10 Pilates Exercises At Home Beginners Should Give A Try
- Health Lifestyle
Alessia Braun- 0
- 19 minutes read
Pilates is referred to as a type of mind-body exercise that was developed in the early 20th century. The person attributed to its development is Joseph Pilates, who was a physical trainer based in Germany. It is a type of exercise that has been adopted by various people around the world. Therefore, we thought to bring you an article that focuses on 10 pilates exercises at home that beginners (and everyone else) should give a try. This is because it would both save your time and money as you do not need to commute to a studio or pay gym fees to perform this set of exercises.
You Should Try These 10 Easy Pilates Exercises At Home
Here is a list of 10 pilates exercises at home that you should try if you are trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle. All of these are very simple to perform and this pilates exercises list is perfect for beginners who don’t want to stress themselves in the initial days of exercising.
1. The Hundred
Include it in your pilates workout at home as it is the best to warm up your body. It also strengthens your abdominal muscles. The founder and owner of Proof Pilates in Atlanta, Robyn Martin, remarked on this exercise and said:
“This is a great exercise to begin working on intercostal breathing, inhaling into your ribcage, and keeping your navel pulled in. A great example of how your abs can engage just from breath work."
The steps to follow for the Hundred are:
- Lie on your back and then extend your legs close to an angle of 45 degrees.
- Engage your core or abdominal muscles to lift your head and the upper portion of your back off the ground.
- Start pumping your arms up and down and sync it with inhaling and exhaling continuously.
- Inhale for five quick and do the same while exhaling. This is why you form one cycle and you need to do 10 such cycles.
- If you are a beginner try starting with it by keeping your knees bent.
2. Swimming
Don’t be confused with the title of this one as you do not need a pool for swimming here. This pilates exercise is aimed at strengthening your glutes, back muscles, and hamstrings. It even makes the front of your hips fuller. If planning for a 15 minute pilates workout schedule then don’t miss out on this one.
- Lie on the stomach and then extend your arms in an upward direction.
- Contract your abdominal muscles while lifting your arms, chest, and legs off the floor. Don’t forget to inhale while doing so.
- Place your legs straight.
- Exhale and hold the position for a while.
- Start active breathing as you pump the opposite arms up and down. At the same time, scissor your legs the way you would do if you were swimming.
- Use the breathing pattern as mentioned in the Hundred. Inhale and exhale for five quickie counts each.
- It is recommended to do about 20 to 50 reps of the exercise.
- Beginners can choose to leave their legs on the ground while scissoring their legs.
3. The Swan
The swan aids you in building spine strength. In addition, it improves the function of the back of your n legs and even buttocks muscles. If you want to enhance these muscles then try doing this pilates workout at home on a regular basis.
The steps to follow for doing the Swan exercise are:
- Lie down on the stomach with your legs separated according to the distance between your hips. Try keeping your legs slightly rotated in the outward direction.
- Place your palms in front of you on the floor so that the thumbs are in line with your nose.
- Give slight pressure on the palms and lift your body off the floor slowly and steadily with the help of the lower and mid-back muscles.
- Press the top of your feet into the mat you are lying on.
- Hold for a while (depends on the stage of exercising you are in) and then lower your body slowly and not abruptly.
- It is advised to do six reps for this exercise.
- Beginners can reduce the time they stay up to lower the pressure on the back.
4. Roll Up
Roll-up is another pilates exercise that helps in building your spine strength and even improves abdominal potency. It is the best pilates workout for beginners at home if they want to target their spine. The steps to follow for this exercise are:
- Extend your legs after lying on the back and place your hands beside the head facing your palms in the upward direction.
- Keep your feet pointed and press the lower back into the ground.
- When starting, exhale and then inhale while raising your arms and the fingers should point towards the ceiling.
- Then begin contracting the abdominal muscles and then curl your spine off the floor slowly affecting just a vertebra at a time.
- Slowly up your body while maintaining the curve in your spine and reaching a sitting position while advancing towards the toes.
- Inhale and then reverse the step in a slow and steady manner till the back is laid on the ground again.
- Repeat this for about three to 10 times.
- If you are a beginner then keep your feet flat on the ground and bend your knees.
5. Rolling Like A Ball
The feel of this exercise is amazing as it relaxes your back m muscles with almost no significant effort. It also aids in enhancing one’s balance. It is one of the easiest pilates exercises at home. You should definitely give it a try. The steps to be followed are:
- Sit on the floor with your knees bent in front of you, placing your feet on the ground. Gently roll your back slightly.
- Then hold your knees and roll backwards while inhaling. Make sure that the distance between your knees and torso remains the same. After reaching near to the ground exhale.
- Inhale again while rolling back up and try not to touch your feet to the ground and maintain the balance on your hips.
- Try completing at least 6 reps of rolling back and up.
- This pilates workout for beginners at home can be performed easily if they don’t roll back. Instead, they can just lift their feet and try balancing on the hip.
6. Mermaid
Females who want to be a mermaid can try this exercise to bring out the inner mermaid in them. It will aid in improving the functioning of your spine and will target the muscles that you seldom use. It is one of the most interesting workouts on the pilates exercises list.
- Sit down cross-legged and keep the arms at the side.
- Inhale while attempting to reach the left hand and then lean the torso to the right side. Do this until you feel a stretching pressure on the left.
- Inhale a deep breath and then exhale slowly.
- Then come back to the starting position while inhaling again. After reaching there exhale.
- Complete five reps each on both sides.
- Beginners would try reducing the time they stretch for.
7. Single-leg Kick
It is one of the pilates exercises at home that will aid in strengthening your glutes and hamstrings. In addition, it helps in increased flexibility of hip muscles. The steps to follow are:
- Rest your stomach on the floor and lift the upper body with the help of your forearms. Make sure they are parallel to one another and the shoulders are aligned over the elbows.
- Contract your abdominal muscles along with the back of your legs while exhaling. Keep the legs straight and toes pointed.
- Start bending the left knee and inhale. Then raise the lower portion of the leg and pull it toward the buttocks with two fast pulses. But don’t be too harsh on yourself.
- Extend the leg and do the above-mentioned steps again.
- It is advised to do six reps on each of your legs.
- Beginners should try putting their forehead on their crossed forearms on the mat to reduce stress.
8. The Saw
The saw enhances how your oblique muscles work and improves your control of them. Also, it tones your waistline while stretching the hamstrings.
- Sit straight and extend your legs keeping them at a slightly wider distance than that of the shoulders.
- Extend arms out to either side while the palm is facing forward.
- Contract your abdomen and bend your left shoulders, arms, and torso towards the right. It should result in a position wherein your right hand is behind you and the left one is in the front.
- Rotate the one at the back so the thumb points downwards then exhale while flexing at the hips. Then try reaching your right foot with the left arm.
- Inhale while reversing the move and returning to the center.
- Do about six reps on both sides.
- Beginners can reduce the intensity by bending their knees a little.
9. Teaser
This is another one on the list of pilates exercises at home that would focus on the abdominal muscles and hip flexors. Beginners should surely try doing teaser as it would even improve their body’s balance.
- Rest on the back and stretch your arms up.
- Slowly left both legs at a 45-degree angle (approximately) and point the toes toward the spot where the room’s wall and ceiling meet.
- Exhale as you tighter the core muscles and get off the mat. Come to a V position with your arms parallel to the legs.
- Stretch your spine a bit and hold for a second. Then reverse the move while lowering your back to the ground steadily and with utmost control.
- It is advised to complete at least three reps.
- Beginners should try this by bending their knees.
10. Single-leg Circle
Single-leg Circle is another great exercise for enhancing one’s pelvic floor and increasing the flexibility of hip muscles and hamstrings. The joint of your legs would be aided too. The instructions to follow for performing single-leg circles are:
- Keep your back on the floor while resting the arms alongside the body.
- Pull the right knee toward your chest as you exhale. Then inhale as you stretch the leg straight while pointing the toes at the ceiling. Try flexing the left ankle while doing so.
- Contract your abdomen while pressuring the lower back on the floor.
- Exhale as you move the right leg toward the midline of your body forming an arc so there is about a foot’s distance between it and the floor.
- At the peak, inhale and slowly bring the leg back to the starting position. Complete six reps on both legs.
- Beginners can keep the leg they are focusing on a little bent. Or they can even choose to bend both of them while placing the lower leg’s feet on the floor.
A Warm Round-up!
While trying these pilates exercises at home, don’t forget to ‘warm up’ first as only then you would get the best results and experience. Also, we recommend that if you are a beginner, start by filtering out some of the exercises from the list and from a 15 minute pilates workout schedule so that it doesn’t strain you out much. And yes, don’t forget to get a mat before beginning these exercises as all of them require the use of the floor and we would not want you to get injured as the ground is fairly concrete. If you do try any of these pilates exercises at home do comment down below as your feedback matters the most to us.
