December's focus is on mastering Joseph Pilates' "Basic Ten" exercises, detailed below:
The Hundred
Roll Up
Single Leg Circle
Rolling Like a Ball
Single Leg Stretch
Double Leg Stretch
Spine Stretch
Saw
Side Leg Kicks
Seal
Imagine we challenged you to commit these exercises to memory. What would be your approach? Whether you choose to jot down the list multiple times or dive into performing each exercise in sequence, repetition will likely be a key element in your strategy. Repetition not only aids in memorization but also ensures a deeper understanding and proficiency in each movement.
Another memorization technique is “clustering.” Clustering involves grouping similar exercises together in your memory, which can make recall easier and more efficient. But which exercises from this list are similar? Keep scrolling to lear more under Dive Deeper, and join us in the next two Monday classes to find out!
CLASS THEMES
Monday, December 11th @ 12pm with Destinie:
What's great about the one-rep mat class is its reliance on two key memorization techniques: repetition and clustering. If you're new to the concept, it works like this:
🔥Start with The Hundred
🔥Then, do The Hundred again, followed by Roll Up
🔥Continue adding exercises in sequence, like Single Leg Circle, and so on
This pattern persists until all ten exercises flow together, after which the sequence starts again. Yes, this means multiple rounds of The Hundred in a single class – SO FUN. But, this also means that you’ll have the Basic Ten down pat after taking this class. What’s so great about that? It gives you the power to do a little Pilates whenever you want!
Wednesday, December 13th @ 8am with Destinie:
BYOR: Bring Your Own Requests!
DEEP DIVE
One effective method to group some of Joseph Pilates' Basic Ten exercises is by examining their core movement skills. Let's start with The Hundred.
At its heart, The Hundred is a blend of these fundamental movement skills:
Cervical and Thoracic Flexion
Lumbo-Pelvic Stabilization
Hip Extension
Shoulder Girdle Stabilization
Shoulder Joint Extension and Flexion
Now, let's break down the Roll Up. The fundamental skills in the Roll Up are:
Cervical, Thoracic, and Lumbar Flexion
Spinal Articulation
Notice any similarities?
Both The Hundred and Roll Up include Cervical and Thoracic flexion. To simplify, let’s just call it “Spinal Flexion.” Examining the other eight exercises, which ones can we group with The Hundred and Roll Up under "Spinal Flexion?"
Single Leg Circle? Nope. Rolling Like a Ball? Absolutely! Single Leg Stretch and Double Leg Stretch? Yep, yep! Spine Stretch Forward? You bet. Saw? Heck yes! Side Leg Series? A tricky one, but let’s say nope for now. And finally, Seal. Another heck yes!
To recap, we can cluster The Hundred, Roll Up, Rolling Like a Ball, Single Leg and Double Leg Stretch, Spine Stretch, Saw, and Seal under the category of spinal flexion.
This clustering approach not only aids in memorizing the exercises and their sequence but also provides a clear focus during their execution. Struggling with Spine Stretch? Remind yourself – it's about Spinal Flexion. What executes spinal flexion? Your abdominals, baby! Someone put THAT on a t-shirt!
What’s left? Single Leg Circle and Side Leg Series. If that’s not a cluster, then we don’t know what is! What’s neat about this pair is that your hip’s relationship to gravity is different in each exercise, but the fundamental movement skills are similar. In Single Leg Circle, gravity is affecting your hip joint anteriorly (from the front). During Side Leg Series, gravity is affecting your hip laterally (from the side). Why do we care about gravity? Simple: when your body works against gravity, muscles engage. This means the insights you gain from Single Leg Circle can boost your performance in Side Leg Series, and vice versa. It's all interconnected! Yay for clustering!
