Hi Everyone
Using movement and exercise for mobility and general health has been a strong message before our current situation and its even more important now that we're spending time inside.
Making activity fun and giving yourself time get used to new exercise forms will build a solid base to work from. This month's blog (below) is about walking, which is great maintaining a healthy heart and lungs. I'm also offering online Pilates classes with emphasis on core strength to improve overall fitness.
All the best, and keep safe.
Phil
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Pilates mat classes via Zoom
Mondays 10-11am
Fridays 3-4pm
£8 per class or pay what you can via bank transfer
Personalised Pilates & Movement Assessment
Available by appointment, £45/hr
Book via text or email
07818 242 713
phil@philipbishop.co.uk
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Spring in your Step
About 1.89 million years ago Homo erectus evolved. Our ancestors were making the transition from quadruped to biped, from all fours to roaming the Savanna.
A stable gait requires step-to-step repeatable walking that’s resilient to external and internal perturbations. For external perturbations think uneven ground or spotting a large predator in the long grass; for internal perturbations the amble home after too long in the pub while texting.
It takes about two years or more for a child to develop their independent gait pattern. With our hands free and our line of sight raised, we humans are well equipped to travel through and adapt to our environment.
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Spring it on!
When we walk and run, energy is stored and released in the tendons and connective tissues. Interestingly, it is estimated that nearly 50% of the total mechanical energy of our body is stored in the tendon and arch of the foot during stance phase (weight bearing) when running.
Through this use of the tendons and connective tissues we greatly enhance the efficiency of our movements.
Walking and thinking
Studies have shown a change in gait pattern when a simultaneous cognitive task is introduced. We tend to slow down when listening or thinking, and we often do this by increasing our stride length.
Cognitive function is linked to quality of movement, and we now know that movement and exercise has positive effects on the brain. Our nervous systems are continually adaptive. It is thought that this link between physical activity and brain health traces back to our development as hunter-gatherers.
Thinking and walking
The Hippocampus is the area of the brain made famous by the London cabbies, you will remember they have large ones due to using their memory to map the streets, rather than using Google maps. It is also associated with memory difficulties and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
People who spend more time engaged in moderate to vigorous physical exercise have been shown to have larger hippocampal volumes. Orienteering (running and navigating) may be the holy grail for brain health.
Meanwhile the rest of us should take the stairs and walk whenever possible to help maintain our mental and physical health.
Walk strong
The arms and trunk provide stability and balance during walking. Sarcopenia or age related loss of skeletal muscle and strength affects walking. When we lack strength to stabilise and balance we have to alter how we walk. Lack of posterior hip strength can lead to the forward trunk position sometimes seen in the elderly.
By maintaining our trunk and hip strength we can maintain our quality of movement and walking. This can be done effectively in the quadruped position.
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Trunk Exercise
Superman
- On all fours with hands underneath your shoulders and knees under hips.
- Slide your left hand forward along the floor and your right foot back along the floor.
- Focus on what’s happening in your trunk eg;
Limiting excessive spinal movement and weight shift as you move your limbs.
As you are confident that you have trunk stability the limbs can be raised parallel to the floor.
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Hip & Trunk Stability
Dog & lamp post
- Holding the quadruped position with your knees together.
- Maintain your torso stability eg: ribs slightly lifted and broad between your shoulder blades.
- Raise one leg with the knee staying bent out to the side.
Lower then repeat opposite side.
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Thinking Feet
Proprioception or kinesthesia is the body’s ability to sense its location, movement and actions. Practice balance and stimulation of the feet:
- Balancing on one foot.
- Rolling the foot on a tennis ball.
- Griping the ball with the toes.
- Drawing the big toe back with your hand or by raising your heel with the ball of the foot on the floor.
- Raising your big toe with the rest of your foot on the floor.
- Caterpillars - lying on back with your knees bent at 90 degrees and your feet flat on a wall.
Feet are parallel and hip width apart. Draw your heels up the wall using your toes arching your feet. Flatten the foot and repeat to caterpillar your feet up the wall then reverse back down to 90 degrees at the knee.
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Dynamic Stretching of the Lower leg
Heel and toe walk
Feet hip width apart and parallel.
Place one heel forward then lower your front foot and straighten the front leg.
Raise your back heel to the ball of foot then to the tip of the big toe.
Move the back foot forward and place your heel on the floor.
 
 
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