Pilates Exercises for Core Strengthening

If you are working out, the chances are that you’ve heard of pilate workout routines. It is a 20th-century method invented for floor workouts. It is a form of yoga for core strengthening, and it is combined with floor exercises. The main advantage is that you can do these exercises at the gym or home.

In this article, we will present the pilates routine, some pilate machine workouts, and Pilates mat exercises. So, get your mattresses ready and start experimenting a new form of body exercises.

The Pilates moves are made to strengthen and stabilize your core. It is like yoga, but it requires more precision and control. The way you do an exercise is fundamental here.

If you want to learn some Pilates moves, you will need to pay attention to the position and the technique carefully. Unlike heavy lifting or other forms of physical exercise, here you are rewarded based on the quality of the technique. The moves may look easy, and some are, but they require precision.

Let’s start with mat Pilates exercises since they do not require any other equipment than a gym mat.

If you like yoga abdominal workout, you will love this exercise. On the mat, lie on your back with your knees bent, with arms at sides and with your feet flat on the floor. Curl your chin to the chest and raise your shoulders slightly. Lift your chest as if you are doing a crunch. This exercise will improve your abdominal muscles.

This is a good stretching exercise for beginners because it will stretch your arms and your back muscles. With your face up, extend your arms towards the ceiling. Curl the chin to the chest and roll to a sitting position and use your arms to reach toward your feet. Roll down back to the initial position, slowly and smoothly.

Here is an interesting mat work out. While in sitting position, diagonally extend your arms and stretch your legs as well. Your arms and legs need to be at a 45-degree angle to the mat. From here, raise and lower your legs three to six times. Keep your arms extended throughout the whole process.

This is a great pilate stretch exercise and works your abdominal muscles as well as your legs. Lie on the mat, face up and put your hands behind your neck. Keep your elbows wide and lift your neck, head, and shoulders off the mat. Bring the right elbow to the left knee and the left elbow to the right knee.

While doing so, extend the leg that isn’t close to the elbow and vice versa. Your legs should mimic a scissors move.

This is one of our favorite pilate machine workouts. We recommend you to do this one first, as it is a good exercise to get you warmed up and pumped. But, you can experiment and place this exercise wherever you like in your physical routine.

While laying on your back, draw your legs into your chest.Hold them and move your knees above your hip so that your shins are parallel to the floor. Curl up and place your arms on the side of your body. Pump them by moving them up and down a couple of centimeters from the mat.

Do this ten times with ten repetitions. If you can’t reach one hundred, go for fifty. It looks easy, but you will feel the burn after several repetitions.

The basic bridge is one of the best core workouts for the legs. Pilates leg exercises don’t require a lot of movement, but they do need a lot of endurance and strength. While lying on your back, bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor.

Your feet should have a hip-width distance. Now, you will have to use your abdominal muscles to lift the pelvis off the ground. A diagonal line should be formed starting from your shoulders to your knees. If that is the case, then hold this position until you feel your hamstrings and your glutes warming up.

You can connect this exercise to a single leg bridge with leg dips. All you have to do is keep the same position and lift one leg straight up and then lower it so that it forms a 45-degree angle with the floor. Do the same with the other leg. From here, you can go to a single leg bridge with toe taps or bridge pulses with the outer ring.

For the last exercise, you will need a Pilates ring, which is inexpensive and is a great tool. You can do at home pilates exercises with ease since they don’t require big and heavy equipment. Of course, there are many other exercises you can use. These are just some of the best Pilates workout moves we use.

If you want to improve your pilate movements, you can order a Pilates table. It is like a smith machine that you see in every gym, but only lighter and ideal for home exercises. With this device, you can try many pilate positions because it is very flexible.

You can use this device for pull ups, for an oblique push through (abdominal muscles), for leg exercises and back exercises. Of course, you can add more to the list.

It mostly depends on what you want to achieve. For example, if you want a good physique, the chances are you won’t get it by doing Pilates exercises but by lifting heavy weights. If you want to maintain your body weight or do light exercises, then the Pilates system is a great option.

Pilates and yoga workout go hand in hand. Some say that Joseph Pilates, the inventor of this exercise system, was inspired by yoga. Anyway, core Pilates does feel and look as if it is related to yoga, but many people say that it has nothing to do with it. All we can say is that this doesn’t even matter as long as the exercises work.