Going Up Front on the Wunda Chair can be scary if you don’t have a High Chair. In this prep video I show you how to get more confident on the Wunda Chair.
Kneeling Push Down requires a strong connection to your two-way stretch, a commitment to the movement, and if possible a partner to help support you.
Practice going from a round back to a tall and then back. This coordination is key for exercises like Semi Circle, Upstretch Combo and Knee Stretch series.
Train your body not to fall into the spring or into your side bend. Instead, focus on the reach down through the legs, up through your head and bend long.
What I love about the Shoulder Bridge is that you have support from the floor you’re on. It lets you focus only on what the legs are doing with the pedal.
The springs are tempting to press into more than you need. Find a balance between pressing too hard and not enough. You’ll be flying like and eagle.
Focus on the lift through your center and let the pedal help you find it. So when doing Spine Stretch Forward on the Mat you get the most out of the exercise.
The lack of surface space makes this exercise a challenge and slightly scary. Learn how to control it from your center you’ll find a love for the Big Twist.
An amazing combo of Spine Stretch Forward, Single Straight Leg Stretch and Shoulder Roll Down. But probably more challenging than all of those combined!
These Push Ups is the only one that is symmetrical. The instability of the pedal under your feet and the amount of weight in the arms makes it hard.
You can see how your body is going to cheat, lean, or overwork to make the exercise happen before going onto the Reformer where the carriage can move.
Find your two-way stretch in this exercise on the Wunda Chair. Learn to work your arms from your back, reach your legs and arms from your center and more.
Doing asymmetrical Pilates exercises is key for helping you deepen your Pilates practice and show you where you may be relying on one side than another.
It requires a lot of strength in your center to hold yourself upright as you do the exercise and even more to stand up! Don’t sit in your flexibility.
Challenge your arm, back, and seat connection and feel how important it is to connect to your center to keep your legs with you so don’t ride the springs.
This exercise will reveal where you try to “muscle through.” You cannot lean into your “go-to” muscles. You use your whole body to make this exercise happen.
Learn how to connect your arms to your back, legs to your seat, and your center to lengthen. Give this one a go and also make sure to try Frog Facing Out.
In this exercise, you can focus on reaching through the whole ball of your foot from your glute and up into your center. Connecting your feet to your body.
One Arm Swan reveals find where you need to reach from to keep the twists and shifts at bay. Practice the weak side then strong and then weak side again.
On the Wunda Chair, you can feel if your body loses length in your extension because you have less support than you would on the Mat or Cadillac.
Mermaid on Top of the Wunda Chair is more about the lift and reach then moving the pedal. Just like all Pilates exercises. Press from your back as you lift.
When you do the Star on the Chair you are not focusing on lifting the pedal but instead finding length and strength. Can you reach through your center?
The Pull Up is one of my absolute favorites because it teaches you the down reach you need in every Pilates exercise. Drop a spring if you need a challenge.
I have found a lot of interesting quirks in my body from doing one-sided Pilates exercises. The One Arm Push Down from the side is another one of those body revealers.
Use Mountain Climber to help you connect more to your Knee Stretches on the Reformer. Challenge your Spine Stretch Forward, Double Leg Stretch and more!
This is more difficult than doing it on the High Chair because you may have the fear of falling. You also have less springs to assist you going up and down.
This exercise is more than meets the eye. Once you lift the pedal you are going to see right away just how much you are standing in that supporting leg.
I’ll never forget the first time I learned Going Upside. My teacher told me to levitate. Yep, just rise up without leaning into my top leg.
A great exercise to learn how and practice the press and reach through a standing leg while moving the other leg inside the hip without moving your pelvis.
In Pilates, there is a down reach and an up reach. Or a down stretch and an up stretch. You cannot do an exercise without having both!
Push Down on the Wunda Chair is the Roll Up Standing. That sentence was such a light bulb moment for me in my Pilates journey! When I first learned the Push Down I thought, “Cool, a hamstring stretch,” but, that was just the tiny beginning.
Sometimes called Side Pull Ups or Snake prep. Doesn’t matter what you call it. It matters more that you use it to teach your body something it needs.
First, try doing this with your legs together. If that is going well, then you can try adding the split leg version. But, if it does not, then skip it.
If you’re already doing Tendon Stretch on the Reformer, practicing it on the chair can help you fine-tune without messing up your Reformer flow.
An excellent way to challenge your coordination, balance, strength and stretch. This exercise is great to challenge what you’ve learned on the High Chair.
This exercise strengthens your seat, your back and opens the front of your hips and chest. Table will help you do more Pilates exercises better!
This is really essential for connecting your arms to your back and your legs to your seat. It’s not a big glamorous movement. It’s small and mighty!
Footwork on the Wunda Chair doesn’t care how much you can push down on the pedal but, rather, how much you can pull up on the pedal while pushing down.
The first time I did Reverse Teaser on top of the Wunda Chair the apprentice teaching me placed my hips too far back and I almost fell off! From then on I never forgot to bring the hips as close to the back of the chair as possible for my body or my client’s body.
Sometimes called Side Pull Ups or Snake prep. Doesn’t matter what you call it. It matters more that you use it to teach your body something it needs.
You can do almost anything on the Wunda Chair that you do on the High Chair except Press Ups so if you can only get one chair get a Wunda Chair.
If you love the Push Down on the Wunda Chair you will really love this one arm version!