Abs exercise
The HundredHow to do it, with form in numbers
How to do it
How do you do the The Hundred?
- Lie on your back, draw your knees to your chest and reach your arms long beside you.
- Breathe out and curl your head and shoulders off the mat, eyes on your thighs.
- Stretch your legs out to about 45° (or keep them in tabletop), squeezed together.
- Reach your arms long, a few inches above the mat, and pump them up and down from the shoulders.
- Breathe in for five pumps and out for five; do ten breaths (100 pumps), then hug your knees in.
Cues
- Lower back heavy, belly scooped.
- Reach out through your fingertips and toes.
- Small, brisk pumps; steady breath.
Common mistakes
- Arching the lower back: lift your legs higher or bend your knees.
- Straining the neck: rest your head down for a few breaths if it tires.
- Pumping from the elbows: keep the arms straight and move from the shoulders.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
The version in our demo
The classical mat Hundred as Joseph Pilates set it out (Return to Life through Contrology, the first exercise) and the Balanced Body mat manual teaches it: head and shoulders curled up, legs straight at about 45°, arms pumping beside the body, five pumps on the in-breath and five on the out-breath.
Starting position
On the back, knees to the chest, arms long beside the body.
The position
Breathe out and curl the head, neck and shoulders off the mat to the tips of the shoulder blades, chin drawn in, eyes on the thighs; reach the legs out straight to about 45°, squeezed together, toes softly pointed; reach the arms long towards the feet, a few centimetres above the mat, palms down. Keep the lower back heavy on the mat and the shoulders down from the ears. Pump the arms up and down from the shoulders, small and brisk: in through the nose for five pumps, out through the mouth for five. Ten breaths make a hundred pumps.
Breathing
In through the nose for five pumps, out through the mouth for five, steady and full.
Tempo
One breath cycle, 5 s, ten pumps. The full exercise is ten breaths (100 pumps).
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
- Pelvis tipped back 6° (lower back resting on the mat); upper trunk curled 24° off the mat, shoulders 20–23 cm up; head flexed so the gaze meets the thighs.
- Legs straight (knees under 5°), together, 45° above the mat.
- Arms straight (elbows 10–11°), reaching towards the feet, hands 6–17 cm above the mat through the pump; pump about 9–11 cm at the hands.
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The The Hundred is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
Sources
- J. Pilates and W. J. Miller, Return to Life through Contrology (1945), Exercise 1, "The Hundred".
- Balanced Body, Pilates Mat instructor manual
