Pilates Exercise Dive: Pilates Push Ups

Yep, it's time for another exploration of one of the classical Pilates Mat exercises but first...

This might be the worst video I've ever presented to the public?😱 I'm not talking about the content at all but the production values...

I shot this in my sister's back yard on the last morning of my recent trip to CA. I'd just come back from a walk around the neighbourhood.

For some reason I was determined to film before I left for my epic return trip to AU which consisted of:

• a three hour car ride to the airport
• a two 1/2 hour plane trip to
• connect to a 14 hour plane trip, then
• a walk to the pickup spot to meet my hubby in the pouring rain with double the luggage that I left with (long story) and
• finally a two + hour drive to my house.

Anyhoo, back to the problems with the production values:

1. I am looking my absolute best post walk, lol - note the hat head!
2. There is an annoying dog over the fence who barks all the way through (he drives my sister nuts!)
3. The lighting is appalling; the sun was a wee bit bright and I was looking directly into it
4. My head is cut off when I'm standing at the beginning and ending of each repetition of the exercise - classy!
5. The refusal of my mat to fully unroll 
6. The plane (or helicopter?) flying overhead towards the end drowning out my amazing instructions 

Why didn't I re-shoot it?

Well usually I re-shoot if I garble my words or forget some pertinent detail I want to share, but I was happy with what I said regarding the exercise. Oh and I had to finish packing so I was also being extremely practical - there was no time to try it again, the sun was not going to go away, and the dog was definitely not going to stop barking!

#firsttake

So on to the exercise deep dive - The PILATES PUSH UP

WHAT

The PUSH UP is #34 of Joseph Pilates' original 34 mat exercises, yep, it's the very last one you do in a Classical Mat class

Here's HOW I was trained to do it:

Stand at the back of your mat in Pilates V (if you've ever done a ballet class it's a baby 1st position)

• Inhale: Take your arms wide and up so they are shoulder width over your head. 
• Exhale: Roll your spine forward, like a slinky or a standing Roll Up, until your hands touch the mat. (If you have tight hamstrings at a certain point you'll have to bend your knees for your hands to touch)

• Inhale: Take four 'walks' out with your hands until you're in a plank position. Exhale

• Bend and straighten your elbows three times performing the push ups. Inhale as you lower and exhale as you straighten the arms.

• Inhale: Lift your hips and come to a Downward facing Dog position trying to reach your heels to the ground and opening up your shoulders.
• Exhale: Walk your hands back in to your feet bringing yourself body with you
• Inhale: Roll back up bringing your arms up to the ceiling as you do
• Exhale: Lower arms back down to your sides

Repeat 2-3 more times or

Try the Variations:

• Lift the heels on the first inhale and perform the whole exercise with them raised
• Lift one leg behind you off the floor on the first inhale and keep it there until you walk out to the plank. Either hold it up or cross it over the bottom leg as you perform the pushups. Return still holding the leg up. Reverse with other leg off the floor

Here's Joe's version from Return To Life:

Notice that he just gets into it, no fancy arm movements, not even the rolling down portion. He also has an impressive toe push at the bottom of his Push Up - goals!

WHY

Why is the exercise #34 and why do we do it? 

First, the Push Up is actually the only standing exercise in the whole dang Classical Mat flow.

WHY?

I was taught, and I agree, that it's the perfect way to transition from the rolling, bending, lying down on your mat for close to an hour to...

Being up on your feet, back vertical, ready to move off your mat and carry on with the rest of your day. 

We emphasise this transition by making sure to track with our eyes as we roll up. As we stack our spine and get back to being upright it helps to focus and see something really clearly while at the same time feeling our feet firmly on the ground. If I don't do this I can sometimes feel loopy for a bit after my session. 

The other WHY is that since this is the last exercise in Joe's original Mat sequence and we know that Pilates is a layered and interconnected method of movement, we'd expect that the Push Ups would have embedded snippets of many of the previous 33 exercises.

Hmm, actually they don't.

As previously mentioned there is a standing version of the Roll Up at the beginning and the end of the exercise which remember in Joe's photos and instructions is not shown or mentioned. We can make the case that Leg Pull Front is embedded but that's about it for previous exercises.  

NB The more advanced version with the heels raised does connect to the Pilates Standing Footwork which is not in the classical Mat flow.

Since we can't look at the Push Up as an amalgamation of previous exercises, instead let's look at it as a synthesis of the concepts and principles in Pilates' work.

 These would include:

• Sequential Movement / Spinal Articulation - not only in the rolling down from head to toe but also in the unfurling of the spine as we walk out to the plank. Joe tells us to keep our head downward and later he says to draw the abdominals in. If I do those two things my spine automatically sequences from my tail to my head as I 'walk' down my mat (although I didn't do this in the video).
• Uniform Development - if we pay attention to equal weight even on our feet, working both sides of the body evenly as we roll down, whether or not our arms and shoulders feel the same weight and our hands connect to the floor in the same, we can notice if we're working uniformly side to side to the best of our ability. 
• Precision - can we not do the baby elephant walk and "keep body rigid and in a straight line from head to heels" as Joe instructs as we walk out to our plank?  
• Oppositional Energy - There's no way to "keep head in straight line with body" and as above, keep the body rigid, unless we reach through our feet one way and the crown of the head in the other. Joe tells us to stretch our necks (although we don't want to straighten it as he asks and lose our cervical curve)
• We also obviously use Centring, Flow, Breath, Concentration, and Length & Strength
• We also get the chance to bring our heads below our hearts into a simple inversion a few times. Click >> HERE << to read about some of the benefits

This exercise highlights to me again, the magic of the Pilates method

While the choreography of the Push Ups is not super, duper complicated we can find so much depth inside the simplicity of the exercise. 

Once we know the WHAT & HOW, we focus on the WHY!

Thanks for reading.

Be Well,

xBec

The information contained above is for informational purposes only. The contents of this blog are not intended to amount to advice and Rebecca Forde disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this post.