March Matness: Returning to Life One Mat at a Time

Experience the benefits of Intermediate Mat Pilates in half the time. Our 30-minute sessions are designed to fit seamlessly into your busy lifestyle.

The Origins of a Pilates Revolution

Joseph Pilates created his Mat work long before it was published in his book ‘Return to Life‘. But, his book helped spread the word beyond his New York Studio. He wrote in his book tips for breathing and getting more zest and pleasure out of life. And, he broke down the original 34 pilates exercises to do on your own, at home, as often as you could!

A Love Letter to the Original Method

I remember after I fell in love with Pilates ordering my copy of Return to Life through Contrology. Its a simple print, black and white, pictures of Joe Pilates at 60 doing his exercises from start to finish. As best as he could capture the movement by camera back in 1945!!

As an obsessed Pilates lover I did the exercises I could. To me, the mat work was everything! And, also, its hard.

From Basketball to the Body: The Birth of March Matness

Back in 2012 Pilates was popular, not as popular as today’s standards. But still widely known. And, many people were more interested in Reformer classes or Tower classes. A friend of my Benjamin Degenhardt played with the famous March Madness (basketball competition season) and created March Mat-ness.

It was designed for Pilates lovers of all levels and backgrounds to have fun, showing off one of Joe’s Mat exercises each day:

March 2nd Roll Up
March 1st 100
All the way to March 31st the Push Up

Your Mat, Your Rules, Your Theme

And, so many years later Pilates lovers are still posting their March Matness themes. Yes, themes!! You can show how to do all the exercises on a park bench, air port, in a fancy dress! What inspires you? Do that!

Or, you can be like me and post your March Matness picks when you feel like it in your pajamas.

Why the Mat Matters

For me, I love that there is a month where we can simply focus on the Mat work. Take our time each day to dive deep into each Mat exercise on its own.

The Mat work is often more accessible to people to do. Either because classes are more affordable or because they can do the Mat work at home, work and on the road.

How to Join the March Matness Hype

So, what should you do if you want to jump into the March Mat-ness hype? Mat Pilates! I mean, really! Its so fun! You can post if you want to! If you do use hashtags for each post like #marchmatness20__ and #exercisenameofthe day so people can follow along!

You honestly can’t do it wrong!

Tools to Help You Succeed

In fact, if you are not as versed in the Mat Pilates exercises tutorials from Joe Pilates, we made it really fun and easy for you.

1) Check out my YouTube playlist March Matness here. Its got a free tutorial for every single exercise so you can learn it on your own.

2) Use my Mat Pilates Flashcards! You can put the exercise of the day out for all to see and try.

Similar to a tarot card pull! Each card has details on how to do the exercise and a QR code that will take you to the video.

The Power of Consistency

And, if all you do all March long is the 1 rep mat every day that’s amazing too! Or, maybe you do 3-5 reps!? I’ll never forget how strong I felt after 90 days of doing the Mat work from Joe. Every day. 3 reps.

What exercises from Joe’s Mat work do you struggle with? What are your favorites? My favorite is Spine Twist. Boomerang is my big challenge. Your turn!

xx~LL

PS if you’re an Online Pilates Classes (OPC) member you can send video of you doing the Mat exercises you struggle with to get feed back from me!

Follow this exercise list: