As I have said many, many times, I prefer equipment Pilates to mat Pilates, but with my studio shut down, I need to offer something for those of us who don’t have our own studios to do at home. This will look like a very long post, but that is because I am going to explain each exercise. Folks already familiar with Pilates exercises can just skip to the end for the list.
All the exercises can be done right on the floor, regardless of surface, but a yoga mat or squishy mat or even towel might make it more comfortable. There is only one standing exercise, so there is no need to worry about slipping (any more than usual standing around! Some of us are more graceful than others!)
Here we go:
Pelvic Clock: Lie on your back (See? Pilates is awesome! We get to lie down! Oh, wait, then we have to do stuff…) Bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor more or less in line with your sit bones. Take a couple of breaths just to remember that you’re alive. Now, as you exhale, tilt your pelvis toward your belly button. This is a small motion and should not get your powerful legs involved. Your abs will be doing a little bit of work and your lower back should be closer to the floor. When you inhale, tilt your pelvis toward your pubic bone. Repeat a few times. Return to a neutral position. Now we are going to tilt from side to side. Many people, in doing this, like to move the pelvis up toward the shoulders while doing this. We are going to avoid this by thinking of pressing the pelvis into the ground on one side and then the other. (No, the Pilates Police are not going to come find you if you don’t get this perfectly. They haven’t hauled me away yet!) Do this a few times back and forth. Now we’re going to get fancy and combine the two into a circle. Tilt the pelvis toward the belly button, then toward one hip, then the public bone, then the other hip and back to the belly button. If there was a bowl of water sitting on your belly, you’d be sloshing water in a circle and making a big wet mess. Do a few in one direction and then do the hard way (everyone does the way that comes most easily first, so the second way is always the hard way). Don’t forget to breathe from time to time.
Bridging: If you have low bone density, you can still do this exercise, but please read through to the modifications before you start. Begin in the same position as for Pelvic Clock, on your back, knees bent, feet flat in line with your sit bones. The motion begins just like the Pelvic Clock, with an exhale and a pelvic tilt toward the belly button, but the tilt keeps going until the hips lift off the ground. The spine peels up off the floor one vertebra at a time until the body weight is resting on the feet and the shoulder blades. You may find that your hamstrings don’t like you very much right now. That is all right; they will get over it. Ideally, your body will be a straight line from your shoulders to your knees sloping up from the ground. If not, try squeezing your butt a bit to lift the pelvis a little more. Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect. Take a breath in. Then, as you exhale, peel the spine back down one vertebra at a time pulling your hips a little away from your shoulders so that they come down a little closer to your heels than when you started. Inhale and repeat a few times. If you have low bone density, do not peel your spine up or down (flexing the spine is not recommended). Instead, lift the hips straight to the ceiling, keeping the spine neutral, and then lower.
Dead Bug/Femur Arcs: These are basically the same exercise, but one is a slightly easier variation. The Dead Bug starts in the same position as Pelvic Clock. From there, exhale and lift one leg with the knee still bent until the thigh is perpendicular to the ground and the shin is parallel to it. Inhale to lower. Repeat on the other side. Do a set of ten. The Femur Arc begins with both legs lifted in “tabletop” position (thighs perpendicular to floor, shins parallel). One foot at a time touches down to the floor and returns to the starting position. It is very tempting to do this motion by bending the knee more. Resist! Keep the 90 degree bend at the knee and use the hip joint to lower the leg. You will know you are doing it right if you feel your lower abdominals working. Do a set of ten.
Chest Lift: If you have low bone density, skip this exercise. You can substitute Brains (from my weight training exercises) instead. If you do not have low bone density, you get to keep working! This is the Pilates version of the ab crunch, but I like it better than the fitness version, so follow the directions! Starting in our now-familiar position on our backs with our knees bent, bring your hands up behind your head, elbows out to the side but still in your peripheral vision. In a fitness crunch, most people use their big heavy heads to heave themselves up toward their knees. In Pilates, we exhale and think about moving our breastbone toward our heels. The head lifts, but only because it happens to be attached to the rest of the body. The muscles at the back of the neck should stay pretty relaxed and the upper part of the abs should be working (roughly the bra strap line, for women—men can use their imaginations if they do not have bra experience). Do ten. If this feels too easy, take the legs to tabletop position and work from there.
Hundred: This is possibly the most famous Pilates exercise. If you are new to Pilates, please do not start with a full hundred. Do maybe a twenty. (If you have low bone density, do not do this exercise. You can substitute pretty princesses.) Begin lying on your back with your legs in tabletop position. Exhale and extend your legs out long at about a 45 degree angle from the floor while lifting your torso as in a chest lift. The arms will be long, hands stretched out toward your hips. The arms are going to pulse up and down while we do the breathing part: five little exhale bursts followed by five little inhale bursts. Each burst counts as one, so a full hundred would be holding the position and pumping the arms 100 times with each burst. Do what you can. Rest when you need to. When you are done, rest a bit.
Side Kick: Finally, we are going to get off our backs! Roll to one side and come up on an elbow. Check that you are a reasonably straight line from your shoulder to your heels. Legs should be stacked on top of each other. Lift the top leg about six to eight inches above the other leg and lower it. Repeat about 10 times. Then lift the top leg again. Flex your foot and move the leg forward as if you were kicking a ball, but not so far that you shift your weight on your pelvis. Point the toe and draw the leg back behind the body (knee still straight), again keeping the pelvis still. Repeat for a set of 10. Roll over and do the other side. (There are more variations, but we’ll save those for another day.)
Dart: Lie on your belly. Phew! Rest here if you want for a moment or two. Then extend your arms down along your sides and turn your palms up toward the ceiling. Turn your face toward the ground but lift your neck just enough that your nose is about an inch off the floor. Inhale and lift your breastbone toward the wall in front of you to that your upper spine curves upward as you reach your arms back toward your heels. Exhale and lower back down. It is really tempting just to lift your head using your neck muscles. Resist and use the upper back muscles instead. You may feel a stretch in your chest. This is good. Repeat a few times.
Quadruped: If you are not on carpet, you may want to pad your knees for this one. Come up to your hands and knees, taking care that your knees are directly under your hip sockets and your hands are directly under your shoulders. Your back should be flat like a table. Pull your belly button toward your spine. Engage your brain! Extend your right arm out until it is parallel with the floor as you also extend your left leg out behind you. Most people will find that their pelvis will want to tilt up on the side with the lifted leg; resist! (I place a Koosh ball on my clients’ sacrums when they do this; if the ball falls, they know they are tilting!) Lower the arm and leg and repeat on the other side. Do a set of 10.
Spine Stretch: If you have low bone density, be extra careful to keep your spine long to avoid spinal flexion. Start sitting up. If you have very tight hamstrings, you can bend your knees slightly and place the soles of your feet together and/or place a pillow or yoga block under your behind so that you can get your spine up straight. Otherwise, sit up straight with your legs extended straight in front of you at about hip’s distance apart. Put your hands on the floor next to your hips. Slide your hands forward on the ground, keeping the spine long. Some people find it useful to think about bringing the breastbone toward their feet. This is NOT about touching your toes, but about hinging from the hip joints with a long spine. Move toward your feet on the exhale and back to the starting position on the inhale. Repeat a few times.
Spine Twist: From the same starting position as Spine Stretch, extend your arms out to the sides, then curve them a little like you are getting ready to hug someone. Keeping the arms in that position, turn your torso to one side and then the other. Many people just move their arms across their bodies. If this is too tempting, you can cross your arms over your chest and focus on moving the breast bone toward one side and then the other. Repeat a few times, making sure to go the same number of times in each direction.
Saw: If you have low bone density, skip this. It is an extension of the previous exercise. With legs out long (or in whichever modified position works for you), extend the arms out to the side and curve them like you are hugging someone. Twist as above, but this time reach the right arm toward the left ankle (in other words, twist AND bend forward at the same time!); repeat other side. Do an even number of repetitions on each side.
Mermaid: If you have knee problems, leave your legs out long. If not, bend your left leg as if you were going to sit tailor-fashion (shin across your body). Bend the right leg so that your knee is next to your left foot and your right foot extends back toward your hip (i.e., externally rotate the left hip and internally rotate the right hip). Your shins should form a 90 degree angle. Ideally, both sit bones are still on the floor or close to it. If they are not, you can put a towel under the side that does touch the floor to level your hips. If this position is terribly uncomfortable, skip it and just extend your legs out in front of you. Lift your arms out to the sides until they are parallel to the floor. As you exhale, place your left hand on the floor and stretch your right arm up overhead in a side bend. You should feel a stretch along the right side of your body. Inhale and return to start. Repeat a few times and then stretch the other direction. Then switch your legs to the opposite side and do a few on the other side. There are some other variations, but that’s enough for now.
Standing Roll Down and Olympic Salute: If you have low bone density, skip the roll down and go straight to the salute. (The salute is technically not Pilates, but it feels really good, so we do it anyway!) Stand up. (Yeah, I know. It’s hard already.) Align your posture so that your ear, shoulder, hip, knee, and ankle are all in a straight line. For many people, this requires pulling the head back a little and tucking the pelvis under a bit. Inhale and lengthen the spine. As you exhale, tuck your chin and curl your pelvis down toward the floor one vertebra at a time as if you were peeling yourself off of a wall. Keep your weight toward the balls of your feet to help your pelvis stay over your feet rather than falling back. Eventually, the pelvis will need to drop back so you don’t fall over, but delay as long as possible. At the bottom, breathe in and out. As you inhale again, reverse the peeling process getting the hips under you as soon as possible. When you are back upright, add the Olympic salute by raising the arms overhead in a big Y shape and lifting the breastbone to the ceiling, extending the upper back.
Woohoo! You did it! And, finally, here’s the summary:
pelvic clock
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bridging
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dead bug/femur arcs
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chest lift
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hundred
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side kick
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dart
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quadruped
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spine stretch
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spine twist
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saw
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mermaid
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standing roll down
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