A half-hour mat Pilates sequence with tons of tips, tricks, and troubleshooting

As part of the 30-day fall strength challenge I’ve been hosting for the past three weeks, I’ve gotten some great questions from participants about Pilates (we’re doing it once a week to support our strength workouts). Those questions — and the noodling I’ve been doing over how to make some of the trickier exercises more manageable — inspired this half-hour Pilates workout.

I’m offering some ways to use a couple of props in this workout, but it’s nothing fancy or special, really: There’s a yoga strap (but you could sub in a bath or beach towel, a long resistance band, or even an old pair of leggings or tights you no longer care about stretching out) and a folded blanket or cushion. I also have a little pad to cushion my knees, but if you don’t have one, you can just use the blanket, or double up your mat.

And it’s totally cool if you don’t have any of those, either! You can still do the workout.

Oh, and a quick reminder that Pilates for Abortion Funds is coming up next Tuesday night, October 21, at 8pm ET on Zoom (recording to follow). Join us if you can! More info here.

One more thing: I’m working on a post about why things like exercise matter in a world where rights are being stripped away, neighbors are being kidnapped, trans friends are considering (or actually) leaving the country because it’s not safe. How does movement fit in for you in this moment, when everything seems so scary and out of control? Would love to hear how you’re grappling with this, if you are.

Anyway: Let me know what you thought of the video, and anything I didn’t cover here that would be useful in the future! I should note that I said “ipsilateral” at one point when I actually meant “contralateral” — whoopsie.

Also, evergreen recommendation for my great conversation with the wonderful Ivy Baron:

xo
Anna