Abs exercise
TeaserHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Abs, Hip flexors
- Also works
- Lower back
- Equipment
- Yoga mat
- Level
- Advanced
How to do it
How do you do the Teaser?
- Lie on your back, lift your legs straight to about 45°, toes pointed, arms overhead.
- Breathe in, float your arms up and roll up one vertebra at a time, reaching for your toes.
- Balance just behind your sit bones in a V, chest lifted, arms parallel to your legs.
- Breathe out and roll down one vertebra at a time, keeping your legs still.
- Do 3–5 slowly.
Cues
- Legs stay still; the spine does the work.
- Lift your chest at the top.
- Roll like a wheel, up and down.
Common mistakes
- Using momentum: bend your knees until you can roll with control.
- Dropping the legs: lift them higher or bend your knees.
- Rounding at the top: lift your chest and lengthen through the crown.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
The version in our demo
Teaser I as Joseph Pilates set it out (Return to Life) and the Balanced Body mat manual teaches it: the legs held up at about 45° while the spine rolls up into a V balance and back down.
Starting position
On the back, legs straight and together, lifted to about 45°, toes pointed; arms overhead.
The movement
Breathe in and float the arms up to the ceiling; roll the spine up off the mat one part at a time, reaching the arms to the toes, until you balance just behind the sit bones in a V, chest lifted. Hold. Breathe out and roll down one part at a time, the legs staying where they are; the arms float back overhead.
Breathing
In to roll up (Pilates: "inhale slowly while raising"), out to roll down.
Tempo
7 s: arms up 0.8 s, roll up 2.5 s, hold 1 s, roll down 1.9 s, and the arms float back overhead over 1.4 s as the back lands (5.6–7 s). The roll is paced by the path of the head, chest and pelvis together, so the body moves at an even speed (no stop at a key, no surge); the arms follow the clock. Real practice: 3–5 slow reps.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
- Legs straight (knees 4°), together, 45° above the mat throughout.
- Curl first: the spine rounds 55° before the pelvis rolls.
- The V: trunk 66–69° above the mat, spine long (6°), the angle between trunk and legs 66–69°, balanced just behind the sit bones (hip joints 8 cm up); arms parallel to the legs (within 6°), elbows 11°.
- Lying: arms overhead 4–5 cm above the mat.
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 Teaser 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), "The Teaser".
- Balanced Body, Pilates Mat instructor manual
