Complete Joseph Pilates 34 Mat Exercise Sequence – Step by Step
Hey, there! Ever feel like your Pilates practice is missing something? Maybe you feel like you have to go to a studio to get your Pilates in. Well, the original 34 Pilates Mat exercises by Joseph Pilates are here to help you, because they are a complete workout on their own, and we’re gonna dive into that today.
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I actually unknowingly fell in love with the Mat, the original Mat by Joseph Pilates, when I first went into my first Pilates practice, my first class, and I liked it so much I didn’t even realize that, like there was anything else and there was equipment. And so I think it’s really important today, as everything is getting busier and people are getting really excited about Pilates, to really understand that the original pilates exercises, the Mat work that Joe gave us, really can be a complete workout all in itself with stretch and strength, challenging your body to move in different ways, creating stamina and stability so that you can do everything that you love all in one workout, wherever you are. In today’s video, I’m going to walk you through all those 34 exercises, how they work, how they go together, and how they’ve stood the test of time.
Pilates Is a Strength-Based Full Workout
It was designed to balance your imbalances and really challenge your body in a way that allows you to do things that you truly love. Joe Pilates brought it to the United States in the 20’s and to New York, and he was actually working with a lot of boxers and a lot of people of his time in the neighborhood, dancers came in, also started work with him. And really, people were students of his practice and his Mat work, his 34 exercises can be found in his book Return to Life. Because he really, truly believed that everyone everywhere should be doing his exercises every single day. When you’re looking at Pilates and what it is and more information about it you’re going to find things like the Pilates principles. We have talked about them here on this channel. Those six principles have to do with control, concentration, centering, precision, flow and breath, and when you incorporate those into your Pilates practice, whether it is all 34 exercises, or any studio that you go to, you will find you’re gonna get the most out of your Pilates practice, and it becomes more of an actual practice that’s designed to work for your body than just another workout. If you want to dive in to what Pilates is more, I would love for you to watch additional videos (e.g., “What is Pilates? No BS”), because it’s really amazing, and we dive in real deep on Joe Pilates and what Pilates is.
Why the Classical Pilates Mat Workout Works?
Well, I particularly love it because I truly believe in comparing ourselves to ourselves. I come from an athletic background, and when you are running a race, you’re always trying to become faster than the time before, right? You compare yourself “Oh, the last time I did hills, my time was this.”, “The last time I did a flat race, my time was this”. It allows you to understand what your training is doing and where you have room to grow, and where you’re doing really, really well. And the 34 Pilates Mat exercises that Joe Pilates gave us, plus a few that his people that study with him, have added into this Mat order, why they really work is one you can actually omit exercises that don’t work for you yet and still get a full body workout inside of every single exercise. Two, you actually can compare yourself to yourself, right? You can actually go, oh, last week, I felt really tight. This week, I actually feel stronger.
You can also start to understand how on your own, without being a teacher how these exercises work together, and I think that’s really, really important, I think in creating accessibility for Pilates, where clients and practitioners can actually have ownership over their practice, that allows them to get a deeper, deeper practice, but also get the benefits of Pilates without having to go to a studio all the time. Now these are also my opinions. Obviously, I truly love it. When I discovered Mat Pilates, it was the only type of Pilates that I did, I loved having the order. In fact, when I travel, I love knowing, like, Okay, start with the Hundred and with Push-ups. For someone who likes certainty, if you’re like, you like to know the end of a scary movie or a mystery before you start it. If that’s you, the order is really helpful, because I know what is coming. There’s not surprises, except for like, Ooh, I’m surprised I could do that was easier than I thought I’d be. That is why, one of the biggest reasons I love having an order, because it really just feels like I have control over what’s coming next.
Classical Joseph Pilates’ Original 34 Pilates Mat Exercises
Master the original Joseph Pilates 34 mat exercises with this complete step-by-step Pilates sequence designed to build strength, flexibility, and control using just your body and a mat, whether you’re starting out or reviewing the full routine.
1. Hundred
2. Roll Up
3. Roll Over
10. Corkscrew
11. Saw
12. Swan Dive
13. Single Leg Kick
14. Double Leg Kick
15. Neck Pull
16. High Scissors
17. High Bicycle
18. Shoulder Bridge
19. Spine Twist
20. Jackknife
21. Side Kicks
22. Teaser
24. Swimming
25. Leg Pull Front
26. Leg Pull Back
28. Side Bend
29. Boomerang
30. Seal
31. Crab
32. Rocking
33. Control Balance
34. Push-Ups
The Exercises in 4 Logical Sections
I have made for logical or common sense or just like ways to look at these exercises in groups. And it really will hopefully help you break them down, because they are in an order, you can start to think about like, what part of the order Am I in? What part of the section Am I in? What is this asking for me? So we’re gonna dive into each one of those groups now.
Start Strong (Warm-Up & Preps)
The first section, I like to call the strong start. It’s like warm ups and preps. And that doesn’t mean it’s for a beginner. Doesn’t mean the exercises are like foundational, but what they do is they really get your body and your spine ready for what’s to come.
So those are the Hundred, it’s a breathing exercise. It is designed to really challenge your center. It kind of lets you know what’s going on in your body as you start your practice. After the Hundred, you have your Roll Up, and this is going to take you past your hundred’s curl and into a really nice back stretch. Of course, a little hamstring in there, but mostly it’s a big back stretch, and you’re going to move from your center if your legs are lifting up or they’re separating it’s going to give you some great information. If you can go upside down, Roll Over is the next one. And this is where people are, like, this isn’t the warm up? It is. It’s stretching your back the other way. So I really like the Roll Over because it stretches a different part of my back than the Roll Up could, right? And so it’s a really, really important exercise. Also kind of lets you know how your hips are moving. So to wake the hips up as well, because they’re going to circle around. And then you have Single Leg Circles. So if you’re skipping the Roll Over, you still are going to get that Single Leg Circle, that hip mobility action.
It really also helps you understand, like, how open are your hips that day? How stable can you work your hips? Then you have Rolling Like a Ball, a very fun way to massage your back. Kind of check in with everything now that we’ve done the Hundred and all the other exercises. From there, you transition into your Ab series. Now, for Joe, there was only two. It was Single Leg Pull or Single Leg Stretch, same exercise, Double Leg Pull or Double Leg Stretch. Those were only his two. When you work with people who study with Joe, they added in three extra. We’ve done that as well at OPC. After your Double Leg Pull, it is your Spine Stretch Forward. Spine Stretch Forward is a great stretch of the spine. So the few exercises in Pilates that is what its name says. You’re actually stretching the spine. Now it’s like your hamstrings, and after that you have truly warmed your body up in a really great way to get into the next section.
Challenging Connections & Working Against Gravity
Alright, the second section really does challenge your core against gravity and the connections that you have. In fact, this next section, you wouldn’t want to do it without having done the first section. So you really, really do want to have your first section before you go into this one. And I think Joe is brilliant in the way that he did that. It’s like, here’s so many opportunities to connect to your center, and then we’re gonna flip you over.
Alright, so Open Leg Rocker comes first in this section. It is taking what you did well in your Rolling Like a Ball and what you could do in your Spine Stretch Forward, and rocking it around and seeing how you do. Then you’ll have your Corkscrew. This is gonna take your Single Leg Circles and add two legs to it and really see how you’re controlling them from your center and working with those hips. Then you have your Saw the opposite twist of Corkscrew. Now we’re twisting the top half of the body. This one’s really complicated, because you have to have really grounded hips. You have to work that twist of the upper body. It’s the first time we’re doing that so far. And then the round shape from your Spine Stretch Forward. So now we’re compounding connections that we hit in our warm up into this section. From there, we flip over and do our Swan. It’s a great way to wake up your upper back. And then we go into our Single Leg Kick and our Double Leg Kick, which are hamstring strengtheners, glute strengtheners, and the Double Leg Kick really helps open up the shoulders and connect you to the back.
We’re still doing some dynamic movements, and we’re also preparing ourselves for what’s to come. So it’s a really great middle section from there. If you are following Jay Grimes order, you would do a Thigh Stretch, but Joe did not have a Thigh Stretch when he wrote the 34 mat pilates exercises in his book. It didn’t come out yet. He hadn’t added in there, but it’s one of my favorites. It’s really good to add in. Then we do the Neck Pull, not everyone’s favorite, but this section ends with a Neck Pull, because it takes your Roll Up and it makes it harder. Placing the hands behind your head and separating your legs is going to reveal what wasn’t working in your Roll Up and what you haven’t connected to yet. But everything we just did really prepares for where we’re going.
Balance & Control (Challenge Time)
This third section is a balance control section. It really is gonna challenge your balance in a lot of different ways. And so it you’ll see it’s a little strange, because it’s gonna start off with the High Scissors and High Bicycle, which might not be in everyone’s practice, but it absolutely can be, because you’ve been prepared for it with all the exercises we just did, right? And so if you can do it, I highly recommend it. Then you transition into Shoulder Bridge, and there’s a really nice dynamic balance control transition to get into that. And that really takes everything to the next level before you sit up and make it a difficult Spine Twist, then a Jackknife, an incredible exercise, but it really is more than meets the eye. It is not a slow overhead exercise. It is dynamic and controlled, and it really does force you to find more within yourself.
From there you go to Side Kicks. You might be thinking, Side Kicks? How is that balance control? Well, you have to balance on one side while moving your leg in different directions. From there you do Teaser, which is just taking everything we’ve just done and moving it quite quickly, up and down and all around into the Hip Circles, one of my least favorite, but I found a way to love the exercise because it is hard, it is challenging. It’s going to take your Corkscrew to the next level. And finally, we end with Swimming. Swimming, uh, a way to rinse everything we just did out. We’re flipping back onto our stomach for the first time in a bit, and you get to stretch all that front body out, working your back body.
Finish Strong (Coordination & Precision)
Alright. Our last section is the finish strong section. And let me just tell you, I tell myself this every time. So at the end of Swimming, you go into a Child’s Pose, a Joe’s pose, a nice, big back pose. And I really tell myself, Okay, finish strong. And you go into your Leg Pulls, which is like, Oh, that looks easy Lesley, it’s just a plank, right? You just rock back and forth. Not easy, very hard, but it is challenging. The stamina you have, the connections you’ve made. You flip over to the other Leg Pull. Then you slide a knee in into your Kneeling Side Kicks. Holy freaking moly, hips. Can we do this? Then you get into a side bend. Then you go into the grand finale of rolling. You never stop rolling. So in this next few exercises, just know you never stop Boomerang, Seal, Crab, just like one into the next. There’s no pauses. It’s kind of like when the fireworks are going and it’s like all of them going. That’s what you want to think there. And then you flip over. You do your rocking, yes, stretch everything back up. You flip back over. Land on your shoulders. Kick your legs around in the air.
After Rocking, we roll onto we flip back over. We roll onto our shoulders for Control Balance. And then you roll up to standing. You round down. You walk yourself out into some excellent push ups. You walk back up. And what does that do? It means you end standing up. Joe was so incredible. He always ends you standing up, and we do all of this work not to just do a push up. This is not your gym push up. These are Pilates Push Ups. These are full body push ups. You end like this, so that when you stand up and you finish your Mat, you are taller, stronger, longer and ready to take on your day. And if you’re like, oh my god, I’m being too energized to sleep. Nope, you can still do this before bed, I promise you. It is a low cortisol-producing activity, but it is quite fun, and when you finish strong, you’re gonna be really proud of yourself.
Why the Classical Pilates Mat Exercises Work for Everyone
Alright. That was a lot. So what to remember? Well, first up, why the classical Mat order works for everybody? One, you don’t need any props, right? You just need space to lie down on the ground. And two, very important, just because this comes in an order doesn’t mean you can’t pull things out of it. So we’re not going to mix it up. We can absolutely take anything that’s overhead out, and that’s your order until you’re ready for it, right? So it works for everybody, because it makes it simple and easy for you to know what’s going next, right? You don’t have to guess. You have to make it up enough to go, what’s my pilates mat workout today? It’s really easy, and you can just use yourself and a Mat. If you’re intrigued by this, I would love you to try the 30-minute class with the full order—think of it as the pilates mat order explained in real time. You can go along with me in real time. And remember, if an exercise comes up and you don’t like it for your body, you just skip it. It’s probably 10 seconds or 30 seconds, or you can repeat something you already did to build up your stamina and your strength.
Get Feedback and Support for Your Pilates Practice
I really hope this gives you an invitation to try it out. I think it’s really incredible, and I know that a lot of people think that I need accountability. I want to make sure I’m not doing it wrong. I promise you, the way that Joe has created these exercises, you get better every time, and if it feels too hard again, you can one, let me know in the comments below. Two, you can omit anything in the order that your body’s not ready yet, and you need to skip it and replace it with something that you can do, an exercise that felt like a challenge, and if it feels really easy, then that calls for you to explore and dive deeper. Maybe we can look at that for you. In fact, if you’re an OPC member, you can film yourself doing an exercise, and it gets sent in to me, and I can give you feedback on where you can flex your ankles more, or maybe soften your knees or put your shoulders on your back. No more guessing, you get lots and lots of support and advice and community, join the OPC membership for personalized feedback. So I hope you do, and I hope this video helps you understand Joseph Pilates’ 34 mat exercises and his Mat order a little bit more. Let me know in the comments below. And thank you so much. Have an amazing day.
