Customer Reviews

The Pilates Deck

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm a beginner and I think pilates deck is really good. I have friends who are far more advanced with pilates and they weren't so impressed.

I like to mix in the exercises from The 5-Second Flat Belly Secret - Lose 2-3 Inches from Your Belly in Less Than 1 Month with these pilates positions to get more focused work on losing my belly and that's been working out superb.

Pros: Nice box, looks neat, clean, easy to stack. Few exercise accessories needed.

Cons: Wordy, & it's in a tiny font size. Many/All strange-new exercises makes it difficult to follow along & get your exercise session done. I spent 5 minutes to learn and do each exercise, and you never really master each exercise. You try and try, but either your breathing isn't right, or you'll find something to make you stop & read each card each time you do that card's exercise. This is not the way to keep your body warm and your heart rate up during an exercise session. Amazon sent me a box that had its bar code striked out with a magic marker. Usually that is done at bookstores if the product was returned.

I originally bought these in an airport because I thought they would be great for travel and this has turned out to be the case. Size-wise these fit perfectly in a carry on bag and make for a great workout when combined with a mat from a hotel gym. What I like about this deck of cards is that not only do they represent a range of exercises, but there is also a guide that helps you turn these cards into a complete workout tailored to your level (beginner vs. advanced) and goals. This makes it easy to make sure you are getting a complete workout that is at the appropriate level. I've really enjoyed these so far and find them convenient to bring on the road or down to the gym.

I have found the Pilates Deck to be a great way to keep up with my Pilates workouts while traveling. The deck is easy to stow away when I pack, and it includes suggested workouts for different levels and differing amounts of time. And if I don't have time for one of the suggested workouts, I can make up my own. The cards clearly outline the individual exercises and include illustrations that can help you if you're a novice, and they also include suggestions on how to increase the challenge as your ability increases.

I am a pilates instructor and The Pilates Deck by Shirley Archer is one of the best resources I have found. The deck is perfect for beginners because it very clearly shows the basic body positioning for all exercises. I love that the Deck also includes a series of stretching postures and that it includes more advanced versions of the basic exercises so that the reader may progress. The explanations are succinct and the illustrations easy to emulate on the mat. I have wholeheartedly recommended The Pilates Deck to my students and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in pilates.
p.s. It's also small and light; easy to carry along in a gym bag!

I am a fairly advanced Pilates practitioner, and I bought this deck so I could assemble a Classical Pilates workout for myself. I was fairly disappointed to find several exercises missing.

Now, to be fair, I was pleased to see the newer stretches introduced, and those would have been helpful if I could actually use this deck. However, I have to rely on my own flipchart now, and will perhaps add a few of those stretches into my own, and throw the deck away (or sell it).

Another sad part about it is that there aren't enough cards to assemble the complete Advanced Full-Body Workout. Some of the stretches (20 and 21) are mentioned 3 times. If you're putting the deck together and in the middle of your workout, should you have to remember that the stretch occurs in many different places? There should be several copies of those cards.

While I may have been able to use the "modified" cards (and remembered the correct way to do them, since the card doesn't talk about the original method), there were several I didn't find in the deck at all.

I hope another edition comes with all the exercises in it and several copies. THEN I'll consider buying it. Until then, I'm glad I only paid $5.

Modified exercises:
Modified Swan Dive [doesn't provide the classical version (pulling your arms back and opening your chest while rocking up)]
Modified Scissors [doesn't provide the classical version (propping your hips up)]
Modified Push Up [doesn't provide the full classical version in plank (starting from standing)]

MISSING exercises:
The Roll Over With Legs Spread (Both Ways)
The Cork Screw
The One Leg Kick
The Double Kick
The Neck Pull
The Bicycle
The Jack Knife
The Hip Twist With Stretched Arms
The Side-Kick-Kneeling
The Boomerang
The Seal
The Crab
The Rocking
The Control Balance

Since I had a baby, I couldn't go to my pilates classes as often as I used to. I have been using this card deck. every week at home and this helped me get back in shape despite a busy schedule with the baby.
This card deck does a great teaching job": on each card 1 position well illustrated and well explained with detailed breathing patterns
Also it offers great advice to tailor the movements to your level of fitness or to your physical limitations; for each position, the author gives variations to increase or decrease the level of difficulty and "listen to your body" comments on how to modify the position if you have back pain for example. This was very useful to me as I had many discomforts after the delivery.
Finally this card deck is so easy to use: assemble the cards as you wish and you can create your own sequences of movements or follow the recommended ones to fit best your schedule or your energy level: each time I had a few minutes, I did squeeze in 15 to 30 min of exercises in between baby feedings and diaper changes!!!

On one side of the card is a picture, and on the other side is a fairly complete explanation. More pictures would have been better. One side has the exercise number and the other has the name. The name and number on both sides would have been more helpful. Pilates originally was not meant to be a mix-and-match method, but these cards make it into that if you are so inclined. (I generally prefer to stick with the original method because there apparently is a reason for the specific sequence.) For me, with 5 little ones who tend to get into my stuff, I fear them scattering the cards all over, so punching holes in the cards and using rings to hold them in the desired sequence may relieve my scatter fears - and would make it nice for flipping through the routine. All in all, I have not used these cards very much. All that said, even though the routines given are not the original Joseph Pilates routines, they are very nice routines which I enjoy doing, so the cards have been worth the buy just to get those routines.