Pilates principles – working your core muscles
Rotations
You begin this challenging exercise by sitting on the floor with your knees bent. Lean back with your arms extended behind you for support. Make sure your hands are placed wider than your shoulders and with fingers pointing directly from the body. Extend your legs out and then lift both legs up in front of you - while maintaining your posture and keeping your core muscles in play. Keep your legs together as you circle them to one side. Continue circling around to the start, remembering to breathe evenly, in and out, during one rotation. Maintain control of your posture as you circle around. Do not compromise good form for a bigger circle. If your posture cannot hold up to a complete circle, you need to reduce your range of motion until your core is stronger. Now repeat with your legs circling in the opposite direction. If possible, complete three times in each direction and don’t overstrain - as your core gets stronger, your leg lift height and circle size will also increase.
100's
The most famous Pilates exercise of all. Lie face up and bring your legs up, keeping them straight and together. Lift head and shoulders off the ground, scooping in the core muscles and bringing hands flat out and palms down, next to your thighs. Lower the legs as much as you can while keeping your back on the floor and press your hands up and down, not allowing them to touch the floor, counting with each press. Inhale for 5 counts, exhale for 5 counts and repeat until you hit 100, lowering your legs once again halfway through if you can. This progressively strains the abs.
Related Products:
