Pilates: Beginner vs. Intermediate

Maggie doing Spread Eagle on the Cadillac with Fuzzy Straps...Intermediate Maggie doing Spread Eagle on the Cadillac with Fuzzy Straps…Intermediate

Most of Personal Euphoria’s group classes are mixed level, but a couple of our towns offer intermediate classes.  People regularly ask me what the differences between beginner and intermediate classes are.  So here are some basic guidelines I like to follow:

  • Pilates Basic Principles

You know and are familiar with all the basic principles.  It doesn’t mean you absolutely have to have perfected each principle, but you know it when you hear it and while you may require a reminder, you can make the adjustment needed if cued to.  The general basic principles are: breathing, imprint vs. neutral, shoulder stability, neck placement during exercises, and knitting the ribs.  Again, this doesn’t mean that you never need to be reminded to relax your shoulders, but when you hear that reminder you are able to.  It doesn’t mean that you never feel an exercise in your neck, but when you do, you have ways to move your body to release that tension or you know to lower the head.

  • Control Imprint vs Neutral

This is […]