While it is essential for you to develop a strong center and a supple spine, the ongoing practice of Pilates also helps you develop strong and flexible shoulders and hips, and yes, strong and flexible ankles, toes, wrists and hands. Last, but certainly not least, Pilates develops a strong diaphragm. All parts of the body communicate and compensate for weaknesses in other areas.

Besides the large apparatus, Joseph Pilates invented several small devices to help clients be more specific in their training of individual muscles, joints, and breath.

We will be discussing three of these apparatus today:  The Sandbag, The Breath-a-Cizer, and The Push Up Device.

When the wrists are weak, the shoulders and/or the neck will compensate. For this reason, Mr. Pilates used the Sandbag device. In addition to working the wrists and fingers, done mindfully, the Sandbag also challenges the powerhouse, the back, the shoulders, and heightens awareness of weight distribution, one big key to moving better.

Joseph developed the Breath-a-Cizer to teach proper   “diaphragmatic breathing”. Using this device helps coordinates breathing with abdominal work and spinal movement. This is not only important while doing Pilates but critical in everyday life. Most people use accessory breathing which causes many breathing, postural and movement problems.

   

The Push Up Device enables one to extend the amount of time one can spend putting weight on the wrists. It also creates more space between the practitioner and the floor, which opens up more movement options.

REMEMBER, when using these devices be mindful of the experience of the whole body, even when doing an isolation exercise. What one discovers, as one attempts to isolate anything, is that doing so challenges how well we integrate our movement and our multiple intentions? For example: yes, work the wrists, but first notice and then guide how that work relates to the torso, or maybe even the ankles.

PICTURES SHOWN: are the Breath-a-Cizer, which helps develop breath control; the Sandbag develops the wrists; the Push Up Device helps offload the wrists for pushups, handstands, and L-Sits (shown). In all cases attention is split between the dynamic work of the periphery and the stabilizing work of the center.