Hey there all you Pilates cats and kittens 🙂 I hope you had a great week of oppositional reach from your strong center.
A hearty thanks for being awesome subscribers and sending your Pilates love. It totally makes my day. I’m so glad you find the posts and videos to be helpful to you on your Pilates path.
And I’m thrilled to learn my posts have now been translated into Portuguese, Spanish and Korean.
Thank you so much friends, hugs and kisses to you!
Current Pilates Obsessions
A lovely by-product of surrounding yourself with Pilates apparatus is the ability to dial deeply into each apparatus. Current obsessions include the Toe Corrector, Foot Corrector and the Ladder Barrel.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while you may recall I broke a bone in my foot earlier this year.
Along with some therapeutic massage, I’ve been putting my Foot Corrector to the test.
Just a few standard exercises are really making a difference. And my feet need maximum correction…
The exercises are essentially the Footwork exercises of Reformer fame:
- Toes
- Arches
- Heels
- Tendon Stretch (which I like to call The Massage – not sure it has an official name? And the socks help to move smoothly as you press.)
Actually I didn’t know my foot felt stiff and owie until it felt amazing again.
Clearly Joe Pilates wasn’t kidding: pay attention to apparatus promising ‘correction’ right there in the name.
Now for the Hacks…
One of the challenges in my workout is the delicate balance between precision/working properly and pace. Our Pilates exercises should MOVE!
The magic is in the movement.
I’ve used the following hacks with great success. Essentially I pick one thing that strikes my fancy and apply it over every exercise I will do.
Literally. Try it on and see what happens in the exercise.
How does my one thing feel in this exercise? In the next? In the one I hate? Etc…
1. The Pilates Concept Hack
Initially Pilates trains our bodies with exercises fully supported by the apparatus which gives us vital feedback.
Think about all the lying down exercises done on the Reformer, Cadillac and Mat. Even the High Chair gives us a fully supported seated position.
The support and feedback of the apparatus teaches us how to find length in the back. I believe this to be the major tenet of Joe Pilates’ work.
I desperately need the concept of ‘finding length in the back’ in exercises where I am devoid of support or contact with the apparatus.
Can I remember what the apparatus has taught me repeatedly over all these years?
This is not a test. This is for the win!
Read more about this hack in a recent post: One Pilates Uber-Concept PLUS Introducing the Workout Quickie
2. The “It’s just like that other exercise!” Hack
Got a favorite exercise that illuminates a challenging skill? Seize the day!
This hack is a favorite of mine. You know my fondness for The Long Back Stretch.
It’s my favorite game of “Let’s pretend.”
And it’s really an offshoot of our signature hack: We Only have One Exercise.
Treat yourself to a workout in which you search for the Double Leg Pull in every exercise. It’s a game-changer.
Check out these recent posts to see this hack in action:
- We Only Have One Exercise: Beyond the Double Leg Pull
- Beyond the Double Leg Pull: UK Edition
- 3 Mad Skills to Start in your First LessonÂ
3. The Apparatus Hack
Every day I become more enamored with the Spine Corrector.
Again, the word ‘corrector’ in the name should be all the information we need. It can be one of our greatest teachers.
The Spine Corrector should be everyone’s favorite hack.
Jay Grimes describes the Pilates Method as “all about opening.” The Spine Corrector fits brilliantly into this POV.
Perfectly positioned to open the back, the hips, the shoulders –  it’s pretty much the place to open the body and enhance your execution of your Pilates exercises – the Spine Corrector is the Pilates equivalent of your best friend.
Other than moi…
Let’s spend some quality time with our Spine Corrector this week:
- I am my own Spine Corrector: How to Lower your Legs in the Hundred
- Build a Better Backbend with the Spine Corrector
- The Pilates System: The Hundred vs. the Wall
Oh and then there’s the Arm Chair:
Thanks for reading and have a great week.
8 Responses
Great stuff Andrea – I always love your posts. Keep up the great work!
Thanks so much Bob. Glad you are reading and enjoying the posts. Hope you are well 🙂
Yup. I hacked up: “It’s just like that other exercise!” hack today! I decided that yes, the Double Leg Pull is pretty much everywhere 🙂 I find it mighty handy to hack my personal sessions because, the tortoise can really be my mascot on the Reformer. Now, the tortoise might win in the end, but the hare is sweating and getting a “better” workout if you know what I’m sayin’ 🙂 SPINE CORRECTOR!!!!!! omg 🙂 cu soon! xc
I’ve got a new juicy tidbit for you on Friday! It’s along the lines of the “It’s just like that other exercise” hack, and fun to play with. See you soon. And yes, turn that Tortoise into a Hare. I got a lesson in that on my Monday lesson – I will share that with you too… #seeyousoon
Yup!! I too had a ‘it’s just like that other one’ moment yesterday whilst demonstrating push down on the wunda chair… feeling the lift in my centre as I pushed down on the pedal to connect my arms/shoulders in my back and firmly planting my feet into the floor… I felt rather ‘elephanty ‘ ???? So later hopped onto the reformer to check it out and bingo!! Same feeling… also push through on my tower and open leg rocker… I’m continually adding to the list!! ???????????????????????? As for the spine corrector… love me Mr Spiney C???? Could go on forever here!! Great thought provoking stuff Andrea!!
#pilatesgeeksunite #rockon Andrea???? CU Friday xoxo
Thanks Alessandra – hey now you’re in the “see you on Friday” crowd – woo hoo! I love your Elephant collection 🙂 Those are the best…and you’ll need them all when you’re ready to tackle the Snake/Twist on the Reformer. Yeah! I love your hashtag -#pilatesgeeksunite – I am going to start using it on Instagram. I am so bad with the Hashtags…I just want to make jokes with them and I’m not used to using them properly… #socialmediaprobs See?
You are an amazing blogger! Totally addicted!
Have you find s tutorial/blog on up/down stretch combo?
Loving the upstretch – feeling stretcheeeeeed
Thank you
Andrea
You are so kind!! And thank you for sharing your thoughts here. I haven’t done a tutorial on the Up Stretch combo yet…and boy is it a good candidate for dissection 🙂 I will put it on my list to film. And yes, it’s good to work on these kind of exercises until we LOVE them!
Thank you for reading and for being amazing xox