Sport is about winning.

Dance is about expressing beauty.

Advanced Pilates is about showing off.

Advanced Pilates is a demonstration of mastery. In order to execute these fancy moves, you must know and embody basic good movement principles*. You have to live and breathe Joe’s original principles. You have “internalized what it takes to make it happen” (courtesy of Instructor Angela).

Advanced Pilates is a collection of party tricks and circus tricks meant to impress. Advanced Pilates is whiz bang. It’s a show of balance: a balance of bravery and control, of stability and mobility, of fear and fearlessness. Advanced Pilates is proof of work well done and the luck of good genetics.

Not every move is for everybody, or every body, for that matter. But in Advanced Pilates, you can see what you’ve been working towards with all the foundational exercises and movement principles. Advanced Pilates provides a sense of completion and accomplishment that can inspire greatness, or at the very least, perseverance.

Let these moves be your inspiration for the start of 2017. These are our favorites.

What to master before Tendon Stretch:

Triceps Press on the Chair

Leg Pull on the Mat

What to master before Swan:

Breaststroke on the Mat

Salute or Shave the Head on the Reformer

Swan on the Mat or Chair

What to master before Star:

Plank and Side Plank on the Mat

Side Leg Lift Series on the Mat

Long Stretch or Plank on the Reformer

Star Prep on the Reformer

What to master before Back Splits:

Lunges on the Floor

Lunges or Single Thigh Stretch on the Reformer

What to master before Arabesque:

Barre Leg Work

Elephant on the Reformer

Dying to try these moves? Talk to your instructor about a training plan during your next Small Group or Private Training!

*Movement Principles courtesy of Balanced Body® – breathing – core activation – neutral spine – abdominal strengthening – lumbopelvic stability – strengthening and mobilizing the spine – scapular stability and mobility – release work – stretching – dynamic and static alignment