How to do the Pilates Hundred (with a free class!)
Behind the Moves is our series of expert Pilates insights explaining the Pilates movements. Lauren Hilton shares her Pilates expertise on how each core Pilates movement benefits our bodies and minds, how to improve the movement in your own Pilates practice with pro tips on how it should feel, building your knowledge and understanding of the Joseph Pilates movement principles, and feeling the benefit of your improved Pilates practice.
Ever wondered about the why behind some of the Pilates moves you do in class? We’re delving a little deeper into a move per month so you can learn the benefits of the movements we’re offering our bodies and what those mean for our day-to-day movement and well-being.
Let’s talk about the infamous Pilates mat exercise the Hundred…
The Pilates mat exercise, the Hundred, is the most well-known of the 34 classical mat exercises in Joseph Pilates's method. Classically, it is taught at the start of an intermediate Pilates class in order to warm up the entire body for the remainder of the class and to oxygenate the blood.
THE FULL PILATES HUNDRED
As well as warming up the body, the exercise has a load of benefits, the main being that it teaches us how to breathe when the trunk or torso is loaded. There are many times in life when we’ll load our body when lifting something and still need to maintain stability and breathe! As well as this it strengthens the abdominals, improves spine mobility, improves circulation, and establishes better breathing habits.
The hundred exercise requires coordination of both breath and movement as well as control and precision. Because of the many components involved it’s by no means a beginner’s exercise.
THE PILATES HUNDRED - Breathe in for 5 counts and out for 5 counts. Repeat this 10 times until you reach 100.
You may have tried the hundred and thought ‘how do I do that without neck tension?’. It’s certainly one of the downsides to the movement, but just so long as your neck pain doesn’t persist or become worse with time you might benefit from a few simple readjustments that make all the difference to how it feels.
At Lauren Hilton Pilates we’re all about movement that feels good, so we’ll offer you our expert tips and some modifications to help you get there.
How do I do the Hundred?
The Pilates Hundred starts laying down on your back with knees bent and feet flat, arms long alongside the body.
The legs come to tabletop position, knees are bent, thighs are perpendicular to the floor and shins are parallel to the ceiling.
Next, the arms then reach towards the toes and with the upper back (head, neck shoulders) flexed into a round ‘C’ shape. This is where it all starts!
The legs then straighten to a degree where the lumbar spine can stay in contact with the ground.
It’s called the hundred because of the number of breaths and beats of the arms. When ready, start to beat the arms up and down, once you find a rhythm start to breathe in for 5 counts and out for 5 counts. Repeat this 10 times until you reach 100. And there you have it; the Pilates Hundred.
The Pilates Hundred exercise features regularly in our Energise mat classes
When I first started Pilates I used to do the hundred and my neck hurt, I thought the more I did it the less it would happen and to some extent that was true but there were lots of other things I also needed to work on in order to do it successfully without neck pain.
Doing the hundred without neck pain.
The main reasons for neck pain are that the neck flexors are doing the work instead of the surrounding muscles, usually due to a lack of abdominal strength, inflexibility in the spine, or poor timing.
Neck tension in the hundred often occurs more when you’re a beginner still figuring things out in your body.
Top tips
To execute the hundred the spine needs to flex. In other words, the mid to upper back needs to round into a C-shape. If the spine is inflexible it’s not going to be able to flex sufficiently to get the abdominals on board. If only the head and neck have flexed, the neck muscles are doing the work the abdominals should be doing. Keep scrolling where you’ll find our free class to help you work on all the things your body needs to successfully achieve the full hundred.
Let your head really fall back into your hands. Imagine your hands are a basket with your head softening back into the basket. Rest the thumbs into the grooves where your neck and skull meet and widen the gap between your fingers to give the head the widest amount of support.
Inhale slowly and fully into the side and back ribs, if you try and do a belly breath it’s not going to happen because the abdominals will be switched on.
As you exhale breathe out as if fogging a mirror and simultaneously let your eye gaze drift downwards towards your cheekbones as the head and shoulders come off the ground into the C-shape
Once up, with each exhale encourage the lower front ribs to slide forward, imagine your front ribs are like wheels, and turn the wheels around your armpits. The abdominals shouldn’t feel forced, just keep letting the ribs slide down and around.
Try not to look up! It’s tempting but our body goes where our eyes go, looking up will only strain the neck further. Lengthen the top of the head and maintain space between the chin and chest whilst looking forward.
What to do if your neck still hurts?
If you’ve applied these tips and your neck still hurts, then you modify! Pilates is for everyone and it’s a practice that means that we’ll never know and be able to do it all - this is honestly why I love the method!
Chest lift is a great preparation exercise where you find the C-curve without the hands coming away from the head. Become proficient at this and stay up and see if you can breathe and then practice moving the arms away from the head. Keep one hand behind the back of the head throughout the exercise until you can stay up without tension. Simply keep your head down and just pump the arms with legs in tabletop position.
Remember that exercises such as chest lift aren’t suitable for anyone with osteoporosis, but the exercise can be modified by keeping the head down and avoiding the spine being in the C-curve.
If you’d like to hone your hundred or learn more then try our free class below which will help you work on all the things that you’ll need in order to do the full hundred.
FREE CLASS - Breaking down the Pilates Hundred - a sample from inside the Lauren Hilton Pilates At Home membership.
This blog is designed to educate; we believe knowledge is power and with a deeper understanding of our body we can live in a happier, healthier, and pain-free body.
No one body is the same (thank goodness!) so the information provided may not be appropriate for you. If you’d like to know more about the Hundred or want to dive in deeper, why not consider booking a one-to-one Pilates session?
Lauren Hilton Pilates is a boutique Pilates studio specialising in mindful Pilates movement. Located in the heart of Shrewsbury our fully equipped studio has the ultimate Pilates experience for you.
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See you in the studio or online studio soon!
Lauren x
Owner and Pilates teacher, Lauren Hilton Pilates, Shrewsbury
Photo credit: Florence Fox Photography
