4 Awesome Pilates Moves for Your Total Gym
Hey, Total Gym Team! It’s Master Trainer JayDee back to help you get the most out of your Total Gym. This blog, and several blogs to follow, will show you how you can benefit from the wonderful discipline of Pilates.
Basically, your Total Gym is a Pilates reformer! Yes, you own the machine that millions of Pilates enthusiasts pay big bucks to use. The main difference is that the reformer uses springs for resistance, and our Total Gyms use gravity and our own body weight. Both get the job done perfectly, and in a very Functional, Safe, and Versatile method.
Here is Joseph Pilates’ Philosophy in a nutshell:
If you strengthen, stretch, and stabilize all the muscles that support your spine – the rest of your body, and all of its movements, will fall into place.
I find it hilarious that Joseph Pilates was a man; he developed his entire discipline working with men, but women tend to be the ones who are smart enough to benefit from it!
Getting certified in Pilates 21 years ago is actually the reason I bought my first Total Gym. My body had broken down from years of playing sports and teaching die-hard, high-impact fitness classes. My wife dragged me kicking and screaming into Pilates, and it eventually returned my body to its proper balance and took me out of pain. I was hooked!
By purchasing the Total Gym, I could train my personal training clients and my Pilates clients on the same piece of equipment. It was a no-brainer when opening my home studio. It saved me a ton of space, two tons of money, and all my clients love it!
Here are 4 Challenging Pilates exercises for your Total Gym that will give you the following juicy benefits:
- Strengthen Your Core
- Increase your Spine’s Flexibility and Stability
- Increase your Body Awareness and Proprioception
- Make you Richer & Better Looking (OK, this one I’m still working on!)
- Roll-Ups & Roll Downs – Traditionally, this is a very challenging Pilates mat exercise done on a flat floor. Most people will use momentum and their legs to get up and never truly experience, nor benefit from, this functional move. The Total Gym allows you to change the angle of the floor so you can do the exercise correctly and get stronger through your core.
- Bottom Lift – This is an incredible exercise to strengthen your legs, your lower back, your hamstrings, and your Bottom, as the name suggests. Your buns will feel this one Team! Also, the way I have you position your feet and toes will give you a bonus, great inner thigh workout.
- Semi-Circle-The best benefit of this move is Spinal Articulation – which simply means keeping your spine supple for life. It is also the “Yummiest” low back stretch I know!
- UpStretch– This is a toughy TG Team! But another awesome, multifaceted, compound movement. It starts with a great hamstring stretch and then truly challenges your core as well as your shoulder stability, shoulder strength, and it will pump up your triceps.
Enjoy TG Team! You own the perfect version of a Pilates reformer, so why not throw some Pilates repertoire in your fitness mix? I’d love to hear your feedback to let me know if you want more great exercises from the Pilates world.
