Body School

Bridge/Pelvic Curl

Moving on, let's go to an exercise commonly known as the bridge. It is taught lying on the back, with the knees bent vertically and the feet close to the hips, arms at the sides. The subject engages the butt and lifts the back off the floor, supporting with the shoulders and feet, perhaps holds for a breath or two, and brings it back down.

As far as that goes, that's fine. But, consider a moment: there are 29 vertebra in the spine. The bottom five, below the pelvis, are fused together and have very little movement. Likewise, the top two (the one connected to your skull and the one immediately below it) are also fused together. That leaves 23 joints in the spine, between the head and the hips, capable of considerable movement.

When you do the bridge as described, most of these joints move little or not at all, as the related muscles serve a primarily stabilizing role. The only considerable movement comes at the hips, shoulders and knees. Furthermore, in many cases, doing the bridge in this manner leaves too much of an arch in the lower back, which can be fine if you're standing upright, but can cause problems when your lower back is taking the stress at the center of a bridge.

Still, one may argue that, as spinal stability is a big part of the reason for this exercise, the lack of movement in most of the vertebra is a good thing. Teach them not to move, and they'll hold more steadily in practical application-that is, daily life.

I feel differently. I suggest that the more specifically one develops the joints in the vertebra and the related muscles, the better they will be at whatever task they're assigned. The more they are put through their motions, the more aware the muscles become and the greater the health benefits to them and the discs (between the vertebra), which tend to compress over time in an unaware spine, causing all kinds of pain.

Also, many people with back problems will find it difficult (painfully so) or impossible to do the bridge as described. I know. I have been one of them.

To my mind, just teaching the vertebra to hold still as a group does not lead to much individual understanding. Why not get to know them individually while using them as a group at the same time?

Starting with a variation that I learned from an excellent dance teacher, Ms. Thelma Hill, I expanded upon it to create a safer and more comprehensive format for the bridge, one beneficial to spines healthy and injured. I call it the Pelvic Curl. It has proven immensely helpful in rehabilitating my lower back, as well as the lower backs of several of my clients.

Now, let's get specific in the set-up. Yes, lie on your back. Yes, bend your knees and bring your feet toward your hips, and make a point to bring them as close to the hips as they will comfortably go.

(However, do not wiggle or lift your back to try to scoot the feet in closer. If you do, your back will not be able to move properly in the exercise. The flexibility at the knees and hips determine how far the feet come in.)

PHOTO 10

PHOTO 11

When the feet are close to the hips, the thighs get less involved, which better isolates the spine and seems to create a less stressful angle from which the lower back can work. If you are more comfortable with the legs farther out, and some people are, leave them farther out, but never with more than a 90-degree angle at the knees, as an angle greater than that can cause undue stress in the knees themselves (Photo 10).

Make sure to line up your hips, knees, ankles and toes, hip-width apart, in straight lines from the hips down (Photo 11).

Be sure to keep your knees properly centered throughout the exercise and your feet forward, not turned in or out. Failing to accomplish either of these diminishes some benefits of the movement.

Place your arms, palms down, at your sides or, if you can comfortably reach them, hold your ankles, provided you don't have to strain or tug to do so.

The shoulders press gently down into the body for horizontal stability and down into the floor for vertical stability, but not so far into the floor to cause any hint of an arch in the upper back.

Take a slow, deep breath. Exhale from below your navel, pressing your lower belly down into your lower spine, and your lower spine into the floor. At the same time, squeeze your butt in from the sides.

Your hips will curl upward, as if they were the blade of a shovel scooping up and away from your torso (Photo 12).

PHOTO 12

The visible movement may be very small, or fairly significant, depending on your muscular awareness, flexibility, weight and physical condition. The important thing is to learn to feel it. Don't worry about how far it moves. Find that feeling, build on that feeling, and the range of motion will come.

Some people have a hard time isolating their hips and curling them up, and instead, thinking they're doing the right thing, lift their entire backs from the upper back, relegating, once again, the bulk of their vertebra to a simple group exercise. This comes from lack of muscular sensitivity in the hips, lower belly and lower back and is remedied with a little practice.

Once you've exhaled and your hips are curled, inhale up into your rib cage, squeeze your ever-contracting lower belly down into your lower spine, and pull your butt back down to the ground. Your belly should resist uncurling throughout, but it should also lose the fight.

When the butt reaches the ground, the lower back should not be allowed to arch. Keep it flat.

Try the curl again. Use the breathing. It can help. Try at least 12 repetitions before going to the next step.

Next, we're going all the way up onto the shoulders, but not in a flat board fashion. We'll begin with the pelvic curl we just practiced, which will straighten out as the hips move into line with the knees and shoulders. Above this line, the body will begin to arch. Remember-curl below, arch above.

We'll reverse the move on the way down (which may take more practice), pulling in first with the chest and upper back before rolling down through the hips. Remember, don't go beyond what you think is safely within your capabilities.

Inhale into the ribs. As you exhale, press that lower belly into that lower back into the floor and squeeze that butt. Curl the hips slowly and powerfully upward and let them peel your back off the floor, one vertebra at a time, as they rise ever higher in steady, consecutive order. Press that belly in to hold and stabilize the curl throughout.

PHOTO 13

Keep the butt, back and belly working, keep the curling movement strong and flowing, like an ocean wave in slow, exhaling motion. One vertebra at a time. Nice and smooth.

As your upper back rises, your hips align with your knees and shoulders and that straight line is achieved (Photo 13).

PHOTO 14

Continue the upward thrust with your hips. As the spine passes through that straight line, changing from curl to arch, press upwards through the hips and the back, especially up and through the chest, with a sense of stretching as you lift. Squeeze that belly flat against the arch and feel those muscles stabilizing the upward press of the butt, back and chest (Photo 14).

The shoulders remain stable, pressing down into the body and down into the floor. (At the top of the arch, there can be some squeezing together, in the back, of the shoulder blades for a little extra work, but that is an individual matter of safety and skill.)

If you want more, at the top of the arch, rise onto your tiptoes (Photo 15).

PHOTO 15

Lift every bit as hard in the body as you press higher through the heels and work those feet and calves.

Don't let your ankles roll open. Keep the work on the ball of the foot. (The ball of the foot is the triangle created between the big toe, the second toe, and the pad of the foot at their base.)

Be sure to maintain the alignment from the hips through the knees, ankles, and feet.

If you want more, squeeze your butt in a rapid (twice per second), pulsing motion, which will cause a small up and down bounce of the body. Try to pulse ever higher, with just the slightest release between pulses. Don't relax the butt too much or let it drop too far below the line of the shoulders and knees.

PHOTO 16

If you want more, place your palms on the floor above your shoulders and press up onto your hands and (the balls of your) feet (Photo 16).

Really lift through the body, as this position can be very stressful on the shoulders and the lower-back. If you'd like to hold the position, you must constantly press higher. If you think just to hold, your body will begin to drop ever so slightly and your joints will take all the stress. Not a good thing.

PHOTO 17

PHOTO 18

To come down, inhale deeply into your ribcage with a sense of broadening the upper back, drawing the upper abs in and under the ribs and the solar plexus (that little triangle where the ribs meet and center at the bottom of the chest) with the intake of air (Photo 17).

(If this feels too awkward, before lowering your body, bring your heels to the ground. It's easier to maneuver and easier on the back.)

With this, the chest and upper back will begin to curl in and downwards. Continue pressing up with the hips and start sucking that upper back down toward the floor, pressing the upper abs in to assist the curling (Photo 18).

PHOTO 19

Continue to curl down through each individual vertebra. You will find your...