Pilates Ring.. Do you use it?

[laurajhawk]

Originally Posted by fuzzie

Yes! I use mine to hold my stability ball or barre balls

Oh, great idea!
I also bought one for the Pure Barre Lowry Loft workout, which I'm not using. I think the ring must be behind the meditation chair with, um, some other stuff.

[Gancho Girl]

Originally Posted by fuzzie

Now that's interesting! I like the idea of using the ring to maintain proper alignment and muscle engagement without all that squeezing (I feel the same way about using the ball in barre workouts too - the squeezing just seems like an easy way to make the workout "killer" without any real purpose or creativity).

Precisely!! Try this: A basic ring squeeze with your thighs.

The way I've seen it a thousand times - ring between your legs, just above knee height. Now squeeze the life out of it.

How I do it now - making sure you maintain neural spine, as you exhale focus on bringing your sit bones together, getting the muscles to wrap around the thigh. Use the imagery of the wrapping if it helps. To check if this is happening, put your hands in the crease where your thigh meets the front of the pelvis; if you're wrapping from the glutes, you'll feel the muscles engage under your hands. As you inhale, release the pressure frmo the ring by widening the sit bones.

You'll still feel your inner thighs work, but rather than squeezing the ring to try to make it an oval, the change in the ring's shape should be quite small.

Experiment with that and report back...

[pumptmuscle]

I have a dvd on my trade list that has a pilates ring workout and a foam roller workout if anyone's interested.

[sherry7899]

A generous VF'er gave me hers when she did not use it.....then I barely used it and gave it away to another VF'er. It was hard to find a box for mailing for that thing! I can't even remember who I got it from in the first place.
Sherry

[alisoncooks]

Originally Posted by sherry7899

A generous VF'er gave me hers when she did not use it.....then I barely used it and gave it away to another VF'er. It was hard to find a box for mailing for that thing! I can't even remember who I got it from in the first place.
Sherry

Funny enough, I never used mine so I sold it on yayas a few years ago.... and lo' and behold, went back to the store and bought another exactly like it a year or so later.... (um, and I reacquired all my pilates ring dvds, b/c I'd parted with them, too.)

[TinaT]

I checked out BG newest releases at Mary's site and I must say, they look like some of her best routines yet. For the price, you get a nice variety to choose from as well. These have definitely gone on my wishlist at the exchange.

[lreidgreen]

Originally Posted by fuzzie

Yes! I use mine to hold my stability ball or barre balls

What a great idea! I never use my ring for its intended use. Maybe I will get rid of my step and risers. I think the only thing preventing me from selling it is that I use the risers to hold my stability ball (which I also never use come to think of it!) So much equipment collecting dust.. that's what happens when you get into kettlebells.

Leslie

ETA: I have the winsor pilates advanced sculpting circle workout on share the wealth.

[hotncmom]

I've been doing a bit more Pilates lately, using the ring with the Winsor 20 minute circle workout and the new Bernadette Giorgi Live DVD (one of the workouts is a circle w/o).

[workoutjunkie]

I use mine when I do KV's Total Body Training, but that's about the only time. However, I may start to use it when other instructors such as Cathe squeeze a stability ball between their legs for inner thigh work.

[fuzzie]

Originally Posted by Gancho Girl

Precisely!! Try this: A basic ring squeeze with your thighs.

The way I've seen it a thousand times - ring between your legs, just above knee height. Now squeeze the life out of it.

How I do it now - making sure you maintain neural spine, as you exhale focus on bringing your sit bones together, getting the muscles to wrap around the thigh. Use the imagery of the wrapping if it helps. To check if this is happening, put your hands in the crease where your thigh meets the front of the pelvis; if you're wrapping from the glutes, you'll feel the muscles engage under your hands. As you inhale, release the pressure frmo the ring by widening the sit bones.

You'll still feel your inner thighs work, but rather than squeezing the ring to try to make it an oval, the change in the ring's shape should be quite small.

Experiment with that and report back...

That is really wonderful. Thank you GG!

In my earlier post I forgot to mention that I sometimes substitute the ring when instructors use the large stability ball, which I find too big/bulky/heavy for some moves. For instance, in the original Dream Body workout, Darby does a long series with the stability ball and I found that the ring worked much better for me - better hip alignment, less pressure on my back, etc.