Скачать или смотреть Archival Swan Dive on the Reformer

In this video I share four variations of the archival Swan Dive as archived on film by Joseph Pilates (first repetition), Romana's male workout partner (second repetition), Romana Kryzanowska (third repetition), and Eve Gentry (fourth repetition).

I am performing this in second gear with a slightly longer foot strap and pads on the box as was archived. While I can do this exercise in first gear without adding a clasp to the foot strap, putting the gear bar in the second setting and extending the foot strap gives me extra space for my foot to do the hop from the inside of the Reformer frame to the foot bar, as was documented by Joseph Pilates. Positioning the middle of my thighs over the edge of the box gives me more space to lift not only my spine, but also my hips.

Can you spot the subtle differences in each repetition?

1st repetition: Joseph Pilates demonstrated this variation of the Swan on the Reformer as he was teaching a male student who was described as "the son of Dr. Hillel" on film. Joe made an explosive arm movement as he darted forward at the end of each cycle. By curling the fingers of one hand over the straight fingers of the other hand and leading with the heels of the hands on the dive, he recreated the most effective shape a diver can make to protect the head upon entry into the water. This hand position also reduces the amount of splash when diving.

2nd repetition: Romana's male partner started and finished each cycle with the backs of his hands together, created a streamline effect. This hand position can also be seen in archival photos of Joe's student, George Hoyningen-Huene performing the exercise.

3rd repetition: Instead of starting and finishing each cycle with the backs of the hands together, Romana brought the backs of her hands together at the top of her second backbend much like the balletic movement performed in Swan Lake.

4th repetition: Under the filmed instruction of Joseph Pilates, Eve Gentry dove forward at the end of each cycle with one hand grasping the index finger of the other hand, leading with the heels of the hands. In actual diving I believe it is the thumb that would be grasped, but Joe gave her the visual cue with the index finger, which also keeps the hands more even. Another subtle difference is that Eve turned her palms down as she came out of her first backbend.

Both Joe and Eve went directly into a back bend, arms reaching behind the legs, which gives immediate feedback about whether or not the body is positioned correctly on the padded edge of the Box.