March MATness Day 17: The Shoulder Bridge

[ChannelRunner2]

It’s March 17 and we’re doing the 18th exercise of the Return to Life Mat series. Yup, I know. Confusing… At least, we’ll be able to put our feet back on the mat today! Well, at least one of them... It’ll also be interesting to explore the differences of the Pilates Bridge and the yoga bridge… For that, you can check out this video from Beth Sandlin at Trifecta Pilates:

youtu.be/TWezZ6veC2I?t=169(Not working as expected?)

Andrea Maida writes about these three exercises from yesterday and today: “High Scissors, High Bicycle and Shoulder Bridge: An advancement of the extension exercises, these 3 exercises build upon what was started with the Single and Double Leg Kicks. Now the front of the entire body gets a stretch, but it’s gonna cost you. Try not to topple over. Aren’t you glad you got in all that strengthening of the upper stomach earlier in the workout? The use of the seat and the back of the lower body will also be a help in the exercises that follow.” (via pilatesandrea.com/on-the-or... ).

As always, if you need to warm-up, do at least The Hundred, maybe all of the previous 12 exercises. Then repeat this exercise 3 times with each leg.

Follow Joe’s instructions from the excerpt from Return to Life. Remember, according to John Steele, Joe encouraged his students to modify. Find out what works for your body today. There are lots of variations possible, including just moving in and out of shoulder bridge.

Instructions from Online Pilates Classes – with suggestions on how to make the exercise easier starting at about 02:06:

youtu.be/proSciSIAtU(Not working as expected?)

You can read more about the exercise and written instructions at the OPC page for it: onlinepilatesclasses.com/pi...

Another set of instructions from the Pilates Lesson Plan, including a video and modification suggestions, are here: georgewatts.org/lesson-plan... (via pilateslessonplans.co.uk/fr... – it’s worth exploring this, too, since there are modification suggestions )

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Instructions especially for us runners (cued to the bridge):

youtu.be/KLlgx2e41_0?t=44(Not working as expected?)

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If you’re struggling with this exercise, check out this video from Andrea Maida:

youtu.be/jj8HbLP-zQk(Not working as expected?)

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Standing variations for exercises 16-20: instagram.com/reel/CZ-Y5k1A...

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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. (See this post for the title page: healthunlocked.com/strength... )

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★ Our March MATness summary page: healthunlocked.com/strength... ★

[RollingPea]

Loving this! My abs are in a state of shock 🫠. I'm finding it best to explore these March MATness moves after a run, because I'm so Uncontrolled, The Hundred won't warm me up! I can only do The Ten 😅 and even that is modified to an easier angle. The 5 Pilates exercises for Runners video is super helpful.

[ChannelRunner2 in reply to RollingPea]

Great job on modifying! 🥳 I didn't realize until I read John Steele's book that Joe was the master modifying (or maybe even just an enabler of modification as he made his students figure things out...). Joe seemed to have been way more interested in us using the muscles he wanted us to use rather than to look a certain way. So, if you're doing a controlled The Ten rather than an uncontrolled The Hundred, he'd be happy! 😊

I've realized that I've been cheating my way through The Hundred while keeping my legs fairly low. Because - guess what - my lower back wasn't on the Mat anymore! So, I've been letting my legs float up a bit until I can keep my lower back on the Mat. That's what this exercise is about, not how low our legs can go!