Featured Apparatus: The Pilates Mat

Next up in helping you get to know the Pilates apparatuses is the mat! Pilates mat work can most definitely be done on a yoga mat and often is, when you’re doing a Pilates class in an open space like a yoga studio, gym, hall, outdoor space, or conference centre. You may find that a yoga mat is a little bit thin for some exercises (like the rolling ones), and then you may want to double up or get a thicker mat. 

Most Pilates studios, however, will have Pilates mats, which are much more cushioned and sturdy. A typical Pilates mat will have a plywood base, a layer of dense foam, and be upholstered in vinyl. They will also have straps attached to one or both ends for your feet to tuck under to help with exercises like roll-up, tree, and neck pull. Many will also have two short dowels along the side to hold onto for inversion exercises, like roll over, corkscrew, and jackknife. Some mats may also fold up so you can store them easily under your bed or in a closet when you’re not using it. 

Mat work is great because you can do it anywhere – even without a mat! It’s also customizable, so you can do a gentle, stretchy workout one day, or an intense, challenging one the next. And those tougher exercises I mentioned above, like jackknife, don’t even need to be part of your workout in the beginning. You can work towards them with modifications as you build up your strength.

The other apparatuses, like the tower or the reformer, are there to help you get stronger so you can do more of the body-weight exercises on the mat. As an instructor, I’ll use mat work to see how clients are progressing with their strength and mobility from their apparatus workouts. 

Try These Mat Pilates Exercises

Some favourite exercises on the mat are the rolling ones because they’re fun and playful. The ab series is tough but it also really feels like you’ve accomplished something (feel those abs burn!). I personally love the inversion exercises because they give me a wonderful stretch through my upper back that I just can’t seem to feel any other way. 

For some clients and beginners, the mat work is not an option for a full 50 minute workout. For these clients, I piece together a workout that includes a combination of mat, reformer, tower, and chair. Over time, they get closer to being able to do a complete workout on one apparatus – like the full mat series. 

The Full Mat Series

So what is the full mat series, anyway? When I first started teaching Pilates at the gym I worked at, I honestly thought that a Pilates workout was just a bunch of “Pilates exercises” sandwiched between a warm-up and a cool-down. Of course, this was before I had any proper Pilates training. I was a certified fitness and spin teacher and had my weight training certification, and I knew how to structure a safe class for people of various abilities. My Pilates knowledge, however, was made up of what I’d learned by taking a workshop and doing a few classes. I didn’t even know that the apparatuses existed! 

Then I found Pilates teacher training. 

I learned that there was an order to the exercises, they had names, and that some were considered pre-pilates (or Pilates prep). I then found out that Joseph Pilates was the person who “invented” Pilates and I discovered his book Return to Life Through Contrology. At the beginning of the book, he shares why he felt everyone should do Pilates, the benefits of it, and about his passion to keep people moving and strong for all of their lives.  

The book also teaches you step by step, move by move, breath by breath, how to do the 34 mat exercises in a set order. When you dive into learning about these exercises, you see how each prepares you for the next, and how the earlier exercises keep your body more in contact with the floo, while you slowly progress to exercises that require more strength and balance.  

It all started to make sense to me! And even now, the more I learn and practice, the more sense it makes. I also keep finding better ways to teach clients to build up to the full version of an exercise – though that’s not what’s most important. Keeping moving is what matters most! 

It’s Always the Same – Yet Different

When people learn that mat Pilates is 34 exercises done in order, it’s not uncommon to hear “how boring!”. This is where an instructor’s creativity and knowledge come in. While the exercises are to be done in a certain order, we may use variations or even skip certain exercises. Sometimes we’ll pick a theme for the class, focusing more on the feet or legs in one class, flow in another, or rolling in another still. There are also props that can be used to add variety. 

Do you love mat Pilates, but aren’t always sure what exercises to do on your own? Sweat with Melissa has online mat classes to make it easy to get your workout done. There are also strength training workouts, and the library grows each month! 
And if you want to dive deeper into Pilates and change people’s lives by helping them feel better, healthier, happier, and stronger, you can become a Pilates teacher too! Start with Mat Certification by getting on the Teacher Training Waitlist. We start this Fall!