Lockdown!
So, I’m self-isolating and wondering how to keep active, have a bit of fun and not go stir crazy! The answer of course is Classical Pilates. It’s really easy to do the mat exercises in the comfort of your own home - you don't even need a mat. All you need is comfy clothing, somewhere to lie down and yourself!
We’ll start with some fundamental exercises. These allow us to find the centre of our body and understand how our bodies feel with the movements.
Knee Openings
Lie on your back, knees bent and together. Engage your stomach - pull your stomach back towards the floor and up towards your navel. Engage your back by gently pressing your hands down into the floor. Don't forget a little squeeze of the buttocks without curling your tail off the floor.
Keeping your pelvis still and stable on the floor open one knee out to the side. Deepen your connections to bring the knee back to the centre. Switch to the other leg. Repeat 3-5 times.
Leg Slides
From the same position, this time slide one leg out along the floor only so far as your torso stays still. Keeping everything engaged and your pelvis still, slide the leg back in. Switch legs. Repeat 3-5 times on each leg.
Neck Curls
From the same position, find your connections and lift your head looking towards your stomach as you curl up (you'll be able to see if that stomach pooches out!). Hold the position for 3-5 seconds and then control yourself back to the mat. Repeat 5-8 times.
Now we've learned how to keep our pelvis stable and how to engage our core muscles we can begin adding in some of the mat exercises.
Here are a few exercises in the beginner series, starting with the 100 to get us warm.
100
Lie on the floor with knees bent and arms by your side. Engage the muscles we just worked on to bring your knees over your hips, lift your head as you did for the neck curls and start to pump your arms up and down for 100 beats (breathe in for 5 pumps and out for 5 pumps). If you're feeling strong you can stretch your legs up for an added challenge. When finished lower your head and legs to the floor.
Roll Up
Lie on the floor with legs out straight (you can keep then bent if you need help for a tight back) and your arms reaching up to the ceiling. Keeping your ribs down and back flat reach your arms behind you. Now think of your neck curl, lift your arms and head and then continue rolling up, peeling your spine from the floor vertebra by vertebra (you can use your hands on your thighs to help or get somebody to lightly hold your feet). Roll all the way up to sit without collapsing. Now reverse, pulling your spine back towards the floor again with control. Repeat 4-6 times.
1 Leg Circle
Lie on the floor with legs out straight and arms by your side. Stretch one leg up to the ceiling, keeping it as straight as possible (you may bend the bottom leg if you need to). Use the connections from your fundamentals to keep your pelvis still as you circle the leg across your body, down, around and back up. Imagine your hips are glued to the mat throughout the exercise. The circles don’t need to be big. Do 5 circles one way then reverse for 5. Then repeat on your other leg.
Now prepare for your abdominal series!
Single Leg Stretch
Lie on your back, bend knees over hips, curl up over ribs - remember that neck curl. Hold your right leg (left hand on knee, right hand on ankle). Stretch your left leg away as you pull your right leg towards you twice. Switch legs: left leg bends in, right leg stretched long. Repeat 5-10 times.
Double Leg Stretch
Staying curled up with both legs bent and your hands on your ankles pulling your legs towards you. In one movement breathe in as you stretch your legs out (legs go higher if you need so you don't arch your back) and reach your arms up to ceiling without losing any of those fundamental connections. Circle your arms around and then breathe out pulling everything back in. Repeat 5-10 times.
Join me next time for the rest of the mat series, including spine stretch forwards and the swan.
