Jan 10
Intermediate to Advanced
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Jan 06
Shelly Power co-founder of the Polestar Pilates Center, in Miami FL
PROGRAM DESIGN Choosing the best possible sequence of exercises for your clients’ specific needs is addressing how to layer the intensity of the program. United Pilates’ Mat Blog will provided you with the knowledge and skill to design a program that dresses the lifestyle need of each individual client.
Client Assessment is key to obtaining the necessary information to design a client’s program and to guide the client toward their goals in the safest and most effective manner.
New clients should start with a solid foundation upon which to then layer movement patterns to build intensity. Of course, the Principles of Pilates must be thoroughly understood by the client and then continually reinforced throughout each and every session.
Clients come from many different backgrounds, levels of fitness, health histories, physical abilities, and personalities. Even the most elite of athletes will need to start their first session with the fundamentals. Once the groundwork has been laid, then the unique program design will reveal itself depending upon the client’s goals, abilities, and health history.
As a general rule of thumb, teaching the client alignment and trunk stability via Core Control would be the safest way to begin the first session. Trunk stability encompasses maintaining neutral spine with core engagement (or core control) and then layering movement from the legs while emphasizing hip disassociation, and then movement from the arms while emphasizing shoulder disassociation, and eventually, integrating core engagement with leg and arm movements simultaneously.
Jul 24
The Hundred is a classic Pilates Mat exercise. It is one of the first exercise performed at the beginning of many Pilates Mat class to warm-up the abdominals, lungs, muscles and get your blood oxygenated.
It requires that you coordinate your breath with the pulsing movement of the arms (100 times 10×10) while engaging your core and extending your legs away from your body. Be warned the Pilates Mat exercise it is much to difficult for beginners in its classical form with the legs lengthened out at a 45 degree angle to the floor for 10×10 = 100 reapportions.
A qualified Pilates teacher will modify the Pilates Hundred to address the fitness level of each student.
If you begin to shake and loose control you need to modify the exercise to prevent strain and possible injury.
SPINAL ARTICULATION: FLEXION WITH SHOULDER DISASSOCIATION
Contraindications: Neck, shoulder, lower back injuries, and osteoporosis
Starting Body Position: Supine
- Basic: Knees and hips flexed 90 degrees with feet off of the floor (“table top”)
- Intermediate: Knees extended with 90 degrees hip flexion
- Advanced: Legs extended 45 degrees or less hip flexion (eyes and toes on same level)
- Trunk flexion; top of the head to the ceiling; eye gaze to the lower abdominals
- Arms by sides of trunk with palms facing the floor
- Basic students or special populations may need to imprint lumbar spine to mat (classical) or place feet on floor to begin with.
Action
- Pump arms firmly from the shoulders up and down 6 – 8 inches above the floor
- Inhale for five pumps of the arms
- Exhale for five pumps of the arms
Repetitions Build endurance to “100 Breaths” (10 sets of 10 pumps for 10 breath cycles)
Purpose
- Warm-up: Pumping of the arms increases circulation of freshly oxygenated blood
- Strengthens powerhouse muscles
- Shoulder Disassociation; conditions posterior shoulder musculature
- Pelvic-lumbar stability
- Strengthens neck flexors
Watchpoints
- Chin jutting or neck strain
- Shoulder elevation or protraction
- Hyperlordosis of lumbar spine for intermediate and advanced levels
- Flapping from the wrists or elbows vs pumping from the shoulder joint
- Lack of core strength/control: No height from the upper trunk or head; movement from head and trunk
Cues
- “As you exhale, pull your navel through your spine.”
- “Top of your head to the ceiling; look at your belly and scoop it behind your hip bones!”
- “Imagine you are slapping your arms and hands into water.”
- “Use your powerhouse to squeeze every atom of carbon dioxide from your lungs!”
SPINAL ARTICULATION: FLEXION WITH SHOULDER DISASSOCIATION
HUNDRED
Basic to Advanced
Contraindications: Neck, shoulder, lower back injuries, and osteoporosis
Starting Body Position: Supine
- Basic: Knees and hips flexed 90 degrees with feet off of the floor (“table top”)
- Intermediate: Knees extended with 90 degrees hip flexion
- Advanced: Legs extended 45 degrees or less hip flexion (eyes and toes on same level)
- Trunk flexion; top of the head to the ceiling; eye gaze to the lower abdominals
- Arms by sides of trunk with palms facing the floor
- Basic students or special populations may need to imprint lumbar spine to mat or place feet on floor
Action
- Pump arms firmly from the shoulders up and down 6 – 8 inches above the floor
- Inhale for five pumps of the arms
- Exhale for five pumps of the arms
Repetitions Build endurance to “100 Breaths” (10 sets of 10 pumps for 10 breath cycles)
Purpose
- Warm-up: Pumping of the arms increases circulation of freshly oxygenated blood
- Strengthens powerhouse muscles
- Shoulder Disassociation; conditions posterior shoulder musculature
- Pelvic-lumbar stability
- Strengthens neck flexors
Watchpoints
- Chin jutting or neck strain
- Shoulder elevation or protraction
- Hyperlordosis of lumbar spine for intermediate and advanced levels
- Flapping from the wrists or elbows vs pumping from the shoulder joint
- Lack of core strength/control: No height from the upper trunk or head; movement from head and trunk
Cues
- “As you exhale, pull your navel through your spine.”
- “Top of your head to the ceiling; look at your belly and scoop it behind your hip bones!”
- “Imagine you are slapping your arms and hands into water.”
- “Use your powerhouse to squeeze every atom of carbon dioxide from your lungs!”
