Pilates Workout Prompts

Hello Friends!

What’s on deck for your workout today?

Pilates is cumulative and repetition is your friend.

It’s OG self-care.

You probably visit your exercises 3-4 times each week, perhaps even daily.

The frequency of your practice is key!

Consistency is ultimately more enjoyable than long grueling hours of exercising to exhaustion every once in a great while.

You can always carve out time for yourself and your Pilates practice.

A good theme for your workout goes a long way. You’ll set an intention for where you’ll focus that day.

And all workouts are different. Some are exploratory in nature, others full of your true blue favorites, some are deliberate and some are invigorating and brisk.

And all workouts should be sweaty.

Gotta Be Startin’ Somethin’

But often it’s hard to simply begin. The studio is full of tempting apparatus.

Where will you focus your energy today?

As you might imagine, I’m a big fan of writing prompts.

They’re a catalyst for creative thought, a partial sentence provided to you for stimulation.

And then off you go! Your thoughts flow easily and the scope of your narrative emerges.

Writing prompts are my inspiration for this post.

LOL You know me. Let’s turn it into a Pilates thing!

The Anatomy of a Workout

photo courtesy of @monicacostafotoearte

You probably already know of one framework that I find to be helpful.

If you’re a Pilates teacher, you may have learned a general “session plan.”

This was also Joe Pilates’ plan when teaching students.

(In my understanding: Joe Pilates did not come to me in a dream and I was not alive in 1967).

• A – Reformer – moving through all – or a portion of – your exercises
• B – Mat – moving through all – or a few – of your exercises.
• C – “This is for you”: A few specific exercises your body needs today
• D – An invigorating ending: One – or a few – exercises to jazz you up and send you back out into the world all Returned to Life!

Keep in mind this is a g-e-n-e-r-a-l plan.

What does this look like?

photo courtesy of @monicacostaphotoearte

This formula has infinite possibilities. I’ll include a few specific examples at the end of this post, as well as analyze this week’s Wunda Chair workout based on this POV.

1. If you plan to do all your Reformer exercises as an advanced practitioner, Part A may take nearly the whole time. In this case, you have a few scenarios you could consider:

• A – All of your Reformer exercises
• B and D – A few rolling exercises on the Mat that bring you up to a standing finish.

or

• A – Reformer
• C – based on what happened on the Reformer, you’ll decide on a few exercises for you
• D – A fun ending of your choosing

Make a Move in 3 “Easy” Steps

• You’ll warm up somewhere.
• You’ll work on at least a few things you dislike or struggle with somewhere in the middle.
• You’ll choose an ending or a finish with one or more exercises that bring you joy!

It is my fervent hope that these suggestions will stimulate your mind to find other options of your own creation tailored specifically for YOU!

There’s no wrong way to practice your Pilates exercises, only better and better ways over time.

500+ Exercises in the Pilates System

For those of you that fear you won’t have variety in your workouts – please know there are so many exercises and so little time. Moving through your exercises briskly and with purpose will enable you to find more and more exercises all around the studio.

Surely some exercises you never visit will surface…

And in a self-directed Group Workout Class, one student may have already chosen the apparatus you planned to use that day.

Oh no! What’s to be done?

Now you’re left with only…an apparatus you would rather not choose.

As luck would have it, there is value in being stuck with an apparatus you didn’t intend to visit: whether it’s the Bean Bag Device (remember her?), the Foot Corrector, or the Arm Chair.

And again, right now don’t worry if what you choose is “the right way” to begin or the “correct” way to practice your workout.

Just start.

Be open to what your body tells you today.

Today is all we have, right?

Have a good time. Be kind to yourself. No judgments and no expectations.

I bet you’ll be delighted by what you find today. Pilates is positive. It’s up and forward.

Get Your Move On

Use your formal lessons and classes to brainstorm where in the studio you could explore the following:

• What do(es) your teacher(s) talk about the most?
• What exercises or apparatuses do you visit the least? Start with the friendliest ones in this category and work your way to the most horrible.
• What do you wish you understood more clearly?
• If you wanted to tackle 1 of your hardest exercises, how could you work on it piece by piece? What is the elusive skill in it that makes it a challenge?
• Base your workout on your favorite exercise – what do you do well? How can you pretend every exercise is your very best one?
• One of my personal faves: get ready on the first rep of the exercise rather than delaying the moment in between trying in vain to “perfect” it.
• Focus on the moments in-between: connect all your exercises together with efficiency and control.
• Begin somewhere lying down.
• Find an apparatus or exercise to start your workout upright.
• Review exercises you never do or don’t know very well. Are there exercises that fall into both of these categories?
• Repeat everything you know how to do well and try to visit as many apparatuses as you can.
• Decide on a warmup on the Reformer or Mat and then visit all 3 chairs: High Chair, Arm Chair and Wunda Chair.
• In the course of your workout, visit the same exercise done on multiple apparatuses, for example, Chest Expansion, Teaser, or Swan. How does the same exercise all around the studio help to improve your skill? Now take all these versions of the exercise and rank them from friendliest to nastiest. Enjoy!
• If you have a body part that likes to overwork, where could you go that would support you to find friends for that overachiever?
• Start your workout on the Foot Corrector
• Start your workout on the Arm Chair or High Chair

Bonus Mat Section! March MATness is coming…

 

• Learn the order of exercises as outlined in Joe Pilates’ Return to Life Through Contrology: do a 1-repetition Mat workout to warm up. It should only take you about 10 minutes. Have your list handy, or ask your teacher if you get stuck.
• Focus on the rolling and unrolling exercises and then visit an apparatus to work on what you discovered on the Mat.
• Visit your Spine Corrector exercises at the beginning of your Mat workout.
• Visit your Spine Corrector exercises at the end of your Mat workout.
• There are a handful of breathing exercises on the Mat: The Hundred, Double Leg Pull, Spine Stretch Forward, Saw, and Spine Twist. Create a deep exhale on these 5 exercises while moving through all the others breathing normally, just like you were walking down the street.

A Few of My Faves to Light Your Fire

Reformer with a Side of Ladder Barrel

This one’s a current fave.

• Start your Reformer workout. When you set up for Long Box 1, skip Swan.
• Take a “field trip” to the Ladder Barrel for Swan, Horseback, Short Box Series, Side Sit-Ups, BackBend.
• Return to the Reformer and complete all your exercises.
• Optional: stay for a longer field trip at the Ladder Barrel and do all your exercises there.
• Return to the Reformer only for “closure,” even if it’s just Knee Stretch Series Knees Off (do 20!), Running and Pelvic Lift.
• Finish with 3 repetitions of 3 Mat exercises: Roll Like a Ball, Open Leg Rocker, and Seal.
• I like to use the rolling exercises to see what the Reformer has done to me.

From the Ground Up

This workout starts standing and returns you to your feet again as a finish.

• Start your workout with Footwork on the Foot Corrector. Focus on how the Foot Corrector allows you to find all the muscles of your center.
• Do all your Mat exercises and see what the Foot Corrector enlivened in you.
• Do all your Spine Corrector Exercises.
• Do Tendon Stretch on the 2×4.
• Stand on top of the Cadillac or Wunda Chair and use the Bean Bag Device.

Today’s Spine Corrector and Mini Mat

You’ve probably seen in my YT videos that my barrels, the Small Barrel and the Spine Corrector, hang on the wall in my studio. Which is awesome.

However, over time I’ve noticed that I start to regard them as an art installation and then forget to use them to do my exercises.

So if you’ve got barrels on the wall, please take them off, dust them with your body and repeat as necessary.

• Start on the Spine Corrector. Do a good portion of your exercises. I didn’t do absolutely everything, but I did a good chunk of them in each category: Arm Series, Leg Series, on top of the barrel on my back and my stomach. Yay!
• Do a full Mat workout and notice how the exercises that are done on both the Spine Corrector and the Mat (High Scissors, High Bicycle, Shoulder Bridge, Swan, Teaser, Swimming, Rocking) help one another.

Have a great workout!

Just a Few Spots Left for Early Birds!

Join me for a special event in San Diego for even more options for your Pilates workouts.

Nicole Martin and I will take a look at the Wunda Chair and Mat Exercises and see how they can team up for a great workout as well as give your body support and assistance for tackling complex, tough Mat exercises.

We’ve partnered with Balanced Body, so if you are curious about their Contrology line of apparatus, come check it out. Wine, snacks, and chat to follow.

Saturday, March 25, 2023, hosted by Yoga One in San Diego.

Find more info and book in here.