Box and Pole Series
Joseph Pilates was obsessed with spinal articulation and balanced muscular development. The original Reformer was brilliant for horizontal movement like legs in straps, footwork, arm work but Joe realized something important: whilst being prone allows you to work stabilizing muscles differently, your body does not live lying down.
He wanted a way to:elevate the torso, increase range of motion, challenge your stability, allow greater spinal flexion and extension and create leverage for the back body to strengthen.
The box solved all of that. By placing a box on top of the platform, he changed the geometry of the body relative to the springs. Suddenly the torso could move through space in deeper arcs, the arms could hang freely, the back could extend beyond neutral and the abdominals had to work harder to counteract gravity.
Joseph was always refining his apparatus based on what he observed in the dancers he was training. When an injured client needed a stronger back, better posture or deeper abdominal control, he modified the Reformer to accommodate the more complex movement and the box became part of his repertoire because it allowed exercises that were impossible without elevation, especially prone extension and advanced abdominal work.
He didn’t see it as an accessory but more as an expansion of his method:
By elevating the torso, you create more space for spinal flexion, extension, and rotation. Your spine can move through fuller range of motion.
A longer lever means greater abdominal challenge as is experienced in the Short Box series. reason.
Lying on your front and pulling straps on the box directly allows the Mid-back, lower traps, rhomboids, spinal extensors and glutes to strengthen which changes your posture dramatically.
And because the surface is narrow and lifted, your nervous system makes you stabilize more precisely.
There are two positions for the box on the platform:
When placed sideways you can sit facing the footbar with your feet securely tucked under the strap and perform the Short Box Series, an important abdominal sequence including Round Back, Flat Back, Side to Side, Twist and Tree. These exercises enhance deep abdominal strength, strengthen your obliques, improve pelvic control, hip flexor length, spinal articulation, and balance.
When the box is placed longwise lying on your tummy with your hands in the straps you can pull on the straps and perform the Long Box Series, lift your torso to open your chest, strengthen your upper back, add extension to your lumbar spine, correct rounded shoulders and build shoulder stability.
For someone building a home Pilates space, adding the box will transform your Reformer from a sliding carriage machine into a multi-dimensional strength and posture system.
written by Marjolein Brugman
Marjolein Brugman is the founder of lighterliving and Aeropilates. “lighterliving is a movement and lifestyle choice we can all make. Let’s make it simple – make one decision a day to be better and watch the small steps lead to big changes. Eat smart, stay active, and you’ll live to feel a lighter life."
