Our first ever MOVEMENT PROJECT is a deep dive into the classical Pilates mat exercise ‘Leg Pull Front’. Shown in the video is the exercise in full…but if you know anything about Pilates then you know that each exercise is made up of many, many small parts and the project is about choosing the parts YOU want to work on (or asking your teacher to choose the parts that will impact your movement most.)

Every school term we’ll start a new Project with a new mat exercise and upon opting in, your sessions will be peppered with exercises that help you work towards the exercise, and deepen your knowledge of the body.

Your teacher can advise whether it’s appropriate for you- but as a general rule of thumb, if you are working on problem solving pain it’s best to keep your focus on that.
Movement Projects are not about performing the full exercise perfectly (in which case we wouldn’t need a project)- there are plenty of creative variations and partial exercises that will still allow you to strengthen all the parts of your body that are impacted by the exercise.
See below for some of the small part and variations that make up ‘Leg Pull Front’.
Not at all.
Just like your teacher weaves in different challenges for you to work towards your long term goals, and troubleshoots small issues along the way: The Movement Project can be sprinkled into your session easily and won’t disrupt normal programming.
All variations of the exercise will be chosen to suit YOUR body so it’s no different to normal class content.
The intention behind the Movement Project is to explore the mat work in a way that deepens your understanding of Pilates- afterall, the Pilates equipment was originally designed by Mr Pilates to allow more people to access his mat work repertoire.
Movement Projects will also add to your understanding of your body, push you towards more short term goals (a great motivator), and will allow you to approach Pilates on the mat at home with more knowledge.
Of course not- your personalised session is your’s to do exactly what you want with.
But if you’re not currently rehabbing or problem solving we’d LOVE to see you get involved, both to deepen your knowledge of the Pilates work and to introduce more variety to your sessions.

Opt in to the project via the button below or simply let your teacher know at your session.

OPT IN

The Full Exercise

Let’s break it down…

Build strength and tolerance for weight bearing on wrists
Build biceps and tricep strength to support elbows
Maintain neutral neck (and pain free) while working against gravity
Push down into the floor to widen shoulder blades and stabalise upper back
Maintain neutral spine (lifting ribcage, and avoiding tucking your tailbone/tilting pelvis)
Working glutes and hamstrings together to lift leg
Working quads and hamstrings together to keep knee extended
Improving ankle flexion and tripod strength
Improve extension of toes (especially big toe)

Some modified variations to work towards
With your studio teacher being the creative and skilled teacher that they are, you’ll not have any shortage of variations to work towards whether it’s on the mat, on the equipment or using the props…so if you can’t weight bear on your wrists, have a pin in your toes, or often get a sore back in plank this is still something you can get involved in!