This week’s recap of Pilates movements from Joseph H. Pilates RETURN TO LIFE book in the original order includes:
- March 20th – The Side Kick – Strengthen your hips, lateral torso and develop stability in a side-lying position.
- March 21st – The Teaser – Strengthen your core, hip flexors, inner thighs, quads and develop coordination & balance while challenging your control of torso & legs. The elbows down and hands down variations improve scapular stability.
- March 22nd – The Hip Twist – Same benefits as above with added rotation.
- March 23rd – Swimming – *****Superstar for low bone density*****Strengthen your back & hip extensors.
- March 24th – The Leg Pull Front & Back – Your entire body is working in this one!
- March 25th – The Side Kick Kneeling – Strengthen your hips & shoulders while improving balance.
- March 26th – The Side Bend – Strengthen your side body, shoulder girdle and improve your core control, balance & coordination.
Props I use:
- Folded-up bath towel to pad my pelvis and ribs
- Yoga block
Optional props:
- Foam roller
- Push-up handles or hexagonal metal weights
All of the exercises are taught with low bone density in mind and are modified for safety. It’s really important to include back strengthening exercises if you have osteopenia or osteoporosis and The Swimming is a great exercise for those with low bone density. They are also great for those looking to improve back-body strength.
Explore below and let me know which one is your favorite down in the comments!
Remember to go back to the previous posts to see the exercise tutorials from the beginning which is key to building up or warming up the body for the following exercises in the Mat Pilates sequence.
March 20th – The Side Kick: 6-10 reps
I like to use the back of my mat as a guide to line up my body. Shoulders are stacked, hips are stacked and feet are stacked. I’ve got a tendency to take my head forward, but I really want the neck long and throat back to keep the alignment. I try to keep the pelvis still and just the working leg moving.
UPPER BODY SETUPS:
- laying your arm down & placing your head on top. You can use a pillow especially for those who have neck, shoulder, wrist or elbow issues.
- Prop head up on hand with the elbow on the mat, the other hand goes on the mat in front for balance
- Both hands behind head, just balancing on the elbow
- On the elbow in lateral flexion
- Greater bone-building option up on elbow in a side plank
LOWER BODY SETUPS:
- The bottom leg can bend into 90 degrees to create a kickstand and more balance support
- Bottom leg towards the front edge of the mat with toes tucked under to create more support
- Some people have pain or discomfort lying on their side because of the bony greater trochanter, an option would be to pad around it making a donut to see if it can relieve the discomfort or you can just take it up into a hoover and challenge yourself!
MOVEMENT: Reach your leg, keeping it the same height as you kick on an inhale (sniffing breath), and exhale to take the leg back.
Repeat on the other side, can stretch the hip as a transition.
This exercise strengthens all around the hips, side body and helps to develop stability in a side-lying position. The hips are important to strengthen for those with low bone density as it’s a common fracture site.
March 21st – The Teaser: 3-6 reps
We just finished up The Side Kick, I’ll show 3 different variations of a low bone density safe Teaser.
SETUP 1 – Down on elbows
The spine position is important, think of lifting up vs dumping down and find a neutral pelvis position. For me, I’ve got to take my pubic bone forward a bit.
- Float one leg up to a tabletop position and hold.
- Float the other leg up to a tabletop position to meet the first leg.
- Try to straighten out one leg at a time.
- Add on lowering the leg after you straighten.
- Try both legs extended, lower, and lift.
- Try to get one hand up and the other. I had to bend my knees to get that to happen in my body.
SETUP 2- Up on hands to support
Try all the progressions from above.
SETUP 3-Using the hands behind the thighs, hinge back slightly and curl just the tail keeping neutral in the pelvis still.
Play around with all the progressions to see where you can get while lifting through the spine and staying in a neutral pelvis position.
If you have low back/SI joint issues or hip flexor strains: Use caution, listen to your body, and if anything is aggravated avoid it to stay safe.
March 22nd – The Hip Twist: 3-6 reps
After The Teaser, is The Hip Twist. I call them hip circles.
SETUP 1: The same beginning version of The Teaser down on the elbows is where I begin. I play around with my pelvis to find my neutral, curl the tail just a bit to feel that connection.
MOVEMENT: Take one leg into a tabletop position and the other leg up to meet the first. Take both legs to the side on an inhale and back to center on an exhale. To progress, try to extend one leg up as you are to the side and see how that feels. Progressing more is to extend both legs to straight and take the legs side to side. You can then go into circles with the range that feels comfortable to you keeping the pelvis neutral.
SETUP 2: The next position I show is up on my hands. I’ve got to organize my shoulder blades, get my neck long and find my pelvis placement in this position.
Try the same progressions as above.
If you have low back/SI joint issues or hip flexor strains: Use caution, listen to your body, and if anything is aggravated avoid it to stay safe.
March 23rd – Swimming 15-25 sets
I use a folded-up bath towel to pad my pelvis and ribs.
I start with my forehead on my stacked hands and reach one leg out and alternate to the other leg. I progress to goal post arms and hoover up my head off the mat. Lift one arm and the opposite leg.
I then come up with a thoracic extension and show different arm placements, the overhead being the hardest.
If you have back issues, be sure you can tolerate back extension or avoid.
If you have shoulder injuries: lift the legs only.
March 24th – The Leg Pull Front & Back 4-6 sets
These two exercises are essentially a front plank and a back plank.
The Leg Pull Front:
SETUP 1: When you come out of Swimming you can take a rest pose and then come into all fours. From the all-fours position, you can take one leg to pulse it up twice.
SETUP 2: Step back into a full plank, kick one leg up as the standing foot flexes to move the body back and forth.
My apologies, I call it the control front which is the Reformer version, whoops! Then I call The Leg Pull Back the control back! LOL! I teach this same exercise on the Reformer every week and much less on the mat so my mind isn’t getting the 2 separate names.
The Leg Pull Back:
The back variation is great because you get a good chest opening. I show the feet down version in a back plank to start. The head position is important to keep it comfortable vs letting it hang back.
I show with the legs straight out, where you can use a foam roller under the ankles. I prefer my hand position to be out to the side vs fingers pointing to my bottom. It takes me some organizing of my shoulder girdle to feel set enough to hoover up into the plank.
If you have wrist issues, use push-up handles, hexagonal metal hand weights, or come down onto forearms or place forearms on a raised surface like a sitting box or yoga block.
If you have neck or shoulder issues, the back variation may need to be modified or avoided.
March 25th – The Side Kick Kneeling 6-8 sets
I use a yoga block that helps elevate your hand in case your hips are really tight. Option for a knee pad if pressure on the knees is uncomfortable.
If you have hip, neck, shoulder or wrist issues, you may need to modify or avoid.
SETUP: Lengthen up through the spine and take the arms out to the side Tip-over to one side to bring the hand onto the mat. Or place the yoga block where your hand will land. Try to stack your hip right over your knee to feel a stretch,
MOVEMENT: You can play with going side to side first. Once you are in the position, the top leg kicks forward and back. I have to focus a lot on my hip getting open enough to be right above my knee, my head being back in line with my spine and my ribs staying connected.
I’m so thankful to see my progress in this exercise. When I first started I could barely find the start position I was so locked up and tight in my hips.
6-8 sets
March 26th – The Side Bend 4-6 sets
I start with a side lift, a variation of side bend with the elbow down. You can use a pillow or towel if your elbow is sensitive.
SETUP 1: Both legs bent – I stack everything up, hips stacked, shoulders stacked, and think about my spine alignment with my head in line. You can have your top hand down for extra support and if stacking the feet feels uncomfortable you can stagger them.
MOVEMENT: Hoover pelvis
SETUP 2: Bend bottom knee & take arm overhead – you want the underside of your ribs lifting up to support your shoulder joint. I like to have a little external rotation in the upper arm to help.
MOVEMENT: Lift up and take the top arm overhead to lengthen out.
SETUP 3: Staggered stance – both legs are straightened out and the feet are staggered to give a better base of support. Keep spinal alignment in mind, use breath to connect ribs in.
MOVEMENT: Lift both hips up & down, add on the top arm to the ceiling
SETUP 4: Stacked feet – try to add on leg lifts Find the axial elongation and notice if there is a difference between sides to see if there are any imbalances.
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4-6 sets
We are in the home stretch with only 5 days left in March for the last 5 movements to complete March MATness.
Sneak peek of the last exercise tutorials:
March 27th: The Boomerang – It’s a combo move with movements learned earlier in the Mat sequencing
March 28th: The Seal & Crab – These are tricky to convert to safe low bone density exercises
March 29th: The Rocking – I show the modifications and it’ll be a fantastic stretch
March 30th: The Control Balance – Another combo move
March 31st: The Push Up – Wow, you’ll be glad you made it through!
I’m so excited to get all of these tutorials in a YouTube playlist to see it all together and so you can enjoy it!