If a well-rounded exercise routine is an outfit, I think of Pilates as the undergarments and socks (or maybe it’s a really great pair of jeans??). It’s the foundation for everything else you do: an excellent way to improve your stability and mobility, and helps you move through the rest of your workouts (or your job, or just simply daily life) in a more comfortable, steady, and supported manner. I love working in a weekly Pilates session (when I can!) to complement the other workouts I do, which are mostly strength-focused.
This week, let’s try another short and sweet Pilates routine. If you did the one I shared a few weeks ago, you’ll notice they’re kind of similar! This is by design. Pilates exercises tend to be pretty standardized — in my teacher training programs they pretty much tell you to teach the exercises in the manual, exactly as described there, in exactly the same order, every time. I’m not that strict, but I do see a lot of value in consistency and repeating a lot of the same exercises in this modality. The more you do them, the more you understand them and can get out of them*. So I’ve switched a few things up, but know that the repetition you may notice is truly intentional.
If you were hoping you’d get a strength training workout designed for progressive overload this week, I knoooow. Honestly, it’s just driving me a little bonkers that I’m not giving you strength workouts on the first of the month! So I’m pushing it back a little at a time until we get there. You’ll get a new strength training workout next week, and then probably none in February, and then in March we’ll get on the right track for having the first workout of the month being your strength program. Sound good? (I’m guessing December might not have been the easiest time to stay consistent with a strength routine, so you get an extra week with that one!)
Now, this Pilates workout is, again, not set up like our traditional WOWs, with a warmup, cooldown, and repeated circuit, so there are fewer obvious spots to stop if you’re running low on time or energy. Just feel it out and stop when you need to. You literally always have my permission to do this, and it absolutely still “counts.”
Here we go!
*In fact, the main difference between “beginner” Pilates and “intermediate” Pilates, aside from a few additional exercises, is that the cueing gets more complex: In beginner, other than the basic how-to, you are only supposed to cue abdominal engagement. In intermediate, you can layer on additional cues about what your limbs are doing and such. And it’s basically because when you first start out, you have to focus so much on the basics that you don’t have brain space for much else; you make room for it as you get more confident in the exercises. I am not super strict about this and I like to add in non-abdominal cues even when I have beginners in the room; don’t tell the Joe disciples!
As with the last Pilates workout, I’ll simply be listing the exercises here. Just too many of them for individual instructions and images! But let me know if you have specific questions about anything or need a modification I didn’t provide in the video.
All-fours breath work
Articulated bridge with pelvic tilt
Heel slides
Half roll-down
One-leg circles (and hip+hamstring stretches)
Abdominal series: single leg stretch, double leg stretch, lower-lift, criss-cross
Spine stretch forward
Corkscrew
Saw
Swan
Single-leg kick
Side kick series: front and back kicks, lift and lower, bottom leg lifts
Superman lift + W pull
Mermaid stretch
Plank
How’d that feel?
And…how are you feeling generally? With so many family members and friends in the LA area, I’ve been feeling so scattered this week: one moment I’m wallowing in dread and terror, obsessively checking the maps, the next I’m trying to get my sick kid to sip some apple juice, and the next I’m cheerfully guiding a client through their workout routine. It’s a lot, on top of the incoming-fascist-president and ongoing-genocide and rising-already-high-tides of racism and xenophobia and climate-crisis of it all. And it’s nothing compared to the experiences of people on the ground in LA.
I hope you’re taking good care and staying safe. I shared this in the Substack chat, but if you have the means, World Central Kitchen is in the LA area offering meals to first responders and those affected by the fires, and it’s a wonderful organization to support.
In times like these, self-care practices like exercise can be really supportive. But they can also feel impossible (and may actually be impossible, if you’ve had to evacuate and are focused solely on finding safety, making it through the day and making sure you and loved ones have what you need). Do what’s best for you, and please don’t feel guilty about it either way.
Lots of love,
Anna
