Back to the mat
As we steamroll into March you may notice your social feed full of mat exercises done in all manner of spaces and places. The love of mat becomes apparent on social media due to the March Matness phenomenon, brought to life by Benjamin Degenhardt on a vacation back in 2012.
A great foundation for thinking about the power of mat exercises is “The return to life through Contrology” book by Joseph Pilates (JP), which gives us a wonderful insight into JP and his way of viewing the world as he believed it should be and his exercise formula that he followed starting with the Hundred.
I would encourage you and all clients to look beyond the guidance of a Pilates machine and the amazing spring system as a support mechanism, by adding a mat class to weekly routines.
Why you ask? Well, the studio environment creates a magical space to encourage all people to move. The availability to change a spring, provide support or assistance, or challenge and add resistance is a seamless way to start and get it right from the beginning. However, for the ultimate test of your centre and personal Pilates practice, you cannot go past a mat workout.
Mat work is also incredibly practical. You can do it anywhere, anytime.
By embracing mat work you are creating a home tool kit to manage your own personal wellness and practice and that of your clients. It is inexpensive, it is time efficient and it can either be very challenging or have options to be user-friendly for the less fit and able.
It is you and gravity. Gravity is the force that makes everything fall towards the earth and keeps the earth in orbit around the sun. So when it is you and a mat, your load is basically your body weight and gravity. When we use the spring system of a machine we are in a way defying the law of gravity and that can create the feeling of weightlessness and support. If you are injured or overweight this can be a very encouraging environment to build confidence and a positive movement experience. Mat is very relevant to life and functional movement. Let’s face it we can’t have our legs in straps whilst gardening, or the pedals of the wunda chair to support us in extension on the surf board, can we?
Mat works us in all planes of movement and builds strength from head to toe. Whether the absolute formula of the Contrology order is right for you is probably another article in itself. Would I start many people with hundreds in their home program? Probably not. However, would I have them complete homework on the mat? absolutely yes.
When I am designing a class, I want the participants to feel they are being taken on a Pilates adventure. You want to build their body awareness and ensure they are present in their workout before loading them into massive movement integration exercises. Prepare their mind and body. Hypothetically, if we were only to use the Contrology exercises, I would most likely begin with a single leg stretch or scissors, roll up and rolling. However, I find that the Pilates movement has evolved so much that I would consider a class focused only on Contrology exercises as a class for the Pilates devotees, experts or super movers. I use the class format of the original JP as a weekend workout and put my daily practices into place to ensure my body can manage it. Lets face it, we want to feel great in a workout not defeated or in pain.
The original start up is Hundred, Roll Up and Rollover in comparison to maybe something like this - Bridging, chest lift, side to side, femur circles, assisted roll up into single leg stretch, criss-cross, roll up, rolling, then hundreds, rollover. You get the drift. Create a magical path into optimum movement into the amazing Contrology exercises.
So what does that matwork mean to us as teachers?
The Pilates mat routine is an ultimate workout and proves to challenge us in all planes, and mobility. Whether it is humbling or exciting for the Pilates practitioner depends on the person. For me, I love the workout of a mat class. I heard Maddison, my daughter, also a Pilates teacher, say to someone that she loves doing mat classes as it creates true balance and she feels very grounded, centred and you can unleash your true primal instincts. I truly believe that if you can master the art of understanding the why, what and how of the Pilates exercises on the mat you will then create amazing links to the purpose of the studio equipment. Every mat exercise can be broken down for the equipment. Even in our studio sessions I’ll use at least 2-4 mat exercises with clients, and mention how it can become a part of their homework routine.
At the end of the day, I want to teach people to understand their bodies in a subtle way and create a better balance between the muscles. Wake up the intrinsic muscles and let the big boys chill out a little.
Empowering people to move on their own is a very joyful and rewarding part of our role as pilates practitioners. Small props can aid in support for building up towards the full versions of many of the mat exercises and we should be encouraging every person to be responsible for their own health, rehab and wellness. With increasing obesity among Australians and our hospitals booked out with elective surgery, our role is not only to get people aesthetically pleased with results but also educating them on care for their body as a whole. The mat is an affordable and achievable workout for most and may lead to lessening the burden on our health system.
Let’s be a part of getting our world to improve health through movement. I hope more people join our mat classes.
Kimberley Garlick is a Senior Polestar Practioner and owner of Northern Rivers Pilates in Lismore.