If you want to start doing Pilates at home, I recommend you start with simple exercises like those of this Pilates routine. You will quickly gain strength, balance and agility.
It is practiced by athletes, dancers, actors and thousands and thousands of people to whom the changes they have experienced in their body and in their mood has hooked them.
A body work done with awareness that improves your concentration and helps you reduce stress; a physical workout that tones all your muscles evenly, that refines you and helps you feel fit; a method that perfectly complements any sports practice, that avoids the mistakes of other gymnastic disciplines and helps you prevent injuries: all that is Pilates … and much more.
Would you like to try? I have prepared a Pilates routine with simple exercises to do at home, a series of basic exercises that work strength, coordination and balance.
PILATES ROUTINE AT HOME
To practice these exercises, you only need a mat and a little while a day. While doing them you should always keep in mind these three points:
- Control when performing movements is essential. Stay focused during exercises.
- The movement always starts in the center of the body, that is, in the abdominal area. Contract it to perform the movement with control.
- During the exercises you should practice diaphragmatic breathing and coordinate it with the movement. This breathing will allow you to keep your abdomen contracted while filling your lungs.
At the end of this routine, sit on your heels, in a prayer position, to relax your lower back and reap the benefits.
THE BRIDGE (I): STRENGTHENS THE BACK AND BUTTOCKS
To start with this Pilates routine, I propose The Bridge Pose, a simple Pilates exercise that relaxes the spine and strengthens the muscles of the back of the body, especially the buttocks.
- Lie on your back with your arms stretched out at your sides and palms down. Bend your knees.
- Elevate the pelvis vertebra by vertebra until it is in the position of the bridge, with the support on the scapulae (1a).
- Raise one leg towards the ceiling, your foot pointed, as in the photo below.
THE BRIDGE (II): STRENGTHENS THE BACK AND BUTTOCKS
Once you are in this position, continue with the exercise to complete The Bridge:
- Flex the foot of the elevated leg and lower it until it is parallel to the ground.
- Gently bring the same leg back, returning to the pointed foot.
- If it’s hard for you, put your hands under your hip. The heels should be close to the buttocks and the legs are the width of the hips apart.
ROLL LIKE A BALL: IMPROVE YOUR BODY ALIGNMENT
Rolling like a ball is an exercise that can cost at first, because it forces you to keep your abs active. But once it is mastered it is a very tasty exercise that massages the entire back. It also increases blood circulation and improves whole-body alignment and balance.
- Sit with your feet in the air and your knees slightly apart and hold on to your ankles.
- Bring your gaze to the navel throughout the exercise, as if you wanted to make a ball with your body.
- Let the body roll back and return by contracting the navel to return.
- Try not to create tension in the neck. To do this, avoid rolling too far back.
ROCKER WITH OPEN LEGS: GAIN STRENGTH AND BALANCE
The Open Leg Rocker is a posture of control and balance that makes the posterior muscles more flexible.
- Sit down and raise your legs forming a “V”. Keep your legs shoulder-width apart and, if you can, point your feet.
- Hold on to your ankles. If you don’t arrive, by the calves.
- It deepens the lumbar flexion and also curves the upper part creating a C to roll backwards without reaching the head.
- Roll forward to return to the initial V position stabilizing shoulder blades and lengthening your upper back again.
- If you can’t do it with your legs straight, you can flex them throughout the movement or during balance.
ROLL BACKWARDS: ACTIVATES THE ENTIRE BELLY
Rolling Back promotes spinal mobility while massaging and stretching the entire back and back of the legs. It also activates the deep abdominal musculature.
- Lie on your back with your legs joined and extended, abductor muscles contracted, and arms outstretched against the floor. The palms look down.
- Raise your legs straight up, while inhaling, little by little, and without interrupting the movement bring them above the head back. If you can, do it until you touch the ground on the other side; if not, as far as you go. If you need it, help your hands by supporting them in the lower back.
- It is essential to connect with your center, as always in Pilates. The key is that the strength comes from the abdominal muscles. Push yourself from your center to perform the movement.
- Avoid feeling tension in the neck and maintain space between the shoulders and ears.
SWIMMING: TONES AND LENGTHENS YOUR SPINE
With Swimming (Swimming) and the next posture that you will find below (The Arch) you strengthen all the anterior muscles of the body, strengthen and lengthen the spine and work on coordination. Perform one after the other.
- Lie on your stomach, with your pelvis and spine in a neutral position, your arms in front and your legs hips width apart.
- Raise one arm and the opposite leg, well extended and with the feet pointed (5a).
- Go alternating arm and leg, with the abdomen contracted and stuck to the ground, as if swimming.
THE ARCH: STRENGTHENS THE ANTERIOR MUSCULATURE
Do the Swan dive after the previous exercise:
- Rest your hands under your shoulders and spread your legs a little further apart.
- Extend your arms and, pulling up and inside the abs (as if you were climbing the zipper of an imaginary corset), lift the chest from the mat so that your body is supported only by the pelvis.
- Let go of your hands, breathe in and swing forward to your sternum, with arms in front, palms facing and legs straight.
- With the same impulse, connecting with the center and contracting the buttocks, swing in the opposite direction while raising the chest and bringing your arms back.
Remember to sit on your heels, in a prayer position, to relax your lower back when you finish this Pilates routine.