Speaker #0Hi and welcome to this new episode of BioPilates Deep Dive. Today I take you into the heart of the hundred, an exercise simple in appearance but extraordinarily rich when done with precision. I will explain to you the difference between the version on the reformer and the one on the mat, guide you in the placement, and above all, help you feel the role of the obliques. We will also take a look inside the body to understand And. how a muscle obeys our intention. So breathe, settle yourself. We begin. The hundred is a metronome, five counts of inhalation, five counts of exhalation, ten times one hundred counts, but behind this rhythm there is a subtle dialogue between your breathing, your shoulders, your pelvis, and your center. And depending on whether you are on the reformer or on the mat, this dialogue does not tell exactly the same story. On the reformer, the carriage moves, the tension of the springs speaks in your straps, and the resistance comes from the back. It is a living environment, slightly unstable, which demands a dynamic stability. Your shoulder blades must remain calm while your arms beat with precision. Your obliques, they, organize the pressure in the abdomen so that the ribcage slides toward the pelvis without pulling in the neck. If the carriage shakes, it is a message. The center shoulder's connection has loosened. We adjust. We breathe. We find the thread again. On the mat, everything is more bare. Gravity and the weight of the legs in the air are enough to set the challenge. Here, no springs, no straps. Your stability is purely intrinsic. The obliques and the transverse create a silent sheath that supports the dorsal flexion. The gesture is more sober, more true. It is the perfect place to feel the quality of your breathing and the honesty of your leg angle. If the lower back arches, we bring the legs back up a little. If the neck pulls, we put the head down and we reconstruct the flexion with the strength of the center. Before practicing, two useful minutes of anatomy. The obliques are your diagonal braces. The external oblique is born on ribs. 5 to 12, descends in a fan and attaches to the iliac crest and to the linea alba. When it works on both sides, it helps to flex the trunk. On one side, it inclines and turns the torso toward the opposite side. The internal oblique, IT, starts from the iliac crest, the inguinal ligament, and the thoracolumbar aponeurosis. It goes up toward the lower ribs and the linea alba. bilaterally it participates in flexion. Unilaterally, it inclines and turns to the same side. Together, internals and externals form an intelligent spiral which keeps the pelvis quiet, the waist long, and the breathing efficient, and both help expiration by lowering finely the last ribs and by containing the pressure in the abdomen. It is exactly what the hundred asks. Now, I install you on the Reformer. I adjust the headrest so that the neck is long. One, two, or three springs according to your level of the day. Lie down on the back. I place the straps in your hands. The elbows are bent close to the body. The shoulder blades slide toward the back pockets. The legs go up in tabletop position. Inhale without moving. On the exhalation, lengthen the neck. Let the cage slide toward the pelvis. and quietly lift the upper body. At the same time, stretch the elbows to bring the arms to the level of the shoulders, palms facing down. Lengthen the legs in diagonal, only as low as your stability is maintained. There. Now we breathe. Inhale on five precise beats of the arms. One, two, three, four, five. Exhale on five. One, two, three, four, five. The beats start from the shoulder, not from the elbow. The wrists remain long. If the carriage moves, reduce the amplitude, root again your shoulder blades and find your center. Ten cycles, 100 counts. You finish by inhaling, bend the knees, keep the flexion, then exhale, put down the upper body. The intention is the same on the mat, without the springs. Lie down in imprint position, if necessary, the legs in tabletop and palms of the hands toward the floor. The shoulder blades anchored. Inhale without moving. During the exhale, lengthen the neck, flex the neck, and lift the upper trunk by the cage. Lengthen the legs in diagonal while respecting your stability. Here, you have only yourself. It is an exercise to refine the breathing. Inhale in five counts, spread the ribs laterally, and keep the flexion. Exhale in five counts and feel the obliques gently wrap the cage toward the pelvis. Do it ten times. if the neck protests We put the head down and we start again with one arm beating for 50 counts, then the other. If the lower back arches, we bring the legs higher. The truth of the center is non-negotiable. You often ask me, what happens inside when I choose to engage my center? The answer is physiological. Everything begins in your motor cortex. I decide consciously to lift the upper body and to stabilize my pelvis. This intention goes down through the corticospinal tract, arrives at the motor neurons of the spinal cord, then at the neuromuscular junction. There, a small rain of acetylcholine triggers a depolarization of the fiber. Calcium opens like a curtain, binds to troponin, releases the actin-myosin sliding, and the contraction occurs. During this time, the sensors of length and tension such as the muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs, send back information continuously. If there is too much tension in the neck, the body tells you. If the carriage moves, it tells you too. Your system adjusts. It is a dance between brain, nerves, chemistry, muscles, and breath. The hundred educates this dance. I come back to pedagogy, to what makes you progress without pain. On the reformer, if you are a beginner, Okay. or if the neck is fragile, put the head on the carriage. Work the breathing and the scapular stability. If your abdominals tire too quickly, put the feet on the bar and beat the arms without the straps. If you lose the midline, slide a small foam ball between the knees to awaken the adductors. If you tend to lock the elbows, think elbows supple, wrists long, arms heavy and floating, and above all, Let the exhalation organize the exercise. A good exhalation places your obliques. Your obliques place your pelvis, and your pelvis frees your neck. On the mat, same logic. Head on the floor if necessary and legs in tabletop. You can also place an arc barrel under the shoulders to help thoracic flexion or an elastic band around the feet held by the hands in order to support the weight of the legs without cheating with the lower back. Keep the metronome, five inhale and five exhale. If the quality drops, we bring the legs back up, we breathe, we start again. The hundred rewards patience. What we just did is much more than a warm-up. On the reformer, you train the coordination center shoulders against an external resistance. On the mat, you train the truth of your internal stability. In both cases, your obliques play their role of protection. spirals, organizing expiration, supporting the pelvis, containing the back. The next time you do the hundred, change only one parameter, the angle of the legs, the tension of the springs, or the position of the head. Observe what it changes in your breathing and in the quality of your beats. The exercise becomes a laboratory, not a routine. I leave you with three simple images to guide your practice. The first Your obliques are diagonal braces that gently close the cage on the pelvis at exhalation. The second, your shoulder blades are two bars of soap that slide toward the back pockets, never stuck toward the ears. The third, your breathing is a benevolent metronome. If the rhythm accelerates and the form degrades, we slow down. Five, inhale. Five, exhale. Ten times. And we keep the clarity. Thank you for having practiced with me. Rest the arms, release the jaw, let the abdomen become silent again, and take away this sensation, a warm center, wide shoulders, a free neck. This was The 100 on Reformer and on Matt. See you soon for a new deep dive.
