Why is Pilates Mat work called the foundation?

Why is Pilates Mat work called the foundation of the Pilates Method? What makes the Pilates mat work so hard and challenging? Why do some Pilates teachers not teach mat work in their sessions each time? What is it you are doing in the mat work in terms of your workout and practice of Pilates? In other words, what is the point of the mat work when you want to jump on that Reformer?

Joseph Pilates created his mat work first and even wrote a book so that people could do it at home and for homework. The work of the mat was the ultimate goal in Pilates. He soon realized that he needed more than just his body to “correct” or use that resistance and push and pull of himself to get the person to understand what needed to happen in that body. He needed something for the client to push and pull other than using his body!

So, long story short the apparatus started to come into the picture as he realized he could use spring and different orientations to gravity and positions (just like on the mat) to help guide the body and the teacher (him) to help the body understand, move and make that mat work better, stronger, more mobility for them as they moved. Full body movement the full workout.

If you look at the order of the mat and the Reformer both follow the same trajectory of movement and positions. This is not by mistake at all. The reformer is just adding some spring and resistance for the body to figure some things out. The foot bar, the handles, and the straps feed into the arms, legs, front, and back of the body. Brilliant right?

The reformer is there to add support to allow the body to understand what it couldn’t on the mat. To use that opposition of that spring that on the mat wasn’t there for the body.

I have always taught mat in my client’s session each week. Starting on the mat or ending on the mat. Some days we did full mat to see how things had changed and the words “the mat is so hard!” always occurred at some point in that hour. Many who haven’t done mat seem to think that how could that be more challenging than the Reformer? Once you have done the full mat it becomes clear very fast.

In 2020 when the pandemic hit and the world shut down my clients jumped into the virtual world but, many had no apparatus at home so they got bands, small weights, and balls, and maybe magic circles and we hit the mat together on Zoom.

I heard from many teachers who hadn’t taught or done mat since their teacher training program and they were unsure or not confident in teaching that anymore. These teachers were in a panic and struggling to get that mat back into their teaching and fast. Some of their clients thought the mat was not really work so they would just wait until the studio reopened.

Well, we know for some of us, and out here on the West Coast that was a long time of waiting to get into the studio again. I had a few clients who decided that they would wait until they could come back into the studio thinking that they would just do things outside and that they would see me when they could use the full studio.

Here is what happened to those clients who did the mat work each week during the shutdown compared to those who did not. For those clients that we met each week, we would have time to go through the full mat work, and use some props to add some additional connections but, really it was them and gravity! Which is hard. To answer your question yes, they did Pilates push-ups each session! Think about that. Every week 1-3x they were doing full sets of push-ups going from a standing position walking it out, pushups then walking it back in. I also have them do 3 sets of 3-5 each.

When we all got back into the studio and those clients that had been doing the mat work via zoom each week started their first session back onto the apparatus (as well as the mat at the beginning or end) it was clear! They were so much stronger, so much more connected and I wasn’t the only one who noticed. They could see and feel it right away.

These clients had spent months and months and months every week doing the Mat work straight out of “Return to Life” and the traditional method of Joseph Pilates. Doing the full mat each week made a difference in so many unexpected ways for the clients that they never thought of as we were working.

Here is what just doing that mat work for months that was noticed by clients in their body

1. Clients realized how much easier things were when they got to the Reformer and into the other apparatus to “feed” into the work

2. They felt able to figure things out when they did get to the Reformer or other apparatus and how to make it happen in their bodies. Things that maybe had been a struggle for them to “get” made more sense.

3. Clients realized how much stronger they were than before the shutdown.

4. Many commented on how much mobility and awareness they had in their bodies not only in their practice but out in the real world. They felt it in their outside activities as well as just daily life.

5. They also had a better connection to the breathe and synchronicity of their movements. Things seemed to flow more easily.

The Pilates mat work is the actual work of Pilates. It is the hardest to do but, the most rewarding when you see the changes and your ability to do things that you couldn’t before. If you think of the foundation of the work as Joseph Pilates created it, of course, it is hard. All you have when doing the mat work is your own body and you are working against gravity with nothing else to connect to but you.

Teaching Pilates and doing Pilates without the mat seems to me to have a huge disconnect with the work. It is easy to see when a client who has only done Reformer or apparatus work then is moved to the mat work and realizes they are struggling, aren’t as strong as they thought, or not having the endurance that it takes to go through the mat work from beginning to end.

What a wake-up call that can be!

Another wonderful thing with the mat work of Joseph Pilates is you can do it anywhere. All you need is space on the floor. That is it.

Doing the full mat workout in order and getting the flow soon you will find it isn’t taking a full hour but, maybe you have the endurance to do it in 45 minutes and it has become this fluid, blood-pumping, sweat-inducing workout that leaves you feeling strong, connected and ready for anything.

The foundation, the mat work is what everything springs off (pun intended) as you move around the studio. Realizing what the struggle was back on the mat is what we are using all that apparatus to help that body and mind connect better with.

So, each time you hit the mat it becomes a deeper and stronger foundation for you!