Pilates Exercise Dive: The Teaser

The Teaser

Let me try to explain why this is one of my verrrrry favourite Pilates exercises.

But first, WHAT is Teaser or alternately the Teaser and HOW is it done?

Here it is as defined by Joseph Pilates, it's number 22 out of 34 in his Mat sequence and is the first version I show in the video tutorial at the top of the post.

Once you roll down from the starting position of Pose 1 into Pose 2, the Range of Motion of the exercise is quite small. Joe instructs you to roll up towards the feet and balance just behind your sitz bones (your ischial tuberosities) with both your legs and torso lifted up off the mat. And then you roll back down to the upper abdominal curl, aka the Hundred curl and that's pretty much it!

(this is not exactly the way that I learned it and def not the way I teach it btw, more of that below) 

The version that I subsequently learned in my teacher training has a bit more choreo than what's shown in those four photos of Joe (but not as much as I declared in the video - my bad). 

I've dug up my ginormo folder of Teacher Training Notes (capitalised because it's a "very important document", lol) so that I could be clear on what I was taught to teach...

Sadly my notes are not super, duper clear but what is clear is remembering the feeling of trying to scribble down as much info as possible as the exercise was dissected - as if that would somehow make me a better teacher!

Anyway, these notes seem woefully bereft of detail and clarity but I offer them anyway.

This is what I wrote:

Starting position:

• lying down, legs @ 90 degrees, arms overhead

Breath / Motion / How to Perform:

• IN (that's the breath) reach legs to 45 degrees as rollup thru torso to scooped, lifted shape, reach arms, palms down, beyond toes
• EX - eyes on toes, roll down top and bottom 1/2 of body @ same x
• Keep legs @ 45 degrees for next

Variations - this is where the extra choreography shows up:

• arms by ears on rollup
• leave legs + lower + lift body (slightly)
• leave upper body + lower legs
• fold up and down both 1/2's

Great notes, am I right? :) Do you ever read your own shorthand and go WTF?

And Now This...

In the ensuing 20+ years my brain's morphed that training. Now I think of the "Full Teaser" as a multitude of parts & repetitions.

This is actually what I show in the video:

1. Start on your back with legs straight down, arms overhead, shoulder width. Using one full breath, first roll to the Hundred curl and then continue to roll the torso off the mat as you simultaneously lift the legs. End with the eyes and toes level (if possible depending on body proportions) and the arms lifted to the ceiling. Using one full breath, reverse and roll (or would that be unroll?) back to your starting position. Try to the best of your ability to ensure that the legs touch the ground at the same time as your shoulder blades, i.e. your Hundred curl. Then return your chest and head to the mat with your arms back overhead.  
2. Repeat #1
3. Repeat 1/2 of #1, staying up at the top
4. While maintaining the position of the torso, lower both legs towards the mat on an inhale and pick them back up on an exhale.
5. Repeat #4
6. Repeat #4
7. From the top of the shape, leave the legs and roll only the torso back down to the mat, and then roll it back up to the top position.
8. Repeat #7
9. Repeat #7 and then roll both halves of the body back down to the mat as in the second half of #1.
10. On an inhale quickly roll up to the top position and then with a really long, sustained exhale, slowwwwwly roll back down to your mat.
11. Repeat #10
12. Repeat #10
13. Die!

To be clear, I rarely teach this version because it's a big ole thing, right? However I use it as my guidepost.

WHY we do the Teaser is WHY I love the Teaser

Let's look at WHY we do the Teaser and WHAT benefits we can expect when we practice/perform it 

(I'm using the words practice & perform interchangeably to mean doing the exercise).   

Here are many of the skills and Pilates Principles that we can look for inside of our Teaser and remember, they all overlap and feed into one another:

• Coordination - getting both halves of the body to work together all the way through the sequence. 
• Differentiation - I mention this in the video - not only do you have to move the thigh bone inside the hip socket, simultaneously the hip socket has to smoothly roll around the top of the thigh bone. 
• Timing - after you've come into your Hundred curl everything - arms, legs, torso - has to arrive at the top at the same time and vice versa on the way down. Definitely easier said than done. 
• Focus - there are a lot of moving parts so this is imperative.
• Precision - this goes back to uniform development - are you rolling up and down precisely and evenly side to side?
• Control - can you find the control to move smoothly up and down?
• Breath - using the breath can help you negotiate the coordination, the sequencing, and the control needed to perform an awesome Teaser.
• Proprioceptive skills - where is your body in space especially as you're moving it through space?
• Strength of course but specifically Moving Strength - you have to be strong through a big ROM (especially if you perform this on the Reformer Long Box or Spine Corrector, where your spine begins and ends in extension)
• Endurance - Teaser is towards the end of the class when you're probably pretty pooped, yet like the much earlier Abdominal Series that asks you to hold the Hundred curl for five exercises in a row, Teaser asks you to maintain your technique and all of the other Pilates skills you're working on for a fair chunk of time.
• Mind Body Awareness - if you mentally check out you're toast (or at least your Teaser won't be all it can be).
• Creativity - there are so many variations: side lying, one legged, figure 8's, with props of your choosing to assist or challenge.

I also love the Layering aspect of the Teaser, here are some of the ways my brain connects it to previous exercises:

It might seem a bit of a stretch but I think of it as an advanced Hundred (sans pumping)

• The skills learned in that very first Pilates exercise, how to hold up the weight of the legs from the pelvis and deep abdominal muscles and how to hold up the weight of the head and upper chest from the upper abs and deep neck flexors, are amped up in the Teaser.

How about a Roll Up with lifted legs or a double Tree with no hands?

• This would be the version/variation where the legs stay and you roll up to them, similar to Joe's version. 

Or, Double Leg Lower Lift with a higher torso.

• This would be the variation where your torso stays lifted but your legs lower and raise back up.

Struggle with the full Teaser? 

Modifications of the Teaser are many and varied (several are explained in the video)

These include but are not limited to:

• Shortening the lever of the legs by starting with them bent (or keeping them bent all the way through).
• Keeping the arms forward, not lifting them up to the ceiling.
• If you struggle with the Roll Up earlier in class you'll probably struggle with the Teaser. Use what I call a 'magic towel' which is just a hand towel folded or rolled up that you can place just above the tops of your glutes for an assist.
• Holding on to hand weights or a magic circle.
• Using a resistance band around your feet.
• Only lifting one leg up at a time.
• Having a teacher who'll give you support through your 'icky bit'.
• Using the Push Through bar on a Cadillac, Tower Unit, or Springboard to assist in the lift of the torso. It's also great on the way down to have some spring resistance which certainly helps with the timing and coordination pieces of the Teaser puzzle.

using both the spring resistance afforded by the equipment and a prop! 

Finally, I love the Teaser because it works for my body's proportions:

• Short waisted with a compact torso? My body has a much shorter journey to roll up and down.
• Longer arms? Slightly more weight towards my centre of gravity, especially if I keep them reaching forward.
• Flexy in my hamstrings? I can get the legs up high enough that they're relatively easy to hold and while not technically a proportion, let's be honest, having hamstrings with a bit of flexibility makes most of the Pilates repertoire way more pleasant to do.

I spy a Tish tail  :)

Thanks for reading!

Be well,

xBec

The information contained above is provided for information 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

all photos/videos by Rebecca Keene Forde