Full Body Flow: A Short Pilates Routine Worth Making a Sunday Ritual
Sometimes you don’t need a full hour — you just need the right sequence. This 20-minute flow combines six classic Pilates exercises designed to move your whole body, clear your head, and send you into the week feeling grounded. STOTT principles guide everything: focus on your breath, move with precision, and let it all flow.
The Full Body Flow Sequence
The Hundred → Roll Up → Single Leg Stretch → Spine Stretch → Swan Prep → Shoulder Bridge
1. The Hundred
This is your warm-up, and it means business. Lie on your back, curl your head and shoulders off the mat, and extend your legs to a 45° angle. Pump your arms vigorously — five short pumps on the inhale, five on the exhale — for ten full breath cycles. It’s called The Hundred for a reason. By the end, your core is awake, your circulation is up, and you’re ready to move.
2. Roll Up
Start lying flat with your arms reaching overhead. Inhale to float your arms up, then exhale as you slowly peel your spine off the mat — one vertebra at a time — reaching forward over your legs. Then reverse it just as slowly on the way back down. It’s deceptively simple and endlessly humbling. The Roll Up teaches you where your spine is tight and where it flows freely, and with practice, it becomes one of the most satisfying movements in the whole practice.
3. Single Leg Stretch
Stay on your back, curl your head and shoulders up, and alternate pulling each knee into your chest while extending the other leg long. The rhythm is the thing here — smooth, coordinated, and continuous. Your pelvis stays completely still while your legs do all the moving. Think of your core as the anchor and your limbs as the pendulum.
4. Spine Stretch Forward
Sit up tall with your legs extended and arms reaching forward. Inhale to grow long through the crown of your head, then exhale as you round forward into a deep C-curve, scooping your belly in as you reach. This is the exhale you’ve been waiting for. After all that core work, the Spine Stretch is a gentle decompression — creating space between every vertebra and giving your hamstrings some much-needed love.
5. Swan Prep
Flip onto your stomach. Place your hands under your shoulders and, on an exhale, use your back muscles to lift your head and chest off the mat — not your arms. Only rise as high as feels comfortable while your hips stay grounded. This is the counterbalance to everything you’ve done so far: a gentle back extension that opens the chest and reminds your spine that it moves in more than one direction.
6. Shoulder Bridge
Finish on your back with knees bent and feet flat. On an exhale, tilt your pelvis and slowly peel your spine up into a bridge, from tailbone to mid-back. Squeeze through your glutes, breathe in at the top, then exhale and roll back down with the same care and control you brought to the Roll Up. It’s a full-circle moment — spinal articulation, glute strength, and breath all coming together in one movement to close out the full body flow.
Bourne Pilates & Fitness
1164 Monte Vista Ave, Suite 2, Upland, CA 91786
(909) 559-9713
www.bournepilates.com
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