The Teaser in Pilates is often thought of as the “peak” pose. However, there isn’t actually a “peak” pose in Pilates. The Teaser is simply one of the most recognizable, most photographed and most popular of Pilates exercises. So, if you are thinking that because you struggle with Teaser you’re bad at Pilates, you’re in luck! You are still doing Pilates and getting the benefits even if you struggle with the Teaser. But, let’s break down the Teaser to help you out!
#1 Do the Elbow Slip: this pre-Pilates exercise will help you find the longest round shape – aka flexion – in your body. It will also help you find out how to access your glutes. One of the hardest parts about the Teaser is that most of us struggle to get out of our quads and use our outer thighs so we can access more of our lower abs.
#2 Roll Like Ball: This exercise is a fun way to roll into the Teaser. Yep, you can have fun doing Pilates and use this exercise to roll back and on your way up reach your arms and legs out find a Teaser and then bend them all back in and roll again!
#3 Single Leg Kick: I know this seems like an odd exercise to help you do the Teaser on the Mat but hear me out. If you connect to this exercise correctly, you’ll be training your seat, opening up the front of your thighs, strengthening your connection to your upper back and more! To get better at flexion exercises you do need to have a great connection to your extension too!
#4 Focus on what is going wrong: Are you able to Roll up but then you lose it? Or, maybe you can’t roll up at all? Maybe you get up and then you feel your pelvis pop forward or you feel a disconnect in your center? All this is FEEDBACK! And, it’s incredibly important info. Where you feel you “lose it” tells us where you need to go back to the basics and get stronger. Struggling to roll up then practice your Roll up or your Half Roll Back. Feeling your quads? Then you need to work on your seat connection more. Everyday is different too!
#5 Get on the Equipment! If you can that is, hop on the Cadillac, Spine Corrector and Reformer to help you find your Teaser.
And that’s probably the most important thing to remember, to find your Teaser. If you look at pictures it’s easy to get discouraged because you don’t look like them. But, Pilates is a practice and we have a whole method at our disposal to get better at it. And, the more you do the whole method the better the individual exercises will get!
What Teaser do you like the most and why? I’d love to hear it in your comments below!
xx~LL
