y'all ever go back to the old school pilates videos on here thinking, 'How hard can it be?' then get your ass handed to you on a silver platter?  Cause I do.  Every. single. time.

TLDR; Let’s see your home gym setups!

I just finished AMRAP 2 trying to catch up with the Muscle Mami Challenge and I wanted to share how it went.

I had such a hard time with the first one because I don’t have a high backed chair I trust with my weight, especially under load. Las time I used a low arm chair against a wall and it was ok but it was too uneven for good balance. It did work well for the hip thrusts, but not so good for the hammer curls or shoulder presses. 

This time I tried a different set up and it worked really well. My 2nd time through AMRAP 1, I tried putting my bench against the shelf and this made a huge difference, so I tried it again for AMRAP 2 and it was much better this time around. 

I’ll walk you through how I set up and transitioned between the movements. 

Setup: 

My bench is hand made with a live edge plank, and is sturdy enough for this, but not ment to be used in this way. None of the edges are straight or square, and the legs angle inward towards the centre, so the balance on the edge is iffy. 

I set the bench up against the shelf again and picked the straightest short side to be where I sit for hammer curls. The medium weights were placed here. 

On the floor centred with the bench, I stacked 2 yoga blocks. The bench is a little high for me right now so for step ups I used stacked yoga blocks and wanted them already in place.

Next to the yoga blocks, but not interfering with where my feet would be during shoulder presses is the pillow I will put on top of the yoga blocks for hip thrusts. I could use the arm chair for hip thrusts, but it adds a lot more transition time, and I’m using the yoga blocks and heavy weight for the next exercise anyway, so it made sense to do the hip thrusts from the yoga blocks too, at least for right now. 

The heavy weight was placed on the other side of the pillow.

That’s the set up. I did a walk through run to see if I tripped over or kicked anything, and then started.

Moving between exercises:

Sit on the edge of the bench and pick up the medium weights- Hammer curls.

With weights still in hand, move around to the long side of the bench, sit with my back against the shelf- Shoulder presses.

Return medium weights to the floor in front of  the short side of the bench.

Pick up pillow and place centred on stacked yoga blocks. Get into position and pick up heavy weight- Hip Thrusts.

Return pillow to starting location, adjust stacked yoga blocks as needed. Weight in hand. One foot on stacked yoga blocks. Adjust stance as needed- Step ups. 

Return heavy weight to starting location.

Sit on edge or bench, pick up medium weights, and do it all again.

I found my first run through of both AMRAPS had a lot of lost time from messing around with moving between exercises. Changing and adjusting my setup made a huge difference for time. I was able to get a whole extra round with heavier weights the second time for each.  Plus, if I see any of these exercises in other videos, I now have a set up that works for them.

This is just an example for one specific class. I’m really curious to see how you guys set up your space and if you do anything specific for a particular class or exercise!

woop! just hit a 100 day streak! absolutely love this community and everything you do Ruth!! since starting RPS ive not only noticed a massive difference in my body, but also in my energy, in my connection to myself, and how i view discipline, rest, and movement as a whole. I've never felt so in tune and connected to my body - both my strength and sensuality. here's to another 100 more 🥰 gonna go shake it to some beat based now!! 

Hi! Feeling compelled to say something here. I'm Lou and I have been slowly working through the Hard + Soft program as an introduction. Since 2026 started, I have been feeling super stressed and very uncomfortable with my body, but these videos have really been helping me both with physically and mentally reconnecting with my body and my sensuality (something I have never really explored within myself). Came here to celebrate because after a 4 day funk I am back and resuming the program with Day 5! :-)