This is one of my favorite abdominal mat exercises. With the trunk and legs lifted, the abs work extra hard for pelvic stability.
Targets: Rectus abdominis and obliques
Technique: Lie on the mat with your head and shoulder blades off the mat.
Bring one knee in towards your chest and lightly grasp the shin and ankle of your bent knee, as you pull your abdominal wall in. The straight leg hovers at a height where your lower back is still touching the mat.
Inhale and bend the straight leg in, as you begin to extend the bent leg. Be sure to maintain your trunk lifted up and forward off the mat, so it doesn't drop as the legs switch.
Exhale and complete the switch.
Variation: This exercise can also be performed with the knee of the bent leg just coming in to 90° with the mat, rather than coming in towards the chest. Both hands are placed around that knee, with the lower leg/shin parallel to the mat.
Rolling Back, or Rolling Like a Ball is a fundamental Pilates exercise that engages your six-pack abs, massages the lower back, and is extremely fun to do! I can't help but feel like a kid when I do this one.
Targets: Rectus & transversus abs and obliques
Technique: Start by sitting balanced on your sit bones with your knees drawn towards your chest, feet together.
Grasp your ankles/calves and bring your knees as close to your chest as flexibility allows. Scoop your abdominal wall in to create a deep C-curve from your head to your tailbone.
Inhale, pulling in your abdominal wall even farther, and roll back onto your upper back. Be sure to use just enough momentum to roll smoothly back. (Again, no flinging!)
Exhale at the bottom and roll back up to the start position, balancing at the top. Be sure to keep your knees and feet drawn into your body.
Exercise Notes: A nice way to imagine this exercise is to picture yourself inside an exercise ball with your spine pushed against the arc of the ball. The ball rolls smoothly back and forth as you roll back and forth.
Our feet, ankles, and calves are often neglected, which can lead to weak feet and ankles, tight calves, and foot pain. These exercises and self-massage techniques will protect your feet for a lifetime.
Leg circles are one of my favorites! They may look like leg exercises but with proper hip stability, they begin to engage the abs and obliques. These are also great for hip mobility and stretching out the hamstrings.
Targets: Rectus & transversus abs, obliques, and spinal rotators
Technique: Lie on the mat, with your arms by your sides and legs outstretched on the mat.
Bend one knee to your chest and then straighten it towards the sky and 90° to the mat. Gently point your foot.
Exhale and circle your raised leg across the midline of your body, allowing the pelvis to lift off the mat.
Inhale and continue to circle the leg back up to the start position, flexing your foot as you go up. Do this 5x for each leg.
Immediately following the Roll Up, the Roll Over is a challenging movement that requires much organization and control. Like every other Pilates exercise, this should be done in a slow, graceful manner. No flinging or throwing and no use of momentum here. The key to achieving this movement is in the lift. Ever try leg pull-ins for abs? Just imagine one of those in slow motion.
Targets: Rectus abdominis, obliques, and hip flexors
Technique: Start by lying on the mat with your arms by your side, palms facing down.
Hold the legs out straight, about 60° or higher off the mat.
Inhale & raise your legs vertically so they’re 90° with the mat.
Exhale & round your spine, slowly lifting and rolling your pelvis back toward your shoulders as your legs move overhead.
Inhale at the top and slowly lower the feet down towards the mat.
Separate the feet so they’re shoulder-width apart and slowly roll your spine back down, bringing the legs back together as you return to start.
Admittedly, this is the Pilates exercise I fear the most. I’ve always had trouble rolling up without having my legs come up off the mat. My feet still refuse to stay planted, and I’m baffled at how well some people are able to do it. Is it the weight imbalance between my trunk and legs? Is my lower back too tight? Is my core just not strong enough? With much research & experimentation, I’ve found effective ways to practice it and improve my roll up. I haven’t been able to pinpoint the root of my “problem,” but I’ve found that stretching out the lower back and doing an adequate ab warm-up significantly improves my roll up. This just proves how vital a good warm-up is to ensuring good form and decreased risk of injury during a workout!
Targets: Rectus abdominis and obliques
Technique: Lie supine on the mat, legs straight and together. Arms are overhead, palms facing up or each other (I find that having my palms face each other helps prevent my shoulders from hunching).
Inhale and draw in your abs, lifting your arms towards the sky and bringing your chin towards your chest. Flex your feet as you bring your head and shoulder blades up off the mat.
Exhale and continue to curl up and over your legs, focusing on creating a C-curve along your spine.
Inhale and begin to roll back down with control.
Exhale and finish rolling down slowly, articulating each vertebra as you go down.
Kicking off March Matness with the first exercise in Joseph Pilates' traditional mat work! If done correctly, the Hundred is one of the more difficult exercises to do in the Pilates method. It's a challenging exercise that demands core stability to maintain constant spinal flexion while holding the legs off the mat. I usually like having clients do this pretty early on in a session to see where they are challenged the most.
Targets: Rectus abdominis, external obliques, and hip flexors
Technique: Start by lying with your back in neutral position on the mat, knees bent in tabletop position.
Inhale and extend your arms towards the sky, palms facing down.
Exhale, pulling your abs in, as you extend your legs out away from you with feet about 60° off the mat and lift your head and chest until shoulder blades are just off the mat.
Inhale for 5 counts and pump the arms down and up with each percussive breath.
Exhale and repeat this cycle until you've pumped for 100 counts/breaths.
Exercise Notes: Often, beginners will hunch up their shoulders, causing tension along the shoulders and around the neck. Be sure your shoulder blades are drawn down your back and shoulders relaxed, as you do this. It will help with the breaths tremendously!
March Matness is soon upon us! Who else will be joining the movement? I'm incredibly excited to share my Pilates experience with you. Get your daily dose of movement inspiration from yours truly starting tomorrow. To stir things up a bit, I challenge you to do these with me, but tack on each preceding exercise to your session. So, for example, by Day 15, you should be doing the preceding 14 mat exercises before finishing with Day 15's exercise. Tomorrow is Day 1, so there will be only one exercise to do.
But I'm not leaving you alone in this endeavor! In addition to doing that, I'll be challenging myself by also giving a brief explanation of each exercise – how to do it and what muscle groups it targets. It's my hope that by the end of March, we'll both have learned something throughout this "matness." Whatever it is, I hope you will be seizing one moment in your day to better yourself and your body with it.
You can also follow my March Matness photos and updates on my Instagram.
If you're like me and in the Northeast region of the U.S., you're probably stuck inside at home until the full blunt of winter storm Juno has passed... and a little peeved that you can't get to the gym or your studio for your regular exercise routine!
If you're like me, you also probably get restless if you go a day without putting in some sort of exercise (I'm not including rest days, here). So we can only try to make the most of our less-than-desirable situation. Here, I've designed an all-around workout routine to help you build up a good sweat in 30 minutes at home. I've added special tips and considerations for each excercise. Please visit the exercise database at Bodybuilding.com or About.com for proper execution notes if you are unfamiliar with any of these exercises. Whether you're already an avid gym rat or beginner gym-goer, this workout will leave you having worked up your heart rate and all of your major muscle groups.
CARDIO (10 min)
This circuit should not take more than 5 minutes. Do this circuit twice to account for 10 minutes of high-intensity cardio. Think explosive movements! You can find most of these exercises with execution instructions here.
Jumping Jacks – 01:00 – These make a good warm-up to get your heart rate up, while getting a number of muscle groups moving (i.e. deltoids, lats, quads, and glutes).
Lateral Jumps – 01:00 – This is a simple plyometric exercise that uses explosive movements in your lower body to engage the quads and glutes. Remember to bend your knees as you land lightly and with as little impact as you can.
Mountain Climbers – 01:00 – These are my favorite. Do as many of these as you can in a minute! Try to keep your back straight and hips square as you kick your knees up.
Burpees – 01:00 – This is a tough, but well-rounded workout that engages your abdominals, illiopsoas, quads, glutes, serratus anterior, rhomboids, and more. Remember to keep the back straight and chest lifted as you kick your feet back behind you.
High Knees – 01:00 – To make this one more challenging, hold your hands at hip-level, palms facing down, and try to touch your knees to your hands each time you kick up.
STRENGTH (20 min)
Depending on your level, the number of reps completed for each exercise here can be modified. You can also complete each to failure for increased intensity. Do this circuit twice to account for 20 minutes of strength training with a combination of body weight and Pilates exercises.
Push-Ups – 20 reps – This is yet another well-rounded exercise that engages your back muscles, pecs, triceps, biceps, abdominals, and deltoids. Try to vary the distance between your elbows and your body to focus more on different muscles.
Tricep Dips – 01:00 – Do as many tricep dips on the floor or on a chair as you can. If you're on the floor, bring your torso closer to your arms, minimizing the angle between your straight arms and your back for a tougher workout. If your hands are on a chair or any higher surface, dip lower for a greater load in the triceps.
Squats – 02:00 – Do as many squats as you can, making sure to keep the direction of your knees aligned with your big toes and your head and chest up.
Bridge – 5 reps – Relax the shoulders and keep your rib cage knitted as you lift your pelvis up towards the ceiling in a controlled manner. Imagine sending your knees out away from you. You can also squeeze the glutes for extra intensity or bridge up on one leg with your thigh extended in parallel to the ground.
Criss-Cross – 01:00 – Do as many criss-crosses as you can while maintaining good form. Be sure not to race through this—Pilates should be practiced in a slow, controlled fashion!
Hundred – 100 counts – Probably everyone's favorite, the Pilates Hundred should be done with your breathing prioritized. While your abs will be held in contraction, remember to practice lateral breathing throughout the exercise.
Superman – 10 reps – This is a great back-strengthening exercise that also engages the abdominals. Be sure to keep your pubic bone pressed on the ground and abdominal wall pulled in as you lift and lower your limbs, chest, and head.
Clamshells – 10 reps each – This exercise should be done with 3 variations, in increasing difficulty: 1) Begin by lifting and lowering the top leg up and down, parallel to the bottom leg; 2) Without stopping, transition into opening the legs from the knees, while keeping the feet on the floor together; 3) Finally, transition into opening and closing the knees and feet in an alternating fashion, knee-to-knee and toe-to-toe. You should feel your glutes on fire by the 3rd variation!
If you have questions or feedback for me on this routine, please feel free to comment below or send them to me here. I'd love to know how you felt doing these or if you did any of these differently.
Confession: I've been making better use of my gym membership during the gap between getting Mat certified and Equipment certified (which begins in July 2015), and I'm loving it! I've been lifting at least 4x/week and diligently keeping track with my Bodyspace account. You can follow my progress here.
I'm also trying out the Leangains diet, with 2 pre-workout meals in the afternoon and 1 post-workout meal later in the evening. Has anyone tried it? What results did you see?
And don't worry, folks – Pilates is still an integral part of my life. Rest days should also be active, and that's where Pilates comes in for me lately!
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