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The Bar Method

JLW
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09/06/2013 - 12:45pm
The Bar Method

I am wondering if Esther is familiar with the Bar Method, since they are both based out of San Fransisco. It is similar to Callanetics, so part of my question was already answered on that thread (definitely do not do the tucked posture).

But I have more questions. Many of the exercises are performed on the "toes" (really, the weight is on the ball of the foot) because of its use of ballet moves. Is this fine if only done for the exercise? Or do I have to modify both for not tucking the pelvis and to put the weight on my heel?


Additionally, some of her exercises are actually tucking--not just standing with a tucked pelvis. Is this fine to work the pelvis this way if it is a movement, or is this dangerous? Sometimes it is done while upright, and sometimes it is done lying on the floor with knees bent (pelvic lifts while keeping the rib cage on the floor).

I had already started to skip the ab exercises, which exaggerate a spine bent in exactly the wrong places (and caused me even more excrutiating pain than I was already in). I hadactually stopped doing these any of these exercises because of my pain, but now that the Gokhale Method is healing me, I want to know if I could begin them again, albeit modified.

Thanks.

Edited to Add: The reason it still intrigues me is there is always at least one portion focusing on the gluteus medeus. The most obvious position is pretzel, but others do this as well. She says she focuses on other ab muscles, too, such as the one in the back (name is escaping me), but I just couldn't handle her positions for ab work--tucked pelvis, back curved up but with shoulders somehow also back--I couldn't do it and it was excrutiating on my back.

Sophie Rubin
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05/03/2016 - 11:39am

The most important thing is to not do anything that hurts or makes your pain worse. 

This just sounds like a total mess... since you already have injuries, your goal should be to protect your back and prevent further injury. For you, I would say this means never tucking your pelvis. You would be aggitating disks that have already taken a fair amount of abuse. It also means not going on your toes, so you can distribute the weight on your feet such that you are using your heels. 

If you're particularly interested in working your gluteus medeus, consider taking a samba class or learning the charleston. You could also just find a yoga class where they don't have such rigid and mistaken ideas about what constitutes good posture, so that you can strike the poses without worrying that you're directly contradicting the instructors orders. 

It's really sad that there's so much misguided exercise instruction happening - I hope you are able to find a solution that allows you to strech and strengthen without putting your back at risk. 

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