Learn how to do Pilates at home to enjoy its benefits

Want to exercise in the comfort of your home? Thinking about it, Pilates at home is a great alternative. With this practice, it is possible to develop strength, stretching, flexibility, motor coordination, correct posture, as well as relieve stress and improve concentration. Consequently, there is a balance between body and mind. To learn how to do the exercises, just read on.

10 exercises to do pilates at home

Below, physical educator and pilates instructor Andressa Larissa Szydlowski (CREF: 026575-G/PR), explained how to perform different exercises, which include pilates for the spine and pilates for couples.

1. The Hundred

Lie on your back and keep your head and shoulder slightly elevated while your lower back and spine remain in contact with the floor. Bend your knees in line with your hips. Stretch your arms alongside your hips, but not touching the floor. Then, extend your legs towards the sky.

In this starting position, inhale to raise your head and torso until you reach the base of your shoulder blades. The arms should stretch forward, as if reaching for the feet. With your abdominal region in flexion, pump your arms up and down with short, quick strokes.

The movement of the arms must be accompanied with the breathing. Inhale for five pumps and exhale for five more. The final idea is to perform one hundred pumping actions with the arms, with ten sequences of ten breaths.

2. Roll Up

Lie down with your stomach facing up and your whole body stretched out on the floor. The arms should be extended above the head and as close to the floor as possible, but in the limit that does not cause compensation in the shoulders and opening of the ribs.

Bring your arms towards the shoulder line. From there, the head begins to rise and the trunk to curl with the intention of sitting. The practitioner should think about bringing the chin over the chest, the chest over the ribs, the ribs over the abdomen, the abdomen over the hips, thinking about growing the trunk over the thighs. Lower limbs remain on the floor.

The return to the ground occurs in the same way, segmented, and the practitioner should feel one vertebra at a time supporting the ground. When the shoulders reach the floor, the head is supported and the arms go behind it, stretching the whole body, thus returning to the initial opposition.

Lie on your back with your head on the floor and well aligned, arms extended by your sides, lower back straight and hands on the floor. Let your thighs turn slightly outward.

Start by lifting one of your legs towards the ceiling, if you have difficulty fully extending your knee, do a small pushup. Move the raised leg in a circle above the hip as far as possible to maintain stability.

Inhale to start, and when you reach the middle of the circle, exhale to the end of the circle. Repeat the movement six times, then circle in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, the other leg should be extended on the floor. When finished, perform the movement on the other leg.

4. Rolling Like a Ball

Sit with your knees bent towards your chest and feet off the floor with your heels together. Then arrange your flexed spine in a “C” shape, hands resting just below your knees. Exhale and let the spine roll backwards along the floor, always with the trunk forming the “C”, imagining it to be a ball. Inhale and roll forward until you reach the starting position, without placing your feet on the floor. Repeat the movement six times. It is important to remember that the spine must remain curved throughout the movement.

5. Single Leg Stretch

Lie down with your knees bent in line with your hips. Raise the torso to the height where the shoulder blades lift, letting only their bases touch the floor, holding it high until the end of the exercise. Bend one leg towards the chest with the contralateral hand touching the knee and the hand on the same side touching the ankle, while the other leg stretches towards the ceiling, in a fluid and alternating manner, i.e. while one leg is bending the other is stretching.

Repeat the movement sixteen times, alternating legs and inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth fluidly. As the practitioner progresses, the legs can descend in an extension closer and closer to the ground, always respecting the limitations to avoid compensations.

6. Double Leg Stretch

Lying with your back in contact with the floor, start from the position where your hands hug your ankles, pulling your knees to your chest. Raise the torso to the height where the shoulder blades lift, leaving only their bases touching the floor and you must hold it high until the end of the exercise.

In the sequence, legs and arms are, in principle, stretched upwards, towards the sky on exhalation, while the abdomen must be pulled in. On inhalation, return to the starting position. As the practitioner progresses, the legs can be extended closer to the ground and the arms towards the ear. Repeat the movement six to ten times.

7. Spine Stretch

Sit with your back straight, legs straight – if you don’t have enough flexibility, bend your knees to keep your spine straight – and spread a little wider than hip-width apart. Keep your arms extended forward in line with your shoulders and keeping your shoulder blades in line.

The practitioner should think about growing the torso even more, as if the top of the head would touch the ceiling. Bringing the chin to the chest and curling the spine forward, she forms a “C”, making a complete exhalation until the chest is empty and contracting the abdomen more and more inward.

When returning by unwinding the spine, grow the torso again as if it were going to push against a wall behind it, stretching the arms forward and fitting the shoulders.

8. Shoulder Bridge

Lie with your back on the floor looking for a full connection of the spine with the floor. The arms are extended by the sides of the body and the knees bent. The feet are parallel obeying the alignment of the hips.

Inhale lifting your hips off the floor, thinking about mobilizing the spine and lifting the vertebrae off the floor one by one. At this moment, attention should be paid to the contraction of the glutes and abdomen, hip retroversion, elevation of the pelvis, lumbar and thoracic, so that the weight of the trunk is kept on the scapulae and not on the cervical.

Inhale again and at the moment of exhalation, it is time to return to the starting position. This return must also be gradual: start by sinking the chest, the back and closing the ribs, supporting one vertebra at a time on the floor, with the hip being the last to return.

9. Double Shoulder Bridge

Lying with the back on the ground, arms extended by the sides, knees bent and feet hip-width apart, practitioners will be positioned facing each other, so that the toes are almost connected.

One of the practitioners will place their feet on the other’s knees. Both should inhale in the starting position and exhale lifting the hips off the floor. Whoever has their feet flat on the floor will perform the ascent and descent of the hip, mobilizing each vertebra, as explained in the previous exercise. The practitioner who has their feet on their partner’s knees will remain in an isometric hip raise (no movement) until the partner finishes the repetitions.

10. Double Spine Flexion and Extension

Sitting facing each other with the legs spread apart, soles of the feet connected, hands in hand and spine erect, one of the practitioners will pull the other forward, helping him to perform a spine flexion and stretch the inner part of the body. thigh. At the same time he pulls his partner, he will direct his gaze to the sky, opening the chest and seeking an extension of the spine, without losing the abdominal contraction, with the intention of expanding the thoracic spine.

Whoever performs the spine flexion exhales through the mouth, emptying all the air from the lungs. Whoever performs the spine extension breathes in through the nose, growing the spine and respecting the limits so that compensations do not occur. Breathing alternates as the movements alternate.

Following the tips carefully, it is possible to perform the exercises at home, either alone or in pairs. Just don’t forget: whenever possible, seek help from a qualified professional to ensure you’re doing the poses correctly.

Videos about pilates at home

Do you want to know even more exercises to do pilates at home or simply check out their execution on video? So, take a look at our selection below:

Pilates at home to relieve back pain

In this video, you learn how to do four different pilates exercises that help relieve back pain. They are a great bet for those who are sedentary, spend a lot of time sitting and have lower back strains, but they are not recommended for those who have leg tingling or radiating pain in the feet that passes behind the thighs.

Pilates at home for posture and stretching

Want a video that shows you different exercises so you can do a pilates class at home? So this is a good option. Following the tips, it is possible to increase strength, flexibility and improve posture.

Pilates at home for lower back

With exercises for beginners, this is a video for those who want to strengthen the lumbar spine. The duration is 20 minutes. So why not take some time out of your day to practice?

Pilates at home for abs and glutes

With exercises performed on the floor, the focus of this practice is to work the abdominal region and glutes. In addition, there are also tips for those who are at the intermediate level.

There are several exercises for those who want to do pilates at home, but you need to be very careful when performing the movements, so that you don’t end up leaving the practice with an injury. Also, if possible, seek professional assistance. Now, how about checking out lumbar stretching suggestions?