What the Heck is That Thing?
The Universal Reformer
What the Heck is That Thing? were the first words that popped into my head when I first saw the Classical Pilates Reformer. I thought 'It looks like some kind of medieval torture device' and 'I need to be an elastic band to do anything on that!' Well, thankfully not. Curiosity got the better of me and with Becky, my wonderful teacher, guiding me I got on.
Set-Up
First things first, laying on the carriage. The bar at the bottom of the reformer is called the foot bar. For the first exercise the foot bar is up and your feet are on it in a small V shape. This position engages the inner thigh muscles and the buttocks (more on muscles later).
Underneath the foot bar are the springs. All the exercises on here are assisted / challenged by springs. This means your body has to work to perform each exercise and it makes it harder to cheat! There are four springs in total, each with the same tension. The more springs hooked on the more resistance there is to opening the carriage. How many springs you need depends whether you have any physical ailments and your muscular strength. Your teacher advises you on this.
Next is the head rest. This is up for the first exercise but for others it may be lowered so as not to strain the neck. Next to the head rest are the shoulder blocks. When laying on the carriage your shoulders are in front of these.
At the back of the machine are the handles. These aren't used in the first exercise but later on. For our first exercise, the footwork series, are arms are laying flat on the carriage stretched long by our side.
Now we are ready to move!
Once I had stopped thinking 'how am I ever going to move this' I quickly learnt that the reformer is great for strengthening the body, stretching everything and making you feel fab. Moving that carriage is possible!
Visit me next month to find out what muscles we are trying work and why, why we have our feet and arms in different positions for different exercises and the benefits we get from using the reformer.
