| Whether you are a novice rower, seasoned rowing | | | | spinal flexibility. |
| veteran, or gym erger, maintaining and improving the | | | | Shoulder Bridge |
| articulation of your spine is important in supporting your | | | | 1. Lie on your back on the mat. |
| fitness goals and overall health and wellness. | | | | 2. Place your feet a hand and a half away from your |
| It is specifically important when it comes to rowing | | | | glutes, hip width apart. |
| because more of the time spent in your stroke is with | | | | 3. Begin at your tailbone and start lifting your pelvis up |
| your spine in flexion, curved forward towards your | | | | thinking about lifting up one vertebrae at a time. Stop |
| legs. It is the thoracic region of your spine in rowing that | | | | when your hips are lifted to the point that your |
| we are most concerned with, an area which is | | | | shoulder and knee make a straight line. |
| normally one of the already less well articulated | | | | 4. Feel energy reaching from your hip to your knee, like |
| regions, from your bottom rib up to your collar bone. A | | | | your knees are stretching to the opposite wall. Make |
| nimble spine is important for preventing low back pain | | | | sure you are pressing your triceps, shoulder and upper |
| and injury as well as posture. | | | | back firmly into the mat. |
| The analogy I like to use in thinking of the spine is a | | | | 5. As you prepare to come back down to the mat, |
| strand of pearls. Each vertebrae is one of the pearls in | | | | envision your spine like a strand of pearls. Start at your |
| a strand that is being placed down from the head to | | | | breast bone, draw your ribs together, and drop one |
| the tail bone. Below is a Pilates exercise for you to | | | | vertebrae at a time down on the mat, trying to pull |
| incorporate into your routine to aid in working on your | | | | your tailbone closer to your heels. |