![]() ![]() Roll back up and straighten your back while keeping your legs straight up and open. Roll backward onto your shoulder blades, keeping your core engaged. ![]() Remember to keep your legs open as wide as your hips. Lightly grab your ankles and lift your legs into the air, pointing your toes toward the ceiling, so that your body forms a “V” shape. Sit on your butt with your back straight and your knees bent with your feet flat on the ground. Then, engage your core to roll back up to the starting position. Round your back slightly while pulling your abs in. Hug your knees into your chest keeping your thighs together. Grab your shins with your hands and lift both of your feet off the ground. Sit with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Exhale as you press the legs out at about a 45-degree angle, bringing your inner thighs together. Lift your legs up and bring your heels together with your toes apart and your knees as wide as your shoulders. Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Lower your hips and repeat the exercise 10 times. Then, exhale as you slowly roll down one vertebra at a time. Once you’re up in the bridge position, take a deep breathe in. Slowly raise your hips in the direction of the ceiling by curling your low back, middle back, and then upper back off the ground. Keep your arms straight at your sides with your palms on the floor and bend your knees so your heels are under your knees. To begin, lie on your back with your head resting on the floor. Then switch legs, lowering the 90-degree leg and bringing the 45-degree leg closer to you, holding onto the back of that leg. Place your hands behind the thigh or calf of the 90-degree leg as you curl up off of the ground with your head, neck and upper back. Lower one leg to 45 degrees and bring the other leg to 90 degrees. Lying on the ground, reach your legs straight up toward the sky. This move is similar to the single leg stretch, but this time you'll straighten both legs. Inhale and switch sides, extending your right leg and bringing your left knee in. Use your right hand to touch your right ankle and your left hand to touch your right knee. Exhale as you pull the right knee in toward the chest and extend the left leg out at a 45-degree angle. Curl up with your head, neck and chest and pull your naval in toward your spine. ![]() Lie on your back and hug your knees into your chest. Lower your toes toward the ground, keeping the knees bent. Squeeze your legs together and engage your abs. Get into the same position you did for toe taps, but this time hug your knees together so that your inner thighs are engaged. Continue alternating, performing 20 taps total. Exhale as you lower the leg down, and inhale to bring it back up. There should be no movement above the hips, and the back should stay gently pressing into the ground while the abs are pulling in tightly. From here, lower the right leg down to tap the toe on the ground while maintaining the engagement of the core. Draw your lower ribs down toward your hips and tighten your core as if you were wearing a corset. Take a deep breath in, then exhale as you draw your naval in toward your spine, and slowly bring both knees up to a table-top position. Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the ground. Then gently pulse upwards 10 times and rest. Pretend that you’re holding an egg in between your chin and your chest that you don’t want to crack. Exhale as you curl up with your head, neck and chest. From this tilted position with your low back pressed into the ground, place your hands behind your head. Pilates ab crunchĬome into the pelvic tilt position from the exercise above. Pull your navel in toward your spine as if you’re zipping into a tight pair of pants. Then exhale as you tilt your pelvis forward and press your low back into the ground. As your stomach rises, feel your low back arch slightly off of the ground. Make sure your feet are open as wide as your hips. Lying on your back on a mat, bend your knees and place your feet flat on the ground. I do many of these exercises every day to keep my core tight and trained to engage properly in my daily movements once I get off of the mat, too! Pick and choose a few or do them strung together as a routine for a well-rounded core and ab workout. You can try them at home with these simple Pilates exercises. I am a big fan of abdominal exercises done in this way, especially for beginners who need to train their core to engage. The subtle movements with our arms and legs challenge the core and force it to engage to keep us steady. In Pilates, the focus is on precision and smaller movements that challenge the core to stay stable. ![]() Now as a certified Pilates instructor, I always recommend that my clients work their core with Pilates exercises. ![]()
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