AeroPilates SpaceMate: a portable pilates gym in a bag

Posted by Marjolein Brugman on Saturday, May 15, 2010

As you all know I spend so much time on the road traveling and thus often feel the frustration of not being able to get on my AeroPilates performer to stretch out and realign my weary body.

Over the years I have developed my own portable kit: a tennis ball to work through tight trigger points, my Back Magic to workout the knots and spasms in my poor lower back, from long spurts of sitting, a stretch band or two and a series of floor movements that keep my arms strong and my body toned.

There is however a series of work that Joseph Pilates designed for his premium "Cadillac" machine that I have thought, for years, would convert into a wonderful travel kit and thus last year we developed the AeroPilates SpaceMate. I consider SpaceMate a "must have" for any one who is addicted to Pilates. All you need is a door and instantly you have a Pilates gym. It is a totally portable AeroPilates "kit in a bag" that I can now take away with me wherever I go.

After shooting the three DVD´s that go with SpaceMate I was amazed and impressed with the challenge that I got from the workouts so have recently begun to alternate between my AeroPilates Performer workout one day with the Spacemate workout the next.

So then... if you are already an AeroPilates convert, I suggest that you give SpaceMate a go and let me know what you think. Then again, if you have watched my AeroPilates shows for years wishing that you had the room for a machine but are confined to tiny quarters, then give the SpaceMate a go and if you are a traveling fool, like me, who is addicted to their Pilates machine but doesn´t always have access to it give SpaceMate a go.

Joseph Pilates was the brilliant inventor of many marvelous pieces of exercise apparatus designed to connect a person´s mind with their body, making them become acutely aware of how they move and live. Mostly he focused on rehabilitating and strengthening the entire bodies of performers, dancers and athletes and in that vein he created one very special piece of equipment; one that I own myself and love and one that he considered the "creme de la creme". It is the "Cadillac", which he named to share its status with the premium American car that he admired so much.

At the end of Joe´s Cadillac is a tower from which hangs two sets of long resistance springs with hand/foot straps and a bar; one set high, one set low and the bar in the middle. When you lie on the bed of the Cadillac you can perform many of the familiar reformer exercises with your arms and legs like the Warm-up Footwork, Legs in Straps, Arms in Straps, Mermaid and Hundred. You can also perform many of his mat exercises like Single and Double Leg extension, Side Lying Leg Series and Roll Down, only with the added resistance of the springs these exercises take on a different meaning.

AeroPilates SpaceMate is simply a portable version of the massive but profoundly beneficial Cadillac tower work. It comes with two sets of resistance bands, a bar, a mat and a door anchor that you simply attach to the top or half way down; voila: a Pilates Cadillac tower.

You will recognize some of the the exercises I designed as a combination of the Pilates Mat and the AeroPilates Performer but many are also brand new. All are fun and fabulous and you may even find some of them more challenging than doing them on your own or with your friendly reformer. Where the reformer supports and forces balance between your right and the left sides, the SpaceMate challenges your ability to stay balanced on your own, forcing you to use both sides equally with control and precision. Where the mat work leaves you on the floor without support, the SpaceMate supports and also challenges you.

Each DVD contains our familiar line-up: a warm-up, strength and flexibility training for the upper and lower body, a cool down and of course some cardio to make each workout truly complete. You will finish each workout feeling that you have successfully addressed strength and flexibility in every muscle, breathing for healthy circulation and the challenge of finding a new sense of balance and coordination.