Rowing 1
This step-by-step approach to Rowing 1 grew out of necessity.
After watching many people attempt this exercise over the years, I noticed that unless taught otherwise, they tend to approach it in a very similar way:
• Rushing through it
• Pulling hard with the arms
• Letting the shoulders creep up toward the ears.
The irony is that the faster they try to get through it, the more they miss what the exercise is actually teaching:
• Spinal flexibility
• Abdominal strength
• The ability to stabilize the shoulders while the arms are moving.
Even though many people naturally assume they know what to do, I always slow them down.
For me, that’s the only way to help them benefit from this exercise.
Of course, we all want our movements to look graceful and effortless. But for that to happen, we first have to understand what we are actually doing. 😁👍️
If you look closely, you'll notice that the very first movement in this sequence is "Roll Down" on the Cadillac.
Then, once the arms open, the movement is "Spine Stretch Forward."
One of the things I appreciate most about the Pilates method is how often one exercise prepares you for another.
Helping my clients recognize those connections has been one of the most effective ways to improve both their understanding and executing these movements.
The more I teach the method the more I see how exercises with simpler choreography “show up “ in those exercises with more elaborate choreography.
Keeping the shoulders stable while the arms move is a learned skill. Maintaining that stability during Rowing 1 allows the spine to elongate, the upper back muscles and abdominals activate.
In What Pilates Is: The Essential Skills, I teach foundational movement skills like shoulder-girdle stability before applying them to Pilates exercises. The course covers this and other essential skills for organizing the body during movement.
This Skill Is What Actually Gives You The Results
Rowing 1 is a great example of what it means for a Pilates exercise to be considered advanced.
Often, it is not that the exercise demands exceptional physical ability.
Rather, it requires the ability to combine the skills practiced in beginner and intermediate exercises into one coordinated movement sequence.
I rarely teach an advanced exercise as if it were something completely new.
Most of the time, we're simply putting together lessons the client has already learned.
I enjoy taking exercises with more complicated choreography, such as Rowing 1, and breaking them down to make them clear, approachable, and doable.
What looks like one exercise is actually several skills strung together.
Once my clients understand the individual pieces and how they connect, they stop feeling overwhelmed and begin moving with more intention.
I tease a few of my clients who come to the same small group class every week, because when I say, "now let's do Rowing 1", some start rushing through, and that's when I joke:
"Are you double parked?" 😅
That always helps us slow it down.
😉👍️
Rowing 1 is often performed with emphasis on moving arms through space.
But when the arms take over, the shoulders usually follow, which works against one of the benefits of this exercise: learning how to control the shoulder girdle. And if we translate that skill into everyday life, many people become more aware of how often they lift their shoulders up toward their ears during everyday activities.
So shift your focus and effort to the movement of the spine.
First, Sit up straight with abdominals activated and your shoulders down .
Begin unrolling your pelvis to unroll the spine to move the carriage.
Then stop moving your spine and start moving your arms.
Now relax your shoulders and relax your hip flexors and bend your spine forward as if you were doing Spine Stretch Forward, so up and over your ribcage with your abdominals contracted.
Once you finish bending the spine, reach the arms back by engaging the triceps or upper back muscles reach as far as you can and then, maintaining the stability in your spine, start moving your arms. Close the carriage and then roll your spine back up as if you were finishing Spine Stretch Forward.
Once you master the above, start enjoying this graceful, flowing movement.
When teaching Rowing 1, I help my clients realize that they have practiced all of these movement skills before—just not all at once. 🙂
One of the key abilities that make Rowing 1 successful when we practice it is to keep the shoulders down and stable while moving through this complicated choreography.
How do we learn that?
In What Pilates Is: The Essential Skills, I explain and teach the fundamental movement skills that the Pilates exercises are built on. Learning them separately makes it easier to understand them and practice, so that we can implement them when we put our body in motion. Shoulder girdle stability is one of them.