Body shaping and muscle strengthening

Everyone knows what sheathing consists of (and for those who need a catch-up session, sheathing is a bodybuilding exercise, aimed at holding as long as possible in the plank position, with the only supports, forearms and tiptoes). But do you really know how to gain weight without harming your body? This is explained by Dr. Bernadette de Gasquet, doctor and yoga teacher specializing in abdominals and perineal rehabilitation, in her book The unsuspected power of sheathing, published by Marabout, written with Teddy Riner, multiple world and Olympic judo champion. She denounces some flagship cladding exercises, particularly devastating, often resulting in back pain. Thus, she reminds us that during a sheathing session, the reflex is, most of the time, to block his breathing.A very bad habit! To work the muscles in depth, it takes “only” a long time when performing the positions. To do so, it is better to practice dynamic cladding exercises in comfortable positions. Let’s discover some with a funny name! I promise, you will remember them easily.

The Playmobil, a sheathing exercise to strengthen the triceps

Strengthening the triceps helps solidify the arm and shoulder properly. The Playmobil exercise is perfect for this:

> Standing, take a stick (or a broomstick). Place it in front of you, in the hollow of your groin.
> Arms outstretched, back of the hand against the stick, lean forward, back straight. You can bend your knees to go further, but keep the shoulder-hip alignment and push the stick back hard.

Put yourself in the shoes of a Playmobil for a few seconds, your child must confuse you with his toys!

The cat that scratches, for nimble and powerful fingers

Did you know ? In utero it is the fingers that the skeletal system mobilizes first. These last are everyday essential tools : cutting with scissors, typing on a keyboard, caressing… It is important to take care of it to maintain mobility on the long term. The cat scratching position is simple:

> Get on all fours, place your elbows on the ground. Bring them forward to place them in place of the base of the wrists.
> Plant the claws, pull the buttocks back.
> Then arms outstretched, elbows off the ground, pull the wrists forward, above the claws, and let your chest drop to the ground.

Bernadette de Gasquet’s advice:
“If your fingers (or your shoulders) do not support the support well, put your hands flat and push the ground strongly”.

Too bad cats don’t have fingers similar to ours, they would be excellent pianists!

The large hanger to sheathe the shoulders

For have a good posture and a straight back, you have to sheath the shoulders and this goes through the shoulder blades. Ready? In the big hanger position!

> Sitting, visualize straps crossed in the back.
> Raise the shoulders towards the ears then shorten the crossed straps. The right shoulder goes to the left hip and vice versa. The work is done in the middle of the back, at the tip of the shoulder blades, the chest and the head are pushed up. The trapezius lengthen, the humeral heads (round balls of the shoulder) move away from each other. The hanger is wider.

“If you hang a jacket on a hanger that is too narrow, it will deform. If, on the contrary, the hanger is adapted, the shoulders of the garment will be well supported and the jacket will keep its shape” specifies Dre de Gasquet in The unsuspected power of sheathing.

The grazing giraffe, the sheathing position to strengthen its neck

A beautiful head carriage is elegant. With neck strengthening exercises you avoid knock your head off. To strengthen your neck, put yourself in the shoes of a grazing giraffe:

> Spread your legs, lean forward, head down.

For more stability, put your elbows on the ground. The arms being on each side of your head.

Attention, “the giraffe, whose front legs are much longer than the hind legs, can only graze on the ground because her neck is very long and she lowers her head. It is in fact privileged to eat leaves in the trees!”. You will understand, if you lack flexibilityit is quite possible to perform this exercise with your arms stretched out in front of you.

The wipers, to sheathe the hips

Your hips allow you to flex to pick up your child’s comforter (still on the ground, this one), and to extend to catch a ball stuck in the tree. They also allow internal or external rotation of the femurs, abduction and adduction. Nothing better than imitating windshield wipers to gain all these functions:

> Extended legs, rotate the femurs like a “windshield wiper”, feet turned outwards then inwards of the body. The pelvis does not move but is not stabilized, it remains posed.
> If you oppose the rotation of the femurs, for example by crossing the ankles, knees well stretched, toes drawn towards the face, the femurs do not move, it is the pelvis which rolls in counter-nutation.
Warning: “the floor must allow sliding. If it’s a mat that grips, the seat bones will be blocked and you can compress the sacroiliac joint and trigger pain”.

The suction cup, to strengthen your ankles

Your ankles twist easily, one wrong movement and all your weight is on the edges of the foot. Result: a sprain. Not only is it painful, but once the damage is done, a weakness persists. That’s the whole point of rehabilitate and strengthen your ankles. Take the example of the position of the suction cup (don’t worry, no need to put your head in the toilet):

In the posture of a serving knight, one foot in front, spread your toes and pull backwards by sucking the ground.

Variation: you can also plant the heel, pull the toes towards the face and pull yourself by the heel.

Create a small circuit to mix several exercises and tone your whole body.

To discover all the toning and muscle building exercises without hurting yourself, we invite you to read The unsuspected power of sheathing, published by Marabout, by Dr. Bernadette de Gasquet and Teddy Riner.