Remember to obtain the clearance of your physician prior to beginning any new exercise program.
Consult your exercise specialist before beginning this fit and flexible program.
Your health care or exercise specialist may recommend that you do some individually tailored
preparatory exercises prior to practicing this balance body program.
Welcome to the fit and flexible program of balance body mat exercises.
I'm Elizabeth Larkin, dance medicine specialist in the Center for Sports Medicine at St.
Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco.
For 10 years I have been working with these principles of rehabilitation and conditioning.
This comprehensive video includes 20 mat exercises that have evolved from those developed over
70 years ago by Joseph Palladis.
And standards in the fitness and medical fields are continually being revised to reflect current
research and clinical practice.
The original exercises in this program have been modified to be in alignment with current
principles of sports and dance medicine.
You need no equipment, only an exercise mat for cushioning.
Some of these exercises closely resemble yoga poses.
All movements in the balance body program are coordinated with breathing with the natural
rhythms and movements of inhalation and exhalation.
This fit and flexible program is harmonious with the current trends in mind-body fitness.
Each exercise is performed with heightened awareness of mental concentration.
Value is placed on precision of alignment and control of smooth, flowing movement that
supports and lengthens the entire body.
In accordance with the principles of motor learning, balance body exercises are initially
performed at a slow to moderate tempo, allowing for accurate practice that is essential for
neuromuscular re-education.
All balance body mat exercises have as a common goal the development of strength and articulation
from the base of your pelvis up through your torso to your shoulders and neck.
The exercises are designed to develop strength, stability, and functional movement of your
torso.
Practice of these exercises can help you to develop stability of your pelvis, trunk, and
shoulders through integrated strengthening of the muscles of your pelvis, abdomen, lower
back, mid-back, and shoulder girdle.
In addition, you can develop articulation of your spine in forward flexion, in extension,
in rotation, as well as in side bending.
This improved structural stability and articulation can translate into increased comfort, ease,
and grace in your daily activities and recreation.
There can be aesthetic benefits in addition to the functional benefits of the balance
body exercises.
The strength, stability, and articulation of your torso can translate into improved
posture, more graceful carriage, and a longer, leaner look.
You can use this video in several ways.
First, it provides you with an introduction to the principles of the balance body program
and serves as an instructional guide to balance body mat exercises.
Second, you can use this video to augment the personal training or class instruction
you receive from a fitness specialist.
You can use it in conjunction with the book by Philip Friedman and Gail Eisen, The Pilates
Method of Physical and Mental Conditioning.
In this video, I use the names of the exercises as they appear in that book.
Finally, the mat exercises included on this video can supplement your existing program
of fit and flexible personal reformer conditioning exercises.
Since the mat exercises do not require any equipment, it is convenient to do them when
you travel.
Here are some suggestions for how to use this instructional video for optimal results.
First, position yourself comfortably and watch the entire video all the way through.
Absorb the information.
Do not try any of the exercises just yet, as mental rehearsal will help to prepare you
for action.
Next, discuss this program with your healthcare professional.
Together determine which of the moves are appropriate for you.
Decide which ones can be beneficial to you now and which ones will be more useful later
on.
Then, watch the whole video again.
Follow my instructions as you learn your exercises.
You will then be ready to learn and practice techniques that further enhance the effectiveness
of your exercise, and you can progress comfortably, safely, at your own pace.
Plan to learn one new exercise each week.
Allow yourself another six weeks to refine the exercises and develop familiarity, then
mastery.
Plan on at least six weeks of regular practice three times a week, 20 minutes a day in this
program for maximum benefit.
While you are exercising, use the following techniques to enhance your practice.
Visualize yourself doing the exercises as you listen to my instructions.
Talk to yourself, repeating some of the verbal instructions you learned from this tape.
Use a positive, encouraging tone.
Use your hands to help feel your body position and muscle tone.
Place your fingertips on your lower abdominals to feel the concave contraction of that area.
You can place a hand at the base of your spine underneath your tailbone when you need to
feel that area in contact with the mat.
You can place your palms on your ribs, on your lower ribs, and feel this area descend
as you exhale.
You can place your hands over your hip sockets to feel the relaxed articulation of these
joints.
Move with patience, awareness, and pleasure in order to develop a sense of ease, comfort,
and mastery over time.
Value quality of movement rather than number of repetitions or excessive range of motion.
Let's review how to progress.
Gradually increase the repetitions of your exercises.
Then gradually increase the tempo of each exercise, progressing from slow to moderate
tempo without sacrificing the accuracy of movement, body position, and alignment.
Gradually increase your range of motion, staying within safe, comfortable limits, and gradually
increase the complexity of your exercises, learning more challenging variations.
Warm up and stretch in preparation for each session of balanced body exercises.
Raise your core temperature before stretching by walking briskly prior to exercising.
And stretch gently and thoroughly for at least 10 minutes, both before and after your exercise
program.
Make sure to check with your health care specialist before continuing.
Then join me to learn this balanced body mat program.
Let's discuss the specific use of the abdominal muscles unique to Pilates mat exercises.
You have several layers of abdominal muscle, the one just underneath the skin is the rectus
abdominis.
It spans from the pubic bone straight up through the torso to the base of the rib cage.
The rectus abdominis is responsible primarily for drawing the rib cage down in the direction
of the pelvis.
It also is useful in a bracing fashion for protecting the abdominal organs.
Then it contracts in a convex manner.
Just underneath the rectus abdominis are the external obliques.
They run at an angle this way through the torso, as if you were sliding your hands into
your front hip pockets.
Just underneath the external obliques are the internal obliques.
They run at an angle to the external obliques, as if your hands were coming up this way towards
your vest.
The deepest abdominal muscles are the ones closest to the organs, and those are called
the transverse abdominis.
The fibers of the transverse abdominis run this way in a transverse fashion across your
waist.
The pyramidalis muscle is on top of the rectus abdominis.
It spans from the pubic bone in a triangular fashion up towards your navel.
When all of these abdominal muscles work in conjunction in a concave fashion of contraction,
they can help assist your torso alignment by elongating your spine and supporting your
pelvis on your rib cage.
That looks like this when you lie down.
Practice this with me now with your knees bent and your feet on the floor.
Feel your sacrum, the bones at the base of your spine in contact with the mat.
Keeping the plane of your pelvis parallel to the plane of the ceiling, inhale, and as
you exhale, feel your lower abdominals draw in to meet your spine, and then up in the
direction of the back of your waist.
Inhale, exhale, draw in and up to meet the back of your waist.
This concave contraction of your abdominal wall can either be accomplished keeping your
pelvis in a neutral position, like so, with your sacrum and your lower ribs in contact
with the mat, or you can accompany this activity of your abdominals, this contraction of your
abdominals, with a slight posterior pelvic tilt, and that would look like this.
Exhale, draw in and up, and roll the back of your waist onto the mat.
It will be useful for you to practice the concave contraction of your abdominal muscles,
both maintaining your pelvis in a neutral position, as well as moving into a posterior
pelvic tilt.
When you take this concave abdominal contraction in a seated position, it will assist in the
elongation of your spine and the support of your torso, and that looks like this.
Sitting with your ischium, the bones at the base of your pelvis, aiming right for the
mat, you inhale, and as you exhale, draw your lower abdominals in and up to meet the back
of your waist.
Rather than letting your torso be collapsed and compressed this way, you use your abdominal
muscles to help elongate the curve in your lower spine.
When you translate this action to a kneeling or standing position, you intensify the effects
of your abdominal contraction in order, again, to lengthen your lower spine.
So you can see that the concave contraction of all the layers of your abdominal muscles
not only assists in the support of your low spine, but has aesthetic benefits as well,
giving you a longer, leaner look.
You can practice these abdominal contractions by coordinating your movements with breathing.
It's actually the natural movement and rhythm of inhalation and exhalation combined with
the intensity of abdominal contraction that helps to make Pilates-based exercises so effective.
Let's practice the breathing this way.
In a seated position or kneeling position, place your palms on the sides of your ribs.
Feel your ribcage expand wide to the side as you inhale.
As you exhale, feel the entire circumference of your ribcage funnel in the direction of
your pelvis.
So you're drawing your ribcage closer to your pelvis without compressing your spine.
Keep your total length and just bring the two ends of your abdominal muscles closer
to each other.
That will make it easier for you to renew this concave contraction of your abdominals.
We're not asking that you keep your abdominal muscles rigid the whole time, flat.
There needs to be a natural movement of expansion and contraction together with your inhalation
and exhalation.
Each time that you exhale, you renew your commitment to a concave abdominal contraction.
Each time you exhale, you renew that current of drawing your muscles in and up in the direction
of the back of your waist.
When you're lying down, you can think of drawing the muscles, drawing the area from the base
of your pelvis up out the back top of your head.
So that's just an image to keep in mind.
From the base of the pelvis through the lower abdominals, out through the core of the body
and through the top of the head.
Additionally, when you inhale and exhale, you can use the rhythms of that motion to
help to organize your torso, your jaw, your throat, your sternum and your ribs.
Let's go over that now.
Place your palms on the sides of your rib cage.
Inhale wide to the side.
As you exhale, relax your jaw and your throat and the base of your tongue.
Let your sternum, this front bone at the front of your rib cage, let that area move in the
direction of your pelvis.
It's as if your sternum could soften or yield.
Inhale again.
As you exhale, relax your jaw, your throat, let your shoulder blades drop onto the mat
and your sternum move towards your pelvis.
Your ribs are funneling in the direction of your hip pockets and your abdominals are activating
in and up to meet the back of your waist.
Now I know that's a number of things to do on one exhalation.
It actually takes longer to say them than for you to do them, but I'll do it with one
more voiceover so that you can practice the sequence of events.
Here we go.
Place your palms on the sides of your ribs and inhale.
Exhale, relax your jaw, your throat, your sternum, let your shoulder blades drop onto
the floor, your rib cage funnel towards your pelvis and finally draw your abdominals in
and up in this concave fashion.
And all that happens before the count of one on each of those Pilates exercises.
In exercise one called the hundred, you will practice coordinating your concave abdominal
contraction with breathing.
Inhale gently from your side onto your back.
If you feel that you need to have a cushion or a towel underneath your head to elevate
your head a little bit, feel free.
Feeling the back of your rib cage and your sacrum in contact with the mat, inhale.
Now with your fingertips pressing into your lower abdominals, draw one leg to your chest
without letting your torso buckle up off the floor.
Put your palm behind your thigh and now continuing to contract your abdominals in a concave fashion
keeping your lowest ribs on the mat, also fold at the other hip joint and bring your
knee to your chest.
With your palms on the backs of your thighs in the front of your chest open, inhale, exhale,
relax your jaw, lower your shoulders and take the longest possible arc with your head, neck
and shoulders coming up off the floor and your gaze in the direction of your kneecaps.
Inhale now and as you exhale, lengthen your legs, don't straighten them but lengthen them
in the direction of the ceiling.
Use your arms to help support your head, neck and shoulders here.
Inhale and exhale and inhale, each time you exhale look down at your lower abdominals
and notice that you're renewing your commitment to that concave abdominal contraction.
When your neck gets tired here, rest, roll down your spine and rest.
That will be our first version of the hundred, so called because if you inhale for five counts,
exhale for five counts, ten sets, you would have exhaled and inhaled for one hundred breaths.
The second version of the hundred would be like so, you would start the same with your
palms on the backs of your thighs and you would roll your head, neck and shoulders up
off the mat with your gaze in the direction of your knees.
Next you would lengthen both legs almost straight but knees not locked and gradually as you
feel comfortable, you can lower your legs slightly in the direction of the floor.
Now put your gaze on your lower abdominals and make sure that they are still contracting
in a concave fashion.
The moment that you feel your lower back start to be pulled up off the floor to arch this
way, you know you've gone a little too far, so you need to bring your legs up higher and
bend your knees.
Let's take that version through from the very beginning now, inhale, exhale, contract your
lower abdominals, knee to your chest, contract again other leg to your chest, exhale, roll
your head, neck and shoulders up off the mat, lengthen both legs, lower your legs just slightly
and inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.
Before your neck gets tired, relax your legs and roll down.
One option for helping to support your head on your neck and taking care of neck tension
will be to take the same shape with your torso but just use one hand behind your head to
support your head on your neck here.
The final version of the 100, the most advanced version would look like this, you would start
the same way, lengthen both legs completely and lower your legs all the way in the direction
of the floor until your toes are even with your gaze, then you inhale, exhale and inhale
and exhale.
If you wish, you can vary your arm position so that for the inhalation your palms press
up in the direction of the ceiling and on the exhalation you rotate your palms down
towards the floor, this has the effect of keeping your shoulder area from getting rigid
and you can widen across the front of your chest, palms up and widen between your shoulder
blades, palms down, inhale, concave abdominals, exhale.
To finish this, bend both knees, roll your shoulders, neck and head down to the floor
and lower your feet to the floor.
You can build towards doing the 100 exercise for 100 breaths, inhaling for 5 counts, exhaling
for 5 counts up to a total of 10 cycles.
Exercise 2 called the roll up works on the development of spine articulation in forward
flexion, you'll start on your back, arms by your sides and legs extended even with your
hip joints.
Inhale, as you exhale, relax your jaw and your shoulder blades, lengthen your fingers
in the direction of your toes and take the longest possible arc with your arms in the
direction of the ceiling, pause with your fingers even with your lowest ribs.
Inhale again, as you exhale let your shoulder blades drop onto their mat and continue taking
your arms in an overhead arc, as your arms go overhead you use your intercostals and
your upper abdominals to keep your ribs collected with your pelvis, don't let your rib cage
bow up off the floor in the direction of your arms, instead we're interested in this kind
of tubular contained shape, inhale here, exhale lower your shoulders towards your hips and
towards the floor and continue with this arm arc coming even with your lowest ribs, inhale
ears between your upper arms, reaching further towards the ceiling with your fingers, as
you exhale now, flex your feet and starting at the base of your pelvis, draw your lower
abdominals in concave and curve all the way forward, fingers reaching in the direction
of your toes and navel drawing in and up to meet the back of your waist, so here you are
being pulled in at least two directions at once, forward this way and back this way,
maintaining this shape now, you curl back down your spine, lowering your shoulders away
from your ears and drawing your navel up underneath your rib cage, palms descend in the direction
of the floor, inhale as you lower your legs, your feet, exhale arms front of your lowest
ribs, inhale, shoulder blades drop down on the mat and arms go overhead, inhale here,
exhale ribs descend, arms come forward, inhale ears between your upper arms, exhale roll forward,
inhale here, exhale roll down your spine.
When you're first beginning this exercise, it's wise to help yourself up using your palms
behind your thighs, let's take that variation like this, inhale, exhale arms front of your
lowest ribs, inhale, exhale shoulders down, ribs collected, arms overhead, inhale and
stretch your entire length, exhale, bend both knees, slide your feet along the floor, bring
your palms to the backs of your thighs and using your arms like training wheels here
on a bicycle, you help yourself roll up and then you can stretch forward.
On the way down, bend your knees, put your palms behind the backs of your thighs and
roll down your spine as if you were painting the yellow line on the highway.
Exercise three called the rollover works on spine articulation and hamstring stretch and
trunk flexion, once again you start on your back, extend your legs in line with your hip
joints and have your arms by your sides, let's take this gradually from the least stressful
variation to the more advanced, inhale, exhale, check your abdominal tone as you bring one
knee to your chest, inhale, exhale the same on the other side, place your palms by your
sides now and lengthen both legs slightly in the direction of the ceiling but keep your
knees bent.
Using your palms to help, draw your lower abdominals in and move your ischium, the bones
at the base of your pelvis up along the ceiling.
So you'll draw in your lower abdominals, press on your palms to help you go in this direction
just to a shoulder weight between your shoulders here, don't go so far that you have weight
on your neck, so between your shoulders, if your toes reach the floor that's fine, if
not they'll stay a little above the floor, you open your legs and then you roll down
your spine drawing your lower abdominals concave and easing your back onto the floor, bend
both knees, extend one leg out, extend the other leg out and bring your legs together,
once again that variation, inhale, exhale, one leg comes up, other leg comes up, both
legs extend slightly, contract your abdominals and peel your spine off the floor bone at
the same time, open your legs a little bit just so your knees are about shoulder width
apart and roll down your spine, equal weight on both sides of your back, bend both knees,
one leg slides out, other leg slides out and close, to take this to the next stage you
would exhale and draw both legs to your chest simultaneously, lengthen both legs up and
roll your spine off the floor, if you're comfortable here having your toes touching the floor that's
fine, if not the priority really is to have the weight between your shoulder blades and
avoid stress on your spine, your neck, open both legs and then keeping your legs long
you roll down your back, again bend both knees and slide them out, after you've practiced
three repetitions of this version of the exercise, when you start with your legs together and
finish with them apart, you'll take it in the reverse direction so that you start with
your legs apart, roll over with your legs apart and then close them before the return
trip, as with all of these exercises the priority is on the organization of your torso, your
lower abdominals drawing in up to meet the back of your waist, your shoulders open and
down, eventually you'll practice three repetitions of each version of the exercise for a total
of six, exercise four is called single leg circles, in this exercise you work on the
development of trunk stability and hip articulation, in this exercise when you're lying on your
back you're using the movement of your leg to challenge the stability of your pelvis
and your ribs and your shoulder girdle, first we'll start with very small circles of your
leg, you will have both knees bent and the soles of your feet on the mat in line with
your hip joints, stand on your left foot and the whole left side of your torso, draw your
right knee to your chest keeping your lower abdominals concave, do that on an exhalation,
now lengthen your leg and let your bones rest in your joints, it's as if you had a piece
of fishing line wrapped around your big toe and suspending your leg from that line attached
to the ceiling, now you take very very small, very small circles stirring your thigh bone
in your hip joint, the idea is to do these small circles in both directions feeling the
change of pressure of the back of your pelvis against the mat, awareness to these small
movements of your pelvis will help you when we do the larger circles of your leg coming
up next, practice this also on the other side, then you'll take the second version of the
circle in which you have your leg longer in space straightening through your knee, this
time place one hand under your rib cage on the standing leg side, place the other hand
at your hip joint, keep the back of your rib cage in contact with this hand the whole time,
this is your self monitoring device, with your hand at your hip joint press slightly
in the direction of your tailbone, this way to avoid letting this hip rock up like so,
now you will take your leg slightly across your body in the direction of the floor out
to the side and up, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, what you're watching for and feeling
for are the following, you're watching to see and feeling to see that this leg stays
steady on the mat and doesn't follow the other one, you're also feeling and watching to see
that your rib cage stays in contact with your hand even when your leg is out here to the
side, the tendency will be to roll over in the direction of that leg, instead you'll
need to use your oblique abdominals, your transversus abdominis a little more intensely here to
help keep your trunk stable as your leg moves, finally you'll do this exercise with your
supporting leg extended and you can either keep your hands where they are for self monitoring
or take your arms out to the side on a diagonal from your torso, exhale, inhale, exhale,
inhale, some people are more comfortable with their knees slightly bent and their leg more
relaxed as they circle, these circles are also done, all variations of them are done
with the legs circling the opposite direction, exhale, inhale, exhale and inhale, throughout
these leg circles be aware of the potential serenity of your upper torso, let your shoulder
blades drop onto the mat and the front of your chest be wide open here, it's important
not to get tense in the upper torso just to increase the range of motion of your leg,
exercise five is a fun one, it's called rolling and in this exercise it's one of your few
opportunities to use momentum, let's try it, sit with your knees bent and your heels close
to your pelvis, put your left hand on your right ankle and your right hand on your left
wrist, open your knees just slightly so that you can curve forward and put your cheekbones
between your knees, that's the intention of where we're going, they don't have to be there
but you have the intention of cheekbones between your knees, in order to get there start by
drawing in your lower abdominals in a concave fashion and taking the longest possible curve
up and over this way and forward here, shoulder blades are sliding down your rib cage, the
front of your chest is wide open, walk back just slightly so that your toes come off the
mat, now in this exercise it's especially important what you think, rather than thinking
of rocking back, think of rolling your hips up towards the ceiling like so, exhale to
roll up to a shoulder stand, inhale to roll forward, get that out of the way and let's
take this again, exhale to roll up to a shoulder stand, inhale to roll forward, what we're
interested in you learning to do here is to control the momentum of your roll so that
you avoid putting weight on your neck and head, don't do that and avoid putting weight
on your feet, instead you're going to be rocking between your sacrum and your shoulder
blades, now to control this momentum requires additional concave contraction in a curve
with your lower abdominals and more tone in these cheeks right here, so it's a matter
of three hands clasping together at the base of your pelvis and right into your lower abdominals
and those areas work together to help put on the brakes at the top of your roll and
the bottom of your roll, exhale to roll up to a shoulder stand, inhale to roll forward,
exhale and inhale, there's a tendency here also for the shoulders to rise, instead continually
use the muscles at the base of your scapula to draw your shoulder blades down your back
like feathers coming down a bird's back, after you've done your repetitions maybe five with
your left hand on your right ankle, change hand positions, put your right hand on your
left ankle and your left hand on your right wrist, exercise six called the single leg
stretch is for the development of pelvic and scapular stability, in this exercise you'll
use the movements of your legs to help challenge your ability to keep your abdominals concave
and your scapula steady, you'll be on your back, legs extended and arms by your sides,
inhale, exhale, organize your lower abdominals, your ribs and fold at your right hip joint,
sliding your right foot along the mat until your right thigh comes in the direction of
your torso, put your left hand on top of your right shin just below your right knee, inhale,
exhale let your shoulder blades drop on the mat and slide towards your hip joints and
roll your head, neck and shoulders up off the mat in the longest possible curve here,
longest possible arc and then put your right hand on your right shin just above your right
ankle and your elbows wide to the side and use the strength of your arms to help bring
your torso up a little bit off the floor, so you have the back of your waist on the
ground but your lowest shoulder blades, the lowest part of your shoulder blades will be
just off the mat, inhale, exhale aim your gaze in the direction of your lower abdominals
and lengthen through your extended leg as though you're pulling your leg out of your
hip joint and let your leg hover just off the floor so that your toes are about on the
same level as your eyes, inhale here, as you exhale exchange leg positions, inhale change,
exhale change, inhale change, exhale change, now this looks like a leg exercise and in
a way it is because you are drawing your quadriceps into play here to draw your knee cap towards
your hip joint, so you are contracting your quadriceps but even more than the leg motion
what is most important here what's paramount is the stability of your pelvis assisted by
your abdominals drawing in and up in this concave direction, using your opposite hand
on top just below your knee helps to keep your thigh in parallel, if you use the same
hand as your knee there's a tendency to pull out this way and for your pelvis to be more
unstable so use the opposite hand here to help brace your thigh, it's as if you had
a mermaid's tail and you took turns sliding one leg at a time into that mermaid's tail,
one more note here regarding the position of your neck, take the longest possible curve
for your cervical spine here rather than focusing on a very extreme form of neck flexion this
way it's a little gentler, a little bit of a longer line if you had an elongated circle.
Exercise seven is a double leg stretch you'll recognize the same pattern from the single
leg stretch and this exercise is the more intense challenge to your pelvic rib and scapular
stability once again you start on your back legs extended arms by your sides, inhale place
your hands on your lower abdominals feel that area draw concave and intensify that intention
of your concave abdominals as you bend both knees and slide both feet along the floor
drawing your thighs to your torso, now put your hands on top of your shins about the
middle of your shins, inhale exhale shoulders open and descend, contract the muscles of
your pelvic floor your abdominals, funnel your ribs towards your pelvis and roll your
head neck and shoulders off the floor in the longest possible curve, have your gaze aiming
at your kneecaps, as you inhale here you'll extend all four limbs straight up towards
the ceiling and then exhale and open your arms and your legs away from center till your
feet come about to eye level and fold right in, a common error here is to open to extend
your torso at the same time that you extend your arms and legs instead keep this current
of curve going so it's as if you were going to keep your eyelashes in the same place in
space your torso stays in this curve while your arms and legs extend not back this way
right here, inhale exhale inhale exhale inhale exhale as your legs descend also feel your
lowest ribs descend onto the floor don't let your ribcage come off the mat like so, if
you find that your abdominals are able to outlast your next strength feel free to take
a couple of variations that can help to support your neck and head, one would be the following
when you're taking the the double leg stretch keep one hand behind your head and take the
other hand and arm around the option the other alternative is to take both hands behind your
head and support your neck in the way that's most comfortable for you and take just your
legs descending as you can manage and then bending in this way, exercise eight called
spine stretch is a seated forward bend position yourself in the middle of your mat and extend
your legs so that they are just wider than your shoulders you'll be in a have a triangular
base here and it's important that you be able to sit squarely on your ischium the bones
at the base of your pelvis if you find that this is an uncomfortable position for you
and that your body tends to assume more of a curved position here rather than a more
erect one take some additional height underneath your hips you could do that by folding several
towels and sitting on them or if you happen to have a mat that folds just fold the mat
up and then you can sit on that additional height here so with feet just wider than your
shoulders and positioned on your pelvic bones this way start with your hands palms on the
floor just outside of your hip joints inhale here as you exhale renew your commitment to
the concave contraction of your abdominals in order to support the curve of your low
spine and as you exhale at your shoulder blades slide down your spine and slide your palms
out on the floor keep sliding until just your fingertips are touching inhale here exhale
lengthen your arms further till your fingertips hover off the floor and then reach your arms
out of your shoulder joints this way and pause with your arms extended just below your shoulders
and just forward of them so your arms will be just a little forward that's to keep from
jutting out back this way all right from here without losing any of the length of your torso
fold at your shoulder joints and bring your arms forward in a V till your fingertips are
resting on the floor this whole action here of your arms widening your torso this way
and then increasing the length of your torso is accomplished with that continuous support
of your abdominals in your pelvis and here inhale expanding the whole circumference of
your rib cage as you exhale contract the muscles of your pelvic floor and take the longest
possible curve forward sliding your palms in on the floor and roll forward this way
palms up inhale to come up to vertical stacking your bones and exhale it's as if you were
going to go up and over before going down that carnival ride called the zipper that's
the shape you want to make up and over it's as if you were going to dive down inside your
shirt or your leotard without sacrificing the dimension of width here so it's drawing
up this way over the top down the front shoulders are still wide and shoulder blades are down
curving forward here again this going several directions at once I'm sure more than two
by now you're drawing up and back this way down and forward here and it's very important
to maintain this shape rather than distort the shape into this one we're not going here
but more abdominals are curved up and in inhale to come up exhale and inhale it's as if your
nose were going to go back in the direction of your tailbone nose towards your tailbone
here not chin towards the floor inhale to come up so this is as much as for spine articulation
and stretch of the muscles of your torso forward as it is for the abdominal support exercise
nine is more of a balance exercise it's called the open leg rocker and we'll work on spine
articulation inflection part a will be the balance part and part b more of the work with
momentum as we use before in rolling see if your mat is folded now or if you have a height
underneath where your hips used to be get rid of that and sit on the forward part of
your mat because you'll be rolling backwards as in the rolling exercise activate your abdominals
and roll your pelvis backwards just a bit so you can balance on your sacrum have your
hands on top of your ankles have your toes hovering off the floor knees are just wider
than your shoulders inhale and lengthen your legs they don't have to straighten but do
lengthen your knees inhale exhale inhale exhale now like many Pilates based mat exercises
this requires a coordinated combination of strength and flexibility strength control
and range of motion it also works more readily for some different body proportions than it
does for others so find the position which is most comfortable most reasonable for you
it may be that having your hands on your ankles is not an easy possibility so feel free to
place your hands on your shins here or on your calves if that's more comfortable for
you what we're interested in is you being able to maintain this position of your pelvis
and of your spine as you open your legs about shoulder width then you close them together
and open and then come down and as usual we're interested in more than just one expertise
we're interested in your being able to stay wide across the front of your torso and to
keep your shoulders stable on your rib cage so the movement occurs at your hip joints
and not at your shoulder joints and neck all right moving on now and taking this shape
into a roll we're going to use some momentum inhale exhale and roll up to a shoulder stand
and inhale to come up almost okay exhale inhale as before with the rolling exercise don't
go all the way to your neck and head here but instead stay suspended taking your pelvis
up towards the ceiling and then return here as you could see from that almost unsuccessful
attempt this is an integrated coordination of the use of your abdominals together with
your gluteal muscles the muscles of the backs of your legs exercise 10 called spine twist
is another seated exercise that works on trunk rotation many of the principles that you practiced
in the seated spine stretch will hold true as well also if you'd like some height underneath
your pelvis fold the mat again or place some towels underneath your hips sit with your
feet just wider than your shoulders and have the backs of your heels in contact with the
floor if you'd like to straighten your knees and it's comfortable for you do that and activate
your quadriceps drawing your kneecaps towards your hip joints again refresh your ability
to sit on your ischium here neither forward nor back and place your palms just outside
of your hips on the floor use your lower abdominals even contract the muscles at the base of your
pelvis your pelvic floor and draw them in and up to meet the back of your waist so that
your lower spine is this curve in your lower back is elongated it's not exaggerated forward
neither is it obliterated it's just supported lengthened here shoulders the front of your
chest is wide open your shoulders are down your back inhale exhale again slide your
palms out along the floor slide your fingertips out along the floor slide your arms out to
the side in space till they come to rest just below and just forward of your shoulders now
without compressing your spine at all without losing any length of your trunk fold at your
elbows and clasp your wrists one hand to the opposite wrist in this position now anchor
your ischium the base of your pelvis on the ground and exhale lengthen your torso and
rotate keep your wrists right in front of your lowest part of your sternum each time
you exhale renew the anchoring of your pelvis to the floor and rotate a bit further keeping
this relationship inhale exhale and rotate as you do this it's as if you're wringing
out your torso from the inside the core of your torso is being rotated there's a tendency
of course to lift the opposite to lift the back hip off off the floor instead sit down
there with it there's a tendency also to close the back shoulder keep it open and down when
you go get around about as much as you feel you're going to I'm cheating madly here sorry
when you get around as much as you feel you're going to then open your arms exhale and continue
the rotation neither leaning backwards nor forward just going straight up exhale and
rotate when you feel you're not going to go any further then take the back hand or take
the hand which you're facing turn it upwards and rotate a little more pressing your shoulders
down and renewing your commitment to sitting up bringing out your torso then bring the
whole shape back to center and change your grasp here and take the other side exhaling
keeping this relationship to your sternum lengthening your arms turning one palm up
and rotate come back through center exercise 11 is called the swan it's the first exercise
that we're going to introduce in this series in which you use your spine in extension open
your mat and finally it's time to be on your front have your palms on the mat at your shoulders
inhale exhale even though you can't see it maybe you'll be able to feel it feel your
lower abdominals drawing in and up to meet the back of your waist the front of your pelvis
the bones of your issue the bones of your ilium are intending to be in contact with
the mat and your pubic bone is also but lift your abdominals up as if your navel weren't
going to be able to touch the floor exhale shoulders descend down your back and slide
your gaze along the floor along the wall in front of you and come up with your spine as
much as you can keeping your lowest ribs in contact with the mat inhale exhale continue
your gaze sliding up the wall press your palms into the mat keep lifting your abdominals
don't let this happen keep lifting your abdominals so the back of your waist is long and supported
here come as high as you can keeping your elbows bent here inhale exhale your gaze
slides along the wall slides along the floor and comes back to rest on the floor just in
line with your nose inhale exhale again press your shoulder blades down your back and take
the longest possible arc with your spine lifting your navel up off the mat come just to here
lifting your navel up off the mat even more and come up higher if you can keep the shape
of your spine and extend your arms at the same time that would be fine what's important
here is that you keep your abdominal support when you press up it's not alright to let
your back sag and let your shoulders come up like this from here again you descend this
way finally if you'd like to go further and enhance the momentum the exercise would look
like this inhale exhale inhale exhale and from here you will rock forward and press
up rock forward and up keep your gaze forward to the wall in front of you don't let it become
what I call an orthodontic special by pressing your teeth to the mat keep them forward as
you do this it's again a coordinated effort with your lower abdominals and your gluteals
the muscles of your hamstrings here so really all the muscles along the back of your torso
and your legs are active after you finish this exercise you compress up to a kneeling
position lift your waist in the direction of the ceiling and you may if you wish lengthen
your torso so that your heels hips go in the direction of your heels.
Exercise 12 is another seated exercise it was named the saw and I'll explain why that
is in a moment it's a seated spine articulation exercise that works on rotation and forward
flexion like the other seated exercises you may wish to have some height under your pelvis
you'll set yourself up in the same way as before legs straight just a little wider than
your shoulders backs of your heels in contact with the floor and as much tone as you'd like
to maintain in your quadriceps again you place your palms on the floor just outside of your
hips this exercise is involves many of the principles you did with the forward flexion
here for the spine stretch as well as a lot of the principles used in the rotation exercise
we're going to combine forward flexion with rotation to look like so inhale exhale slide
your palms along the floor slide your fingertips along the floor reach your arms out wide to
the side and from here you will rotate so that your torso faces one leg and your arm
is parallel to the other now from here you're going to rotate further and curve forward
it's as if this little finger we're going to saw against this little toe furthermore
it's as if this ear we're going to listen to this hip joint like so rotate exhale inhale
exhale now just before you curl forward give extra strength to your abdominal lift here
so that you can help keep the bones of your pelvis I should show the other side so you
can help keep the bones of your pelvis on the mat it's a tendency always to let this
side hike up keep anchored here there's another tendency to take the exercise as a forward
stretch this way rather than a curve this way in addition to requiring strength of your
lower abdominals this gives particularly nice stretch to the area of the quadratus lumborum
the muscles that goes between the base of the pelvis and the top of the pelvis and the
base of the rib cage here this arm can be towards the ceiling as much as possible and
palm aiming towards your front foot exercise 13 is called single leg kick it's an exercise
that works on pelvic trunk and scapular stability but this time in extension rather than in
so much flexion unfold your mat and position yourself on your front have your elbows just
below your shoulders and clasp your fingers together pressing your forearms into your
mat have your legs close together and use your abdominals so that your your pelvis is
lifted up off the floor you'll maintain this position shoulders down as you exhale and
bring your heel towards your hip
for some people this may be uncomfortable for their knees so in that case you can use
a towel or foam cushion and place them below your knees here a common error in this position
is to let your let the ribs splay forward here instead use your entire abdominal wall
as well as your intercostal muscles and collect your ribs in that kind of tubular containment
principle again you will also keep a significant amount of tone in these cheeks here your lower
gluteal muscles and your hamstrings
exercise 14 called double leg kick involves trunk and hip extension you'll be on your
front and turn your head to one side so you can rest your cheek against the mat cross
the fingers of one hand with the fingers of the other and place your hands in the small
of your back widen between your shoulder blades aiming your elbows in the direction of the
mat bring your legs quite close together and activate your abdominals again to draw your
navel in and up to meet the back of your waist so now your belly button won't quite be touching
the floor lifted off the floor just a bit inhale as you exhale press your pubic bone
into the mat and draw your heels in the direction of your hips three times inhale lengthen your
legs lengthen your arms draw your shoulder blades together and bring your upper spine
up off the mat now turn your head to the other side and repeat inhale exhale inhale and exhale
throughout this exercise you're keeping quite a bit of tone in your lower gluteal muscles
and in your hamstrings exercise 15 was called by Joseph Pilates neck pull it works on spine
articulation inflection and we'll do several variations of it lie on your back legs extended
arms by your side place your hands at the base of your skull to support your neck here
and have your legs about hip joint width apart and extended inhale exhale lower your shoulders
away from your ears and funnel your ribs in the direction of your pelvis this is a very
challenging exercise so it's best to set it up well inhale and take the longest possible
arc to bring your head neck and upper shoulders off the mat now flex your feet send your heels
out towards the wall below you and on this exhalation curl forward lengthening through
your legs keeping your elbows wide open and roll right forward nose in the direction of
your tailbone inhale lengthen your whole spine come up to vertical and as you exhale take
the longest possible curve on the way down start the base of your pelvis lift right up
this way and roll down your spine widening across your back and dropping your ribs through
widening and dropping here widening and dropping all the way down inhale relax your ankles
inhale inhale to come up exhale inhale to lengthen your whole torso from here move
your whole torso up and back to vertical and again take the longest possible curve on the
way down reaching out through your heels drawing in up here and widening across the back of
your waist to come all the way down it's just fine to take the same help same assistance
that you did in the roll-up so you can bend both knees take your palms on the backs of
your thighs help yourself up here then recover your position take this whole shape on the
way up help yourself down this way and come back really far more important in each of
these exercises to make whatever modifications you feel comfortable with in order to assist
in the smooth articulation of your spine because accurate practice right off the bat upfront
will help make your progress go more quickly if you really must take a more advanced version
of the neck pull use a pole and use it like so have the pole in front of your elbows and
your hands behind your head this will ensure that your elbows stay wide open to the side
and then the same rules apply just only more so inhale to come forward exhale let your
whole pelvis drop down onto the mat let your lower ribs drop down onto the mat and using
that sense of leverage exhale and curl forward all the way over this way lengthen your spine
from the base of your tailbone up through the top of your head and then lengthening
through your heels take the longest possible curve on the way down.
This exercise that I just finished is extremely challenging so please master the other variations
thoroughly before you attempt this one with the pole.
Exercise 16 is known as side kick on your side you'll work on pelvic trunk and scapular
stability it looks like this align yourself on your side on your mat it's as if you were
going to be balancing on a ruler's edge with your palm in front of your lowest ribs on
the mat lean forward onto your front hand and let your head rest on your upper arm pike
slightly at your hip joint so that you bring both legs a little bit forward from the center
axis on your from your hip joints now you're in an implied triangle position here.
As you exhale lift your ribs and your waist up off the mat and slide your upper elbow
in just slightly so you can rest the side of your skull on your palm you'll be resting
on the part of your arm that is the flat part just above your elbow not on the point of
your elbow.
Here you are leaning forward onto your front hand now your top leg is going to hover parallel
to the floor in line with your hip joint as you exhale flex your top foot draw your toes
towards your knee and from your hip joint moving from your hip joint you're going to
sweep this leg forward parallel to the floor now lengthen through your foot and take the
longest possible stretch through your leg inhaling on the way back flex your foot exhale
to come forward point and inhale to go back several things are important here one that
you keep your torso steady it neither falls back when your leg goes forward nor falls
forward when your leg goes back this may look like a leg exercise in which we value the
sweep of the leg but actually the leg is just moving to challenge the torso to stay
in one place rather like Alice in Wonderland you have to work very hard to stay in the
same place exhale forward inhale now from right here as you take your leg back it's
as if you're going to zip up from your pubic bone to your navel drawing your pubic bone
up underneath your rib cage here so when your leg goes back it's because you're getting
additional stretch at the front of your and your hip flexors here rather than distorting
your low spine to take your leg back zip up here exhale to come forward inhale to go back
to take this for a further challenge take your front hand off the mat and put it on
the side of your skull then the same rules apply but as usual only more so exhale and
bring your leg forward expect not to come so far this time lengthen through your whole
leg and then take your leg back drawing your ribs and pelvis in connection here lengthen
through your whole leg bring your heel forward in space lengthen through that leg again and
take your leg back practice this exercise on both sides exercise 17 is called swimming
in this exercise you work on trunk and hip strengthening in extension arrange yourself
on your front lengthen your arms in front of you and lengthen your legs below you can
have your forehead on the mat here or just slightly off inhale as you exhale lengthen
your right arm and your left leg so much that they hover just barely off the floor in addition
to this arm and leg movement which you can see easily add to your exercise the idea that
you're lifting your navel up off the floor to meet the back of your waist so if you were
fingerprinting with your torso there wouldn't be any paint underneath your navel on the
mat exhale one arm in the opposite leg hover just off the mat what we're interested in
here is length not height lower than inhaling exhale lengthen your left arm and your right
leg so much so that they hover just off the mat someone's pulling your leg and pulling
your arm inhale to come down exhale shoulders descend your limbs reach out now you're going
to switch switch and switch when you do this minimize the amount of side to side roll of
your pelvis instead keep your ribs and your pelvis steady and move your limbs from their
respective joints always lengthening out before you come up lengthening out before you come
up now rhythmically the original exercise of swimming actually has a different pace
a different rhythm here and we would start with one leg in the opposite arm up and then
go like so inhale exhale inhale exhale inhale exhale if you wish you can lengthen your breath
phrase exhale inhale and as you go you continually renew your abdominal strength lifting your
navel up off the mat to meet the back of your waist again after you finish this one you
can curve your spine in the opposite direction and sit your heels hips over your heels exercise
18 is called leg pull front this is a total body strength and stability exercise in which
you use hip extension it looks like this you'll have your palms on the mat just below your
shoulders and press through your heels what we're interested in here is having your entire
torso in one long diagonal from your heels out through the top of your head now maintaining
the position of your pelvis in space you will as before lengthen your legs so much so that
it hovers off the ground without disrupting the position of your pelvis and then bring
your leg back down inhale exhale lengthen through your leg and hover off the floor keeping
your pelvis steady just as the side kick exercise this requires a fair amount of stretch in
your hip flexors as well as strength in your hip extenders extensors so it's a combination
exercise like many of these total body strength exercises are let's look at it again line
yourself up hands underneath your shoulders keep your elbows just slightly bent don't
let them lock into hyperextension press your shoulder blades down your back use tone in
your cheeks in your gluteals and renewing all of those in addition to your center strength
lengthen this whole leg to come up and off the floor keeping your hip bones level exhale
reach out lengthen through the back top of your head so from toes out through the back
top of your head come down and rest now exercise 18 the leg pull front and exercise 19 leg
pull are the only two closed kinetic chain exercises in this series in this closed chain
position we have the you have your palms weight bearing in contact with a stable surface and
also you have your feet weight bearing in contact with a stable surface the majority
of exercises we've done today are open kinetic chain exercises that are very good for pelvic
strength and torso stability but they don't go that extra stage of conditioning which
the closed kinetic chain option offers you so for the leg pull you'll be with your back
to the floor position your hands also below your shoulders but on the mat but in this
case you can arrange your arms and wrists for the position that's best for your shoulders
and least stressful for your wrists that's an individual choice here then lengthen your
whole torso again to this position this long diagonal position from your feet out through
the top of your head now maintaining this position of your torso you will and your
pelvis you will lift one leg off the mat and bring it back down stabilize and then the
other leg comes off the mat and come down this exercise requires that you use a lot
of hamstring strength and gluteal strength in order to keep your pelvis steady in space
with the breathing exhale inhale exhale inhale exhale inhale and last time and rest.
Exercise 20 called the seal is another rolling exercise that's a little more fun because
you have the opportunity to challenge yourself with the momentum with your momentum and catch
it right at the arc of the movement position yourself at the front edge of your mat wrap
your elbows behind your knees and your hands your fingers lightly touching the tops of
your feet roll back here so that you're hovering just above the mat with your toes have your
knees just wider than your shoulders we're not interested in a big spread here but a
rather contained angle lift your lower abdominals in enough to meet the back of your waist and
take this long this possible curve with your neck aiming your gaze probably at your feet
you can also try aiming your gaze at your lower abdominals as you exhale deepen the
curve the contraction of your lower abdominals and your low spine and that will give you
just the amount of momentum you need to roll up to a shoulder stand exhale clap your feet
together three times and inhale come forward clap clap clap exhale widen between your shoulder
blades inhale exhale inhale now to control your momentum you're using the muscles at
the base of your pelvis and your abdominals like three hands clasping and then to come
back up you let your hips drop to the mat and give extra strength in with your abdominals
widening the back of your waist and between your shoulders as you go and coming forward
it would be ideal here to maintain the distance between your heels and your pubic bone constant
throughout the rolling exercise take a moment to reflect on your progress throughout your
continuing practice value precision of alignment and control of smooth flowing movement that
supports and lengthens your entire body I'm Elizabeth Larkin wishing you a balanced body
for a balanced life.