Hi Gabrielle!

I am struggling a bit with pushing the back ribs into the mat when lying down and doing leg work (ie, pushing out from the bar). I find that it is really hard to keep my pelvis neutral, even while drawing in my belly to back. In order to get my ribs heavy, I end up having to tuck. I realize as a beginner this may come with time, but are all the ribs supposed to be pushing down or just the "upper" back ribs. If I try to make all the ribs flat on the mat, I definitely have to tuck my pelvis. Would love to hear your thoughts when you have a moment. Thank you so much! - Alex

Hi Alex,

That is a GREAT question! Yes, you should have ALL of your ribcage on the mat/carriage. That's why I often cue, "keep your bottom back ribs down" because those are the ones that want to lift. And yes, keeping those down WHILE staying untucked is VERY hard 😆 and it will take time for your core strength to get strong enough to allow that.

So, in the meantime, it is best to tuck if this allows the back ribs to stay down.

Alternatively, you could go into a supported neutral, which is just placing a small rolled up towel or something of the sort under your lower back to help maintain a neutral pelvis while focusing on putting back ribs down.

OR, instead of thinking of tucking to keep the ribs down, try pulling your knees in a *little* closer to your chest without tucking and see if that works.

Staying untucked while keeping bottom back ribs down is challenging and not expected for beginners to get this right away, so don't worry! :) You'll get there!

Cheers.
Gabrielle

Thank you, Gabrielle!! This is so helpful and very much appreciated :)