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Golfers, take note! Spine Twist is of the best Pilates exercises you can do to increase the flexibility and strength of your spine in rotation and improve your Pilates for golf practice. This will help you improve the power of your swing safely and effectively. Pilates beginners and advanced Pilates practitioners alike benefit greatly from the simplicity of this exercise. In true Pilates exercises, spinal rotation is the least represented spinal motion, so Spine Twist must be part of your Pilates workout and your Pilates for golf regime!
Unlike other Pilates exercises that involve rotation, in the Spine Twist, you must keep your pelvis (or hips) completely still and focus on using your oblique abdominal muscles – not momentum – to create spinal rotation. (Though momentum is never intended to be part of a Pilates workout, because some true Pilates exercises like Rolling Like a Ball and Open Leg Rocker utilize gravity, momentum can be something your working against!) Pilates beginners should take care not to use force when performing this Pilates exercise: the three inhales are intended for you to explore increased range of motion safely, not ballistically! Using the oblique abdominal muscles in this way helps to shrink your waistline and strengthen all the inner muscles that surround the spine, making this an important exercise in a Pilates for golf practice. Because strengthening the spine in rotation is important before combining other spinal motions with rotation, Pilates beginners should master the Spine Twist before moving on to other true Pilates exercises like “Saw” and really advanced Pilates exercises like “Corkscrew” and “Twist.”
Keep in mind that because there are many more Pilates exercises that involve flexion of the spine, balancing your Pilates workouts by including spinal rotation is important even for advanced Pilates practitioners!
