At last, it was the eighth and final session at Dal Pilates. We entered into the facility with swiftness, for traffic levels had delayed our arrival until at least the 55-minute mark.
The warmup would commence with about three counts of dynamic hamstring stretches: placing one foot on the footbar and the other against the headrest, then extending and bending the knee of the raised leg. Next, we would sit on the Carriage with our legs hung over either edge of the frame, place our hands on the footbar, and push against the footbar for an upper back/low back/hip stretch. Flipping onto our backs, the feet would be replaced onto the footbar for a few lying squats, followed by calve raises and alternating legs pedals. Form reminders for the latter included keeping the ribs down against the mat and making sure our heels were lowered beneath the footbar before returning to the raised position for the full range of motion.
Afterwards, we'd immediately transition into core work. The exercise that followed appeared somewhat unconventional at first, but was, in fact, incredibly innovative. Intended to target total core, the move combined isolations with rotation, revealing itself extremely challenging even at low spring tensions. Both hands would form a steady grip about one of two tension straps; we'd start with the left strap. Holding the strap just above the shoulders, the legs would be raised to tabletop. This assumed the starting position. Exhaling, the leg opposite of the tension strap would be extended while the upper body curled towards the extended leg. Breathing cues were: Inhale to prepare, exhale to crunch and extend leg, inhale to maintain the position, and exhale to return. Despite only being performed a few times, the exercise engaged the obliques and upper-/mid-back thoroughly. The weighted oblique twist/bicycle crunch variation was also deemed fitting for inclusion into at-home workouts, perhaps using a resistance band, light weight, or even both. Of course, we performed at least eight more counts of the exercise after alternating to the right tension strap and extending the left leg. By this point, the upper abdominals had fatigued quite significantly.
The exercise would be executed with two more variations:
1) Bending one knee into a low tabletop (slightly sent away from the hip) and raising the leg, then preserving the position as best as possible while continuing to pull back the elbows.
The intent was to engage the thighs and quads, in addition to the core and postural muscles, by lifting the leg. The exercise constituted a fun challenge, to say in the least, and was manageable until introducing the next tier of difficulty.
The sequence finisher was the epitome of a total core exercise, for it demanded balance, strength, and poise to resist gravity and external forces. Only 4-5 reps were executed, much to our relief.