Mat Pilates at Home: 10 Tips For an Effective Solo Practice
1. Make sure you have all of the equipment you need nearby.
2. Block the time in your calendar like you would any other appointment
3. Keep a glass of water + towel handy
4. Use controlled movements and be intentional (even if you are tired.)
5. Before you quit, ask yourself if you are experiencing pain or feeling challenged. Try a dab of mental fortitude if it’s the latter.
6. Listen to the cues (and look at the instructor if you don’t understand.)
7. When a new exercise gets introduced try the modified or level 1 version first and layer on after a few reps or the next time the move is used.
8. Quiet or eliminate any background distractions as much as possible.
9. If the instructor allows it during the session or holds space afterward, ask questions!
10. Have fun! You’re in your own space. Welcome curiosity and play and feel comfortable with missed attempts and errors.
Understanding the Benefits of Mat Pilates for Improving Body Function + Quality of Life
Even more than an aesthetic appeal, Pilates offers many bodily benefits like mental well-being, muscular strength, and joint stability.
Each session is filtered through six principles (flow, core, breath, concentration, control, and precision) as your instructor aims to help you organize the body and move you efficiently.
When delivering a session, your instructor will give you cues to encourage developing deeper treads into your neuromuscular patterns that promote postural alignment and increase body flexibility.
In 2020, a study concluded that after 87 male participants completed just 30 minutes of Pilates, they expressed a significant decrease in anxiety, fatigue, and mood disturbance while noting an increase in energy and confidence.
Using slow, controlled movements, Pilates practitioners often see an immediate and positive change in back pain & joint tightness while increasing their balance through core strength and mind-body awareness.
This low-impact system is as good an option for professional athletes as it is for humans who could otherwise lead a sedentary lifestyle.
Introducing: TGC Live (a virtual mat Pilates studio)
Launching May 1
We spent more than 4-weeks with a focus group to build our new TGC LIVE Virtual Pilates Studio offerings.
"I love starting my mornings with Melissa."
"Really great coaching + teaching."
Take Good Care Pilates' #1 Mission is to help more people do Pilates and for our network to reflect the world in which we live.
Delivering our offerings via the World Wide Web was an obvious next step to increase participation and reduce friction to start your practice today.
These 20 and 40-minute, full-body, all-levels online classes will satisfy the requirement to move while helping to restore your spine and mind-body connection.
With sessions starting as low as $8.50, TGC LIVE Virtual mat sessions help you get in your body wherever you are or want to be.
Take Good Care
Melissa, founder
Cues: Do A Great Plank at Home
Try these cues to achieve your best Pilates plank
you’ll need a floor + a little padding for your hands.
start on all fours facing the floor: knees + hands
feel your thumbs, pointer fingers, and pinky fingers touching the floor
push your hands down like you’re pushing the floor down. you want to push so hard to build a little bridge from one shoulder blade to another.
step one foot back, and then the other. the space between your shoulders and ankles will be suspended. you should look like a long angled line, down toward the floor.
**if this is too much, walk your knees back instead.
feel like your toes are flexed and your tow mound (the juicy part of the foot where your toe joints connect) are touching/reaching for the floor.
use your abs to lift your intestine toward your spine
make sure your butt isn’t above your shoulders
and reach the feet like you’re standing on a floor/wall that’s behind you
Hold for as long as you can
Practice frequently