Pilates can look a little scary if you’ve never tried it before. There is a bit of a misconception out there that it is only for a certain age group or body type, but the reality is that Pilates workouts are for literally everyBODY!
In fact, Pilates first came about when Joseph Pilates was rehabilitating soldiers injured in World War One. His original method and repertoire has since been modified and adapted in many different ways to suit a range of different fitness levels and goals.
Whether you’re looking to start Pilates to improve your strength, flexibility, posture or stability (or all of the above), there are a few exercises that I recommend beginning with to help you master the fundamentals. One of the main reasons that Pilates is so effective is that it teaches you a sense of body awareness and movement control that you don’t often learn with other forms of exercise. By learning how to engage your muscles and move the different parts of your body mindfully and effectively, you can improve your muscle tone, length and strength all at once. This leads to a feeling of symmetry and balance in your body, which can help to reduce pain, prevent injuries, improve posture and athletic performance and increase your overall well being and quality of life.
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Depending on your exercise background, Pilates can feel a little different at first. It may feel slower paced than what you are used to, but slow definitely does not mean easy. By controlling your movement properly you will feel muscles you didn’t even know you had.
If you are new to Pilates, my advice is to start with the basics, listen to the cues of your instructor, focus on how you are moving and what you are feeling in each exercise and try to enjoy learning something new about your body in each class.
This is the perfect set of exercises to kickstart your Pilates journey. You will learn the foundations of a range of different movement patterns that are used in many different Pilates exercises. This sequence targets your deep core abdominals, upper body and glutes as well as teaching you to control your posture, spine and pelvis while using these muscles. If anything feels uncomfortable, it may not be the right movement for your body so I suggest stopping that exercise and moving onto the next one.
A beginner’s full-body Pilates workout
Chest lift
- Start lying on your back with your knees bent, hands behind your head with your fingers interlaced and thumbs sliding down the back of your neck.
- Breathe in and feel your ribs lift.
- As you breathe out, sink your ribs down towards your stomach and begin to lift your chest off the mat (keep your elbows wide and your head heavy in your hands).
- Inhale at the top, your gaze should be just over the tops of your knee caps.
- Exhale as you rest back down on the mat.
- Repeat x 12.
Table top
- Start lying on your back with your knees bent and your feet hip width apart.
- Find your ‘neutral spine’ position by ensuring there is a small gap under your lower back (about enough space for a blueberry) and your tailbone feels heavy.
- Engage your core by thinking of sliding your two hip bones towards each other and flattening your lower belly. This should feel like a tensioning sensation, not sucking in or pushing out.
- Keeping your weight centred on your tailbone, slowly raise one knee to 90 degrees as you exhale, then lower this leg back down as you inhale.
- Alternate, keeping your lower stomach engaged and your pelvis square. The goal is to lift your leg without feeling any movement in your pelvis or spine.
- Repeat x 5 each leg.
Bridge
- Start lying on your back with your knees bent and feet hip width apart.
- Exhale, flattening your lower back into the mat (squash that blueberry!) then squeeze your buttock muscles and continue to lift your hips up towards the ceiling.
- At the top of your bridge, inhale and check your ribs are not flared by drawing them downwards towards your hip bones. You should feel this in your buttock muscles, not your lower back.
- Exhale as you roll your spine back down, bone by bone and tuck your tailbone under so that it reaches the mat last.
- Inhale at the bottom and repeat x 10.
Clam
- Start lying on your side, resting your head on your upper arm. Knees are bent at 90 degrees and your feet are in line with your buttocks (parallel to the back of your mat).
- Place your hand on your hip and gently push it away from you to create a small gap under your lower waist.
- Squeeze your heels together and exhale as you raise your top knee upwards as far as you can without rolling your top hip backwards.
- Inhale as you lower your knee back down with control.
- Aim to keep your pelvis perfectly square throughout this movement so that you are isolating your deep gluteal muscles.
- Repeat x 15.
Tricep press
- Start on your hands and knees and walk your hands about 10cm forward of your shoulders.
- Shift your weight forwards so that your shoulders are directly above your hands.
- Engage your core abdominal muscles by drawing your belly button back away from your leggings and pulling your ribs towards your hips.
- Turn your elbow creases to face forwards then inhale as you slowly bend your elbows, keeping them as narrow as you can, lowering your chest down between your hands.
- Exhale to press the ground away and straighten your elbows so that you are back in your starting position.
- Keep your elbows narrow to target your triceps (the back of your upper arms) rather than your chest muscles.
- Repeat x 8-12.
Half Plank
- Start on your hands and knees then walk your hands about 30cm forward of your shoulders.
- Slowly shift your weight forward over your hands so that your body becomes a straight line from the crown of your head, through your tailbone and down to your knees.
- In your half plank position, focus on drawing your ribs towards your hips and pulling your pubic bones gently towards your belly button – you should feel your stomach muscles engaged if you do this.
- Imagine there is a candle on the mat between your hands, gently press your chest up and away from the flame to broaden your shoulder blades.
- Hold the half plank for 2 breaths then sit your hips back over your knees.
- Repeat x 10.
4PK leg slide + lift
- Start on your hands and knees with your knees under your hips and your hands under your shoulders.
- Imagine there is a candle on the mat between your hands, gently press your chest up and away from the flame.
- Engage your core abdominal muscles by drawing your belly button back away from your leggings and pulling your ribs towards your hips.
- Press your left hand and your right knee firmly into the mat, you should feel your left knee feel slightly lighter as you do.
- Slide your left leg backwards, keeping the top of your foot on the mat, until your knee is straight.
- Keeping your hips square and spine neutral, raise your leg to about hip level, making sure you don’t accidentally tip your hips to the side as you do.
- Lower your foot back to the mat and slide back to your starting position.
- Alternate x 5 each side.
Mermaid
- Start sitting on the mat with one shin parallel to the top of your mat and the other shin parallel to the side of your mat.
- Sit tall and aim to have both sit bones in contact with the mat (this is not possible for everyone, you may like to place a small towel under one sit bone).
- With your arms wide, lower one hand to the mat, stretching the other arm over head to lengthen the side of your waist.
- Keep your elbows soft and shoulders relaxed away from your ears.
- Press the ground away and repeat to the other side.
- Focus on the length you are creating between your ribs and your hips as you stretch over to the side, keeping your hips and chest square to the front.
- Repeat x 5 then swap your legs around and repeat again.
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