What’s the deal with Pilates Equipment?
You’ve probably heard of “Mat Pilates” and “Reformer Pilates.” But have you heard of the Wunda Chair (pronounced Voonda) or the Cadillac/ Tower? Pilates equipment is a defining characteristic of the method.
Let’s learn more about each piece of equipment!
The Pilates Mat
We know what you’re thinking–“The mat is a piece of equipment?”
You bet! Even just your basic exercise mat at home counts.
Features of a Pilates mat:
Cushioning:
We roll and invert in the mat work, so we want a cushioned mat for our spines. Cushioning also provides neuro-feedback. Trying to master spinal articulation? Use your mat to feel the cue "One vertebrae at a time."
Foot strap:
This may be the defining feature of a Pilates mat, and geez did a lot of us miss the strap while sheltering from home in 2020! This strap goes around the ankles and provide a positive feedback loop between ankle flexion and abdominal engagement. Working with just an exercise mat at home? Try weighting your ankles down with a heavy pillow or even better, with some ankle weights.
Handles:
Handles give us something to pull towards and much like the strap, they provide a positive feedback loop between your grip strength and shoulder stability.
The Pilates Reformer
Features of the Pilates Reformer:
Rectangular in shape:
What a feature! Seems basic, but the shape of the reformer frames the body. This gives your Pilates teachers a frame of reference to view the body. The straight lines of the rectangle help your teacher see misalignments in the feet, hips, and shoulders.
Springs:
Classical reformers have four springs. Springs are unique to Pilates and provide resistance and feedback during exercises. Springs helps us two-way stretch and hence connect to the core.
Footbar:
If you read this post or this post, you know how important foot health is to overall body health. No better place to open up and strengthen the feet than the Pilates footbar. Of course, we also use the foot bar for our hands in certain exercises. So not only does it help us build foot strength, but it also helps us build grip strength.
Handles:
The handles on the reformer are connected to the carriage (which moves) and therefore are connected to the springs. This means we get to use the feedback and resistance of the springs to feel how the hands connect into the shoulders which connect us into the upper back and rib cage.
The Wunda Chair
Features of the Wunda Chair:
It’s a chair:
Exciting feature, we know! This means that there are many seated exercises that happen on the Wunda chair and most of us need to learn how to sit on our butts so that we’re not sitting on our spines. Being able to sit while exercising is also helpful for anyone struggling with balance or injuries to the upper extremities. Nicole and Destinie once had a client who injured her shoulder but wanted to continue practicing Pilates; the chair kept her moving!
Springs:
A common feature to Pilates equipment! Again, springs provide feedback and resistance during exercises, however, on the chair, because the springs are underneath the body in many exercises, they provide a reaction force that travels up through the body against the resistance of gravity. This is one way the chair helps us learn how to sit with good posture.
Footbar:
We meet again! The footbar on the chair is connected directly to the springs and is thus a wonderful tool to help us learn how the feet connect to our hips and in turn support the spine.
The Cadillac (it has all the bells and whistles):
Features of the Cadillac:
Arms springs and leg springs:
Each set of these springs has their own exercises. So, although Pilates is repetitive, there are A LOT of exercises to repeat. More equipment means more variety and more ways to connect to movement. For example, we can do footwork on the mat, the reformer, the chair, and using the leg springs on the Cadillac. Having a hard time connecting to teaser on the reformer? Try it with the push-through bar on the Cadillac to learn how the hands and shoulders help to pick up the thoracic spine.
The Roll-down bar:
No other piece of equipment helps us learn spinal articulation like the roll-down bar. Two light springs give clients just enough support and feedback to allow them the time and space to move the spine one vertebrae at a time into flexion and back into neutral.
The Push-through bar:
A healthy spine is a spine that moves in all of the ways it was designed. We can forward flex, laterally flex, extend, and rotate the spine using the push-through bar which has a spring attached to it. Oof, it's so amazing!
The Trapeze bar:
Another feature that provides variation for an exercise like the hundreds and a feature that comes with its own exercises. It is also a feature that allows us to use the Cadillac like a jungle gym.
Fuzzies:
Have you seen or heard of an inversion table? The fuzzies give Pilates practitioners the ability to hang upside down from the ankles. This is an amazing way to decompress and stretch the spine.
These are the main types of Pilates equipment you'll find in Classical Pilates studios, but there are so many more pieces to help you connect with your unique body. Barrels and correctors and ped-o-pulls! Have question? Reach out to us at [email protected].
By: Destinie Slavich
