In the classical Pilates matwork, there are 11 exercises before we come onto our stomach and work on taking our spine into hyper-extension. 1. Hundred 2. Roll up 3. Rollover 4. One leg circle 5. Rolling like a ball 6. Single leg stretch 7. Double leg stretch 8. Spine stretch forward 9. Open leg rocker 10. Corkscrew 11. Saw 12. Swan At first glance, that can seem to be really flexion-heavy and ab-dominant. What’s up with that? Here are a couple of reasons why this order might

- Nadea Knodel It's the first day of #MarchMatness on Pilates social media, and while we're not officially participating in the daily Instagram/Facebook posting marathon this time around, it's always nice to take a little bit of time to check in on the classical matwork and give it some love and attention. The first exercise in Joseph Pilates' matwork exercise order (as featured in his book Return to Life Through Contrology) is the Hundred. It's also nearly the first exercise