Best Pilates Exercises For Your Core
I have always loved Pilates. I love the strength they build, the motion control the promote, and the flexibility they enhance. It’s for these reasons that I recommend them all the time to my patients in physical therapy and it’s also why I recently got invited to come on Studio 5 (a local Utah lifestyles show) and talk about them! I took the hostess through 6 of my favorite core Pilates moves in a workout I regularly give to my patients to increase their core strength. Check out the segment and get the workout below…
Roll Up
Lie on your back with ams overhead. Suck in your stomachand roll up to seated. Keep going until you’re bent over your legs reaching your hands forward.
10 reps
Double Leg Stretch
Lie on your back with your knees bent over your hips. Lift your shoulders and extend your arms on either side of your legs.Extend your legs down in front of you and bring your arms overhead. Return to starting position.
10 reps
Crisscross / Bicycle Crunch
Lie on your back with your hands behind your head and your knees bent. Raise your right elbow until it connects with your left knee, straightening your right leg forward and holding it a few inches above the floor. Slowly alternate (left elbow to right knee now) between sides
10 touches to each knee
Corkscrew / Double Leg Circles
Lie on your back with your arms by your sides. Hold your legs together and bend at your hips, bringing your legs straight towards the ceiling. Slowly lower them to the left and down and then to the right and up – basically making a big counter-clockwise circle with your legs. Don’t let your fee touch the floor.
Complete 5 circles one direction and then 5 the other
Pilates Swimmer
Lie on your stomach with your arms stretched forward and your feet pointed. Lift your arms, legs, chest, and head up and hold. Alternate lifting right arm/left leg and left arm/right leg without touching them down to the mat.
10 strokes on each side
Side Bend
Sit on one hip, propped up on one hand, with your legs nearly extended (slightly bent) to the side and stacked ankle over ankle. Lift your hip away from the mat and reach your arm overhead, creating a high arc in the torso. Slowly return to the starting position.
10 times on each side
I recommend that you go through this routine once as a beginner, twice if you’re a little more advanced, and three times if you’re looking to really tone and tighten and add some definition to your stomach muscles!
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Jared Beckstrand, PT, DPT
Fit Stop Physical Therapy – Farmington
172 N East Promontory Ste 200
Farmington, UT 84025
(801) 558-8612
Fit Stop Physical Therapy – Farmington
172 N East Promontory Ste 200
Farmington, UT 84025
(801) 558-8612