Healing Arts Press for successfully launching these books into the world.
There would be no final product without Susan Davidson, my outstanding editor.
Susan made the editing process on all three books painless—even enjoyable.
Thanks to Peri Champine for creating the sensational covers, Jon Graham for
believing (with Susan) in my work from the beginning, Jeanie Levitan for
handling the endless details, and Rob Meadows and the rest of the design,
production, and marketing teams at Healing Arts Press. I would also like to
extend my thanks to Tara Persaud and Alan Zweig at Ten Speed Press and my
agent, David Johnston.
Others have contributed to the completion of this book. Mari Naumovski of
BodySpheres read the manuscript and gave much feedback; Claire Letemendia’s
expert editorial assistance greatly helped shape the manuscript; and physical
therapist Dr. Miroslaw Kokosz supplied expertise and comment on this book. I
am very grateful to Kevin Stoski, my nieces Lyndsey and Lauren Welch, and to
my mother, Lorraine Craig, for agreeing to appear in the photos in this book.
Thanks to Jody Stoski of Cinnamon Girl for the great makeup. Many thanks to
David Scollard for his wonderful photography, Laraine Arsenault for the
illustrations and preparing the artwork, and Robert Barnett for providing great
additional images. Thanks to Russ Parker and Insiya Rasiwala of Lululemon
Athletica for donating the beautiful clothing and yoga mats that appear in this
book.
E-mails pour in weekly from teachers and students from around the world:
unsolicited testimonials about what the ball means to them, how it has changed
how they exercised, and how they taught others to exercise—thank you for your
responses to this work. I am blessed with very loyal Toronto students and send
them many, many thanks. Finally, I am most grateful for the steady, loving
support of my friends and family, Laurie Colbert and Dominque Cardona for
filming my video, and especially Lynne Viola (and Monty) for love and support
over the years.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Function Versus Strength
Liuda’s Story
Recovering Function and Strength
Connecting the Dots: A Pilates Approach
Not a Recipe Book
1. The Ball and The Method
Aquilino’s Story
The Pilates Method: Over Ninety Years Old and Growing Strong
Why Pilates-Based Ballwork?
Check-In: Getting Started
2. Breathing and Releasing
Maria’s Story: Freeing the Rib Cage
The Three-Dimensional Breath
Rest As You Go: An Italian Story
The Breathing Exercises
Ball Breathing • Chest Opener with Arm Circles • Breathing and The
Hundred
Check-In: The Right Ball for You
3. Stability Before Strength
Dawn’s Story: Achieving “Moving Stability”
“Big Engines” Versus “Control Engines”
Nervous-System Error
The Pre-Pilates Stabilizing Exercises
Navel-to-Spine • Tailbone Curls • Pelvic Floor and Knee-Lift Stabilizing
Exercise • Heel Slides and Single-Leg Circles • Scapula Isolation and
Rib Cage Stability • Half Roll-Downs with Resistance Band
Check-In: The Work of Attention
4. Strength Training, Posture, and Balance
Arthur’s Story
Posture: Staying in Line with Gravity
Uncovering a New Neutral Spine
Strength Training and Balance
The Footwork
The Footwork Exercises • Squats with and without Weights • Single-Leg
Footwork and Lunges
Check-In: Balance Tests and Postural Assessment
5. The Abdominals: The Powerhouse to Strength
Cindy’s Story: Activating the Elevator at the Base of the Powerhouse
The Powerhouse: A Three-Dimensional Cylinder
Crunches Versus Curls
The Key Powerhouse Builders
Pelvic-Floor Elevator • Knee-Lift Stabilizing Exercise • Abdominal
Curls • The Roll-up • Single-and Double-Leg Stretches • Oblique Twists
• With the Small Ball • Ab Curls on the Ball • Abdominal Challenges •
Side-Twist Plank with Leg Lift
Check-In: Dieting Blues
6. Strength Training and Antiaging
The Long Slow Goodbye of Aging
The Antiaging Benefits of Strength Training
Osteoporosis—The Silent Bone Saboteur
Light Versus Heavy Weights
The Pilates-Based Arm Work
Ball as Bench • On the Belly • Bicep Curls/Wrist Curls • Side-Lying Arm
Work • Sitting on the Ball with Weights
Check-In: Weight Training and Women
7. Strength Versus Flexibility
My Summer Yoga Class
Stressful Lives, Stressed Bodies
Functional Flexibility
Band and Ball Stretches
Single-Leg Stretch Series • Inner Thigh Stretch • Hip Stretch • Spinal
Twist • Hip-Flexor Stretch • Kneeling Hamstring Stretch with Ball • The
Tabletop and Quad Stretch
Check-In: How Are You Doing?
8. Rebuilding Strength
Sadie’s Story—Battling a Crippler
The Science of Back Pain
Extreme Sports and Weekend Warriors
The Resistance-Band Exercises
Sitting on the Ball: Upper Body • On the Mat: Lower Body • Extensions
• Roll Downs with Pull
Check-In: Treating Your Low-Back Pain
Options and Home Care for Low-Back Pain
9. Recovering Strength and Playfulness in Youth
One in Four: A Page from a Teen’s Diary
Out-of-Shape Kids
Balls in Schools
Hyperactive Kids and the Ball
Strength Exercises for Children and Teens
Sitting • Extensions and Airplane • On Elbows • Side Star • Throw and
Catch • Ball Squat for Two • Teaser for Two • Balance Test
Check-In: Solutions for Inactive Families
10. Strength Training for Older Adults
A Tolstoyan Story
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Aging
Older Adults and Exercise
Sitting and Pelvic Movements • Resistance-Band Arm Work • Bridges •
Planks • Hamstring Curls with Two Balls
Check-In: Posture Control and How to Complement Your Strength
Workout
Final Words
Workout 1: Restorative Strength Training
Workout 2: Basic Strength Training
Workout 3: Intermediate Strength Training
Resources
Ball and Video Ordering Information
Also by Colleen Craig
About the Author
About Inner Traditions
Books of Related Interest
Copyright
Introduction
Function Versus Strength
If I were a Bengal tiger I would hope my prey was big on bulk and
small on function.
—Paul Chek, founder, Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiology
Liuda’s Story
I set out for the outskirts of Moscow at midday. The subway was a standing-
room-only crush. Elbows were loose; I felt one in my back. At one stop three
market women squeezed in front of me and rolled their waist-high sack of
potatoes over my toes.
I could not read the Russian signs so I began to count the stops on my fingers.
My friend Liuda, short for Liudmila, lived in one of the sprawling, boxlike
Khrushchev-era apartment complexes in outer Moscow and I wondered what I
would find when I arrived there. Liuda, sixty, had not left her flat once in five
months. On a frigid December day the previous year, she fell on the ice and
fractured her right hip.
I recalled the last time I saw her a couple of years back. After nearly three
hours at her table, I was escorted back to the metro by Liuda, a recently retired
yet youthful, indefatigable hostess. Now it was my turn to give back. A hip break
at her age was dire. Statistics show that hip fractures in her age group and older
can lead to loss of independence, a move to nursing homes, or even early deaths.
Usually with hip fractures—especially femoral neck fractures such as Liuda had
—surgery occurs in the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours after the injury and
the goal of postoperative care is to get the patient up and moving as quickly as
possible. This is not what had happened. Because her unlucky fall occurred so
close to Russian New Year’s Eve celebrations and drunk fêtes, she had to wait an
unimaginable twenty days before an operation, her right leg kept immobile in a
cast. After the operation—in which Liuda had a pin inserted with a clang she
could hear but not feel—she eventually returned to her apartment and had been
homebound and chair bound since then. The only news I had from her was one
long-distance call. Doctors “told her nothing,” she said, and numerous friends
who had never had hip operations “offered much advice.” A friend, who had
read somewhere that no movement could lead to blood clots and other