wundaful

I'm a huge fan of the Wunda chair and have recently had more opportunities to practice. On Friday night, Madison put us through our pilates paces and after class, I got to try a full pike. This is one of the hardest exercises, as far as I'm concerned, and at first I couldn't do it without guidance -- namely, Madison's arm across my waist as I bent over it, both providing some lift and also a frame of reference for where to bend. That said, once you get into it the full ab experience is pretty intense and it's really an amazing full body stretch. It's like an entire hour long session wrapped into about 20 seconds.

Rael Isacowitz describes it as "you must perform and to understand how profound it is. Viewing from the sidelines simply does not impart full appreciation of its intensity, but those who attempt it will never look back. If one exercise can guide you to discover the sensation of working deep into the abdominal's, this is. The abdominal work is profound and often leads to a sensation of muscle activation never before experienced."

He goes on to compare it to a handstand, but I feel more like it's sort of an inverse teaser (maybe that's just two ways of saying the same thing, though). The positioning is sort of similar and while there is more arm work needed, it's easier to do with even tight hamstrings. The ab experience is similar and the overall stability is greater, perhaps because you're resisting against the chair rather than trying to balance arms, legs and abs all at once.