The Diamond Press:- Start Position

1. Lie on your stomach with your feet hip width apart.
2. Make a diamond shape with your arms by touching your finger tips together just under your forehead.
3. Flare your shoulder blades outward toward your armpits.

The Diamond Press:- Action

1. Exhale to lift your navel up toward your spine (like "melting upwards"
2. Inhale to lift the head and upper chest 5 cm off the floor and gently tuck the chin while lenghtening the sides of the neck - (from head to chest is the barrel of a canon pointing to the sky!)
3. Exhale to lower you head back into your hands

The Diamond Press:

Start Position

Action

What it does

• "Flare your shoulder blades" works the Serratus anterior, which is one of the "scapular anchor" muscles, that is often weak.
• Correction of Humeral Anterior Glide: The Diamond press may cause your shoulder to click or "graunch". Which is a good sign! - The head of the humerus bone is moving backward in the shoulder joint to sit in its correct location. If you have shoulder impingement pain, this exercise helps.
• Unrounds the upper spine - corrects kyphosis!

Comments

• Perfect antidote to staring into a computer screen!
• The scapular anchor is being worked with the arms above the head and hands pushing "forward", which is a movement not commonly used in every day life.

Watch Points

• Melt the navbel upward (10% effort) and grow yourself long!
• Keep looking down to your fingers!

Reference

1. Shirley A Sahrmann: Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes; Publ. Mosby 2002
2. The Official Body Control Pilates Manual Available from: http://www.bodycontrol.co.uk/