# Roll-Up: how to do it

- Main muscles: abs
- Also works: hip flexors
- Equipment: yoga mat
- Level: intermediate
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/pilates_roll_up/650ec9937c/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Lie on your back with your legs long and together, feet flexed, arms overhead.
2. Breathe in and float your arms up to the ceiling.
3. Breathe out, bring your chin to your chest and roll up one vertebra at a time, reaching your arms forward.
4. Stretch forward over your legs in a C-curve, belly scooped.
5. Breathe in, then breathe out and roll back down one vertebra at a time; do 5–6 slowly.

## Cues

- Peel your spine off the mat like a wheel.
- Heels stay heavy, legs reach long.
- Scoop your belly as you curl.

## Common mistakes

- Using momentum: slow down, bend your knees or hold your thighs if you can't roll up yet.
- Lifting your legs: press your heels into the mat.
- Collapsing at the top: lift your belly in and up over your legs.

## The version in our demo

The classical mat Roll-Up (Joseph Pilates, Return to Life, exercise 2; Balanced Body mat manual): legs long and together, feet flexed, a slow articulation of the spine up and over the legs and back down, not a sit-up.

## Starting position

Lying long on the mat, legs straight and together, feet flexed (toes to the ceiling), arms overhead just above the mat.

## The movement

1. Breathe in: float the arms up to the ceiling. 2. Breathe out: chin to chest, curl the head and shoulders up, then peel the spine off the mat one part at a time, reaching the arms forward; roll up over the sit bones and stretch forward over the legs in a C-curve, belly scooped, reaching past the toes. 3. Breathe in: lengthen at the reach. 4. Breathe out: tip the pelvis back and roll down one part at a time, arms reaching forward, until the head lands; the arms float back overhead.

## Breathing

In to prepare, out to roll up, in at the top, out to roll down.

## Tempo

7 s: in 1 s (arms up), out 2.6 s (roll up and forward), in 0.6 s (lengthen), out 1.8 s (roll down), and the arms float back overhead over 1.5 s as the back lands (5.5–7 s). The roll is paced by the head's path, so the head travels at an even speed and never drops; the arms follow the clock. Real practice: 5–6 slow repetitions.

## Form in numbers

- Legs straight (knees 4–6°), together; heels stay on the mat throughout (no lift).
- Lying: arms overhead 4–5 cm above the mat; arms straight (elbows about 10°).
- Curl first: the spine rounds about 62° while the pelvis is still on the mat, then the pelvis rolls up.
- Arms: vertical at the top of the in-breath, 25° above the legs by mid-roll, reaching past the toes at the end.
- Reach: pelvis tipped forward 106° from lying (hip flexion about 106°), spine rounded 50°; wrists 5 cm past the ankles, head 28 cm above the knees.

## Sources

1. J. Pilates and W. J. Miller, Return to Life through Contrology (1945), Exercise 2, "The Roll Up".
2. Balanced Body, Pilates Mat instructor manual

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/pilates-roll-up