Backward hanging: More than a trick, this is a skill deeply grounded in the system. Check out the video below and consider the ingredients involved to be confident in such a movement! This smooth mover is none other than TMR senior associate and Academy faculty member Chris Kelly. I’m not posting this to entice circus trickery or to discourage those who are are just beginning their journey in North Melbourne.
There’s a lot of talk right now about Reformer fitness franchises using the P (Pilates) word and misleading the market. I’d like to tackle this another way … I want to take a moment to explain how working the foundation of the traditional method can get you here and why our main class is a combination of mat, cadillac and barrels … we just call it ‘studio’.
Your journey with us starts (if clear and useful to your goals) not on the Reformer…. but by learning how to lift your head off the mat for the hollow body/double leg stretch position…. we dress this up as Roll backs with the spring bar of course .. we play with different versions of the roll up which explore rotation, extension and increase demands both cognitively and physically. Over time, we add spinal extension across the roll up bar, the push through bar and of course, the mat sequence. We integrate the spine corrector and look at moving through these positions with plenty of drills and eventually ease. We will also take the time to prepare and integrate your upper body into spinal support postures that you can rely on – plug … client workshop for wrist and shoulder connection on 22 July … you coming?
Many of our clients also take private sessions or Reformer class and layer in the traditional exercises which reference what Chris is doing in the video…. Swan, Rowing, Short box, Long Stretch series …. these all add up to prepare you to backbend over the barrel and then hold your weight in your hands to manoeuvre your legs like this.
Our pal Benjamin Degenhardt says, “Pilates is an escalation of skills”…. cool huh? It is our job to equip our clients to learn the pre-cursor movements to this beautiful flow Chris shows … and then when the planets align … we can introduce these movements with confidence and calm control.
Train with us; a fully equipped studio full of instructors who are educated and work with a methodology for your success. 😍