Okay, here we go! Because I don't trust that I will have the time to post early in the morning, I will be posting the night before. Please excuse that I will be using a template. I noticed that researching and putting these posts together is quite a bit more work than I expected. Well, maybe I just keep going down rabbit holes, especially on the standing variations (you'll see below 😉). It's all so fascinating! However, if something isn't working for you or something is missing, please let me know. And, of course, if you find something else that's helping you with a particular exercise, please share! I am not a Pilates teacher, so I am "just" sharing my joy of the exercises with you...
So let's start! Our very first Pilates exercise in the March MATness is The Hundred!
The Hundred is not only the first exercise in the sequence, it’s also a warm-up. So, if you’re not warmed up for the exercise of the day (because, say, you went on a run prior to checking it out), you can always start with The Hundred.
Now you have options:
Follow Joe’s instructions from the excerpt from Return to Life. The photos show how you’d do it if you’d invented the method and practiced it for a very long time (Pilates is about 60 years old on them…). According to John Steele, Joe encouraged his students to modify. He did not teach modification, so students experimented with modifications. In other words, they had to find the modification that worked for them that day.
Follow instructions from Online Pilates Classes – modifications are at the end of the video (if you go to the YouTube version, you’ll find chapters in the text box below the video): onlinepilatesclasses.com/pi...
Benjamin Degenhardt's company 360° Pilates is also sharing their videos during this month. These videos just show the move as instructed by Joe in his book Return to Life based on Degenhardt's research. The Hundred is now up at 360pilates.com/marchmatness/ (I don't yet know if they'll keep all the exercises there or if they'll just share the one of the day...)
Another set of instructions, including a video, are here (note that this is already a modification… you don’t have to lay down after each set of 5 in- and 5 out-breaths): georgewatts.org/lesson-plan...
STANDING VARIATION VARIATIONS (or one of the rabbit holes...)
If you take a look at this image - doctorlib.info/yoga/pilates... – you can also imagine how to do the standing variation. Just turn the body, that is, lean against a wall with your feet in front of you (if you wish slightly turned out into a Pilates V). Stretch your arms next to your body. Then move your chin toward your chest by moving your head and shoulders away from the wall, like you were trying to touch your toes with you outstretched arms. Then do the pumping: 5 breaths out, 5 breaths in while moving your arms slightly further out and back toward the wall. Do 10 cycles of these pumps. (The image comes from this page: doctorlib.info/yoga/pilates... ).
You can also do this leaning against a wall with your feet in front of you (if you wish, slightly turned out into a Pilates V). Stretch your arms next to your body. Then move your chin toward your chest by moving your head and shoulders away from the wall, like you were trying to touch your toes with you outstretched arms. Then do the pumping: 5 breaths out, 5 breaths in while moving your arms slightly further out and back toward the wall. Do 10 cycles of these pumps.
This is a celebration of the Pilates Mat system, so let’s keep smiling as we attempt to follow Joe’s instructions! (Or just crack up laughing at our attempts...)
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Photo from Return to Life as published by Presentation Dynamics. Photos are far better reproduced in the paperback published by the Pilates Method Alliance in 2010, which isn’t available electronically.
And thanks for mentioning that they can be used as a warmup. I wasn’t quite sure when in the day I would plan them in but reading your post I decided that I’ll be doing these as a warmup before rowing. I always row between 5 and 6pm, so my first one will be today at 5pm.
Can’t wait! (And I see the Pilates instructors in the videos have those fancy Pilates mats! If you do come across a video that explains the different usages between a yoga and Pilates mat, I’d be interested in seeing it)
I think the differences in those various mats are mainly: Thickness and price. I can use the Pilates mat in the studio. They are nice and comfortable. For the full corkscrew (March 10th 😉) and a few other exercises, you can grab onto the Pilates mat to get more stability. And you'll see tomorrow that there's a strap you can use on them, too. I've eyed them before and decided that these benefits are just not worth the price - at least for my home practice since I can also use a studio (and get some walking in while I commute there!)
Thanks for this post ChannelRunner2 , I can't remember the last time even the thought of regular exercise, entered my head. I'm going to try and do what I can during this year's March MATness .Thanks for all your input, info and especially all those links. I know that it takes ages to find the links and then post them.
I'm trying the standing 100's today. Tbh I'm so unfit I may have to do the standing 50's x 2 🤭
According to John Steele who learned from Joe Pilates himself, Joe was a firm believer in something is better than nothing! So, if you do a 10s today that'll be your Hundred for today!
First day done, well I had a go and that's what counts. Even the counting is a problem for me with this one😊 I have done this before with my zoom Pilates class, usually without lifting my head as I get neck ache. I followed along with the first link, my legs were a lot higher and lowered my head part way through.Thanks so much for posting this I can imagine there is loads of preparation before posting, never mind the danger of the rabbit holes😂
Ooo well done dijep, I use my fingers for counting, too. Or the good old choreographers count, 1-234,2-234, 3-234. Whatever works for you. My 2 cats join in
And according to legend, it was the cats 🐈⬛ on the Isle of Man where Pilates was detained during World War I that inspired him to develop his exercise system.
Of course, there's no way of verifying that (and even if he claimed as such it might not be true... he sometimes inflated his age, for example, so his physical feats would look even more impressive...)
So in the end I didn’t use them as warmup before a row, as I initially thought I would, I just didn’t have time as I was rowing a session live with some others. So I ended up doing these after I stretched and cooled down .
But I think they might have felt just about doable exactly because I was warmed up. And as my row was pretty intense, this felt not quite as intense as I remembered these to be. I have done these before in Pilates, so it was a great reconnect!
Having said that, my legs were quite high, and my arms pumped probably faster than hers, and they did feel like falling off towards the end.
And boy can I feel it in my core.
Well done everyone! And thanks to ChannelRunner2 for starting us off to what I’m sure will be an exciting March!
I just did a Hundred since I realized I needed a little movement before posting day 2. It felt really nice! It's such an invigorating exercise. I want to experiment around with the leg height as I go through this month since I noticed that my lower back wasn't always connected with the mat as much as I would like it to. There's always more to explore with these exercises!
Thanks so much for all your hard work here CR2.I've done mat pilates for many years now, but found 100 of these, straight off the bat, too much 😍 That put me in my place 🤣 Still 60+ and then a break for my back and a second set to finish the 100. Will be interesting to see if that improves if I can keep this up on a daily basis for a month 😊
Again, thank you so much for all your effort and infectious enthusiasm 🙏
🤣 I've been very tempted to call on the teacher during a class "hey, could you check my form please, this can't be this easy!" I haven't done it yet... And, yes, it's a start! I've been doing Pilates for a bit over 3 years now and am fascinated by how much nuance there is in each exercise. It seems like there's always more to learn - and we have to start somewhere! 🥳
Oh that reminds of me in a yoga class some years back, where I thought I was doing quite well, and then the teacher does her tour of the class and "adjusts" my pose and wow, suddenly it's not so easy! But I suppose that's how you learn isn't it. It's quite hard on your own at home, whether it's yoga or pilates, because when you're all twisted up like a pretzel you can't really see how you are doing! 😃
How could I have forgotten the Pilatesbear! If you're on Instagram, check out their Hundred (with a little screenshot preview here...): instagram.com/p/CpdD6IWAyjM/
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