Welcome new subscribers!
Today’s post features a true workhorse exercise on the Reformer: the Backstroke.
Thank you for all your positive feedback on my recent video tutorials. Requests for exercises you’d like to see dissected in future tutorials have been rolling in…
Extra love to Jacqueline in Vancouver for suggesting Snake/Twist (my former nemesis) and to Jayne in London who requested the Up Stretch (current nemesis).
Duly noted and keep ’em coming!
Color me excited and scared…
1 Stellar Reason to Make Students Autonomous
To learn your workout is to move beyond “where do my legs go?” and dig deeply into the exercises to correct our bodies.
Watch out!
It’s easy to be seduced by the choreography of an exercise without fully utilizing the exercise to serve our specific needs.
I like to ask myself:
“What has [insert exercise here] done for me lately?”
We learn the purpose of the Backstroke: to strengthen and prepare for Teaser, the subsequent exercise in our order of the Reformer exercises.
But how exactly does this happen?
The Backstroke proves to be an excellent exercise to find length in the back. Coincidentally (or is it?), lengthening the back is one of the things I seek in my own workouts.
Who couldn’t use more of that?
Lately I’ve noticed a shift of focus in the way I approach my Pilates exercises. I have new control over my body which enables me to transcend the choreography of the exercises.
I know what to do, right? But what’s it doing for me?
Moving beyond choreography, let’s seize the exercise as our own. What can I do to make this exercise serve ME?
Right now in the Backstroke?
Where do I sit?
You’ll place yourself at the very edge of the box. In this position you’ll keep the straps taut and create a pressure on the handles. Sustain this pressing into the handles to work from the back and upper stomach.
Don’t forget to wail on it during the moment of pause in this exercise. This pause is for a reason.
Make something happen. Get a little bit more lift and length in your back.
Now make it move.
When we first learn the Backstroke it’s helpful to use a marked, deliberate pace.
- Pull your stomach in. Keep your head up. Look into your stomach.
- Arms and legs reach straight up. Straps are taut and the carriage is still.
- Open the arms and legs no wider than the Reformer.
- Arms and legs pull forward and the legs come together.
- Pause to deepen the center into the box as you reach fingers to toes.
- Pull in the arms and legs while keeping the straps taut.
- Repeat.
So that’s all in place. Excellent.
Now remember one version of the name of this exercise is Backstroke Swimming. You’ll make the first part of the exercise like a moving swimming stroke followed by a moment of “gliding through the water.”
OMG remember the Rowing Series? It seems just a moment ago we were there…
#yougotskills
Now let’s make it move:
- Assume the starting position.
- Reach up and forward with arms and legs. Move through your positions smoothly (this is the swimming stroke).
- Hold and reach toward the toes (now glide through the water).
- Return and go again.
Finding the Length
Sandwiched between Pulling Straps/T Straps (um, length please!) and the Teaser (open, low back, open…) the Backstroke looks like a great place to long the back.
From a choreography POV, the legs will circle and reach out to a lower position.
Note the location of the legs is not arbitrary. The lower body should be connected into and serving the center.
Hook the lower body into the center and you’ll find more work in the stomach and more length in the back.
And it might get hot.
11 Responses
Great Andrea! I especially like your comment that you are able to control your movement to transcend choreography…this is beginning to happen for me and the results are amazing all around.
Ox
C
Hi there 🙂
And yay! Good for you! Hope I will get to see you soon, and thanks so much for reading and for sharing your thoughts here. xox
Love this tutorial Andrea, I have seen this done a lot with legs just hanging out and arms swinging below the box, great demo and explanation on how to find a deeper connection…. Loving the outfit too ❤️
Hi Jayne,
Lovely to see you today – thanks for your kind words on this tutorial. I am working on your request – the Up Stretch – this weekend…wish me luck LOL. And yes, I have been playing with my outfits in videos and feeling adventurous… ha ha xox
Love ♥️ that word ‘glide’ as in ‘gliding through the water’ kind of makes me feel the element of control required in our exercises….also love the notion of digging deeper into the exercises and looking beyond just the choreography..recently I’ve been re-visiting some of the pre Pilates exercises I was originally taught and digging more deeply into them and asking myself what’s really going on here? ???? …. I’ve come to really appreciate their value, particularly when working with injured clients who need modification. Of course, being the total geek I am ???? I just love a bit of deep digging in all exercises…. And am constantly surprising myself with how much there is to learn about all exercises, no matter how ‘basic’ they seem…
Anyway I’ve a technical question about backstroke swimming please (great tutorial as always ????) … I have a Peak reformer and no matter how much I fiddle with the gear bar position and the strap length, my reformer doesn’t seem to allow me to start some of the exercises (100’s and back stroke as examples) with the springs closed all the way…. I have to start off in the spring, so to speak! Would you be able to shed some light here please? Is there anyone else out there with the same question I wonder…. The exercises themselves still flow and feel good, but I was wondering about the importance of the ‘closed springs’ start…..
Thanks again for your excellent posts!!
#weloveandrea #diggingdeeperrules ????????????
Hi Alessandra,
Hmmm…by your description of the spring starting in tension in the Hundred and the Backstroke it sounds like the straps are quite short…? Hard to tell without seeing your set up – hang on – checking Instagram… if you’d like me to take a look on Skype for set up, just let me know. Generally in our Pilates exercises we are using control to open and close the springs completely – as much as that is possible, so there may be a bit of difference if the spring is in tension throughout the exercise… When you get into the position for Hundred or Backstroke, do you find your arms have to reach very far behind you to have the spring closed to start?
Thank you as always for your lovely and kind feedback on my posts and videos. I’m planning to film some more tutorials and other goodies this weekend, so I will be thinking of you 🙂 xox
I love when exercises one has been doing for a long time feel transformed by our current level of proficiency. Good job! Those pre Pilates exercises are hard to do well and get all the juice out of them. Yay!
Hey! Thanks for your reply! Ah yes, I need to go and look at the strap length again!! I’ll report back ! Thanks for your great offer of a Skype session… would be great! I’ll be in touch.. #pilatesgeeksunited xoxo
Hello Again!
Yay!! Managed to get the strap length ok for the 100 and backstroke to start with springs closed… have no idea what I was doing previously!! I’ll call that a senior moment :-} , however with the strap length duly adjusted, I am now not quite set up correctly for short spine massage…. hmmm… so I think that a Skype session might be the answer… I’ll email you separately and see if we could set something up…
Thanks again for your help xoxo
Hey that all sounds great – it may affect some transitioning to the Short Spine, but I would be happy to see you and have a look 🙂 Thanks again for reading and chatting here! xox
What would you suggest as reformer prep exercises for backstroke
Hi Lindsay,
Thanks for reading and for reaching out here – Welcome! Your question is a good one. Sometimes I think we may underestimate the challenges of the BackStroke when teaching it to new people. And although there are certainly prerequisite exercises on the Reformer, there are also helper exercises to be found on the Cadillac and the Mat. The Backstroke has a lot more things moving around than many of our more fundamental exercises, so coordination of movement is definitely a skill that needs to be in place.
All the exercises that precede the Backstroke in the order of the Reformer exercises: Footwork, Hundred, Frog and Circles, Coordination and even Pull Straps and T, will be the best preparation on the Reformer, also Leg Springs, Arm Springs and Rolling Back on the Cadillac – also the Roll up and the Double Leg Pull on the Mat. I often introduce the Backstroke exercise at the Mat so the student can have their head down while learning the movements. And I also consider the strength of holding the head up in Hundred and Coordination as a skill they’ll need for Backstroke success.
I hope this helps to answer your question. If you’ve got more questions, you know where to find me 🙂 thank you again for watching and reading!
xox