Let’s start with the basics pilates exercises for losing weight: workout 2-3 times a week, not more than 30 minutes. While doing Pilates, you don’t have to stretch or warm up. Instead, before exercise, take the correct posture and sit like that for about 3 minutes. Breath in intensely, concentrate on breathing and internally tune to the execution of tasks. Breath while doing exercises use all the capacity of your lungs, do all the movements slowly and fluidly, you can turn on calm music. Imagine what’s happening in your body. You will need a carpet for working out.
Six useful pilates exercises
- Exercise that stretches your spine and hamstrings. Take the initial position. Lie with your back on the rug, extend your arms behind your head to the width of your shoulders. The press and gluteal muscles strained, the socks are stretched out. On the expiration, raise your hands up, lifting your head, shoulders, shoulder blades, stretching behind your fingertips, pressing your chin to your chest, continuing to bend down, try to reach out to your toes. If possible, do not strain your back. On inspiration, return to the starting position Repeat 6-8 times.
- The exercise increases the flexibility of the ligaments, trains the press. Take the starting position. Lie down on the back, lower the hands freely along the body, press the chin to the chest, pull the knees to the stomach, exhale, maximally contracting the abdominal muscles. Raise the right leg vertically up, the left pull out at an angle of 45 degrees. Grab your arms around your right leg, lifting your shoulders, inhaling. Exhaling, double-sprung, pulling your right foot toward yourself, change your legs without changing the position of the body, and repeat the exercise. Do it ten times with each leg.
- This exercise is an excellent massage for your spine, strengthens the abdominal muscles. Take the initial stance. Sit on the carpet, bend your knees, pulling feet to the buttocks. Grab your hands behind your ankles. The chin is pressed to the chest, to round the back. Your body looks like a ball. With force, pull in the stomach and roll back onto the shoulder blades, using the abdominal muscles, without using your hands, go back to the starting position, without touching the floor with your feet.
- This exercise stretches your back, develops a correct posture. Sit in starting position. Sit on the mat, straighten up. The legs spread out so that the angle between them is 90 degrees. Hands raised and pulled parallel to the floor, remove the socks on yourself. On inspiration, strain the muscles of the press and buttocks and slowly, the vertebra behind the vertebrae, lean forward without lowering your hands. Thus, the body becomes like the letter “C”. Exhaling, stretch out, raising your hands. Perform three repetitions.
- This exercise trains the lateral muscles of the body, the muscles of the back of the thigh, buttocks. Take starting position. Stand on the mat on your knees, straighten out, push the pelvis forward slightly. Prepare for the exercise: lift your right arm, lean slowly to the left, then repeat the same movement the other way. Then bend in left, lie with your left hand on the floor. The left hip is just above the knee. Raise the right side parallel to the floor. Place your right hand on the back of your head, turn your elbow back. The whole body is stretched out into a string and parallel to the floor from the nape to the ankle. On inspiration, move your right foot forward to a position of 90 degrees concerning the body, on exhalation return to the starting point. Repeat 10 – 15 times in each direction, gradually accelerating the tempo.
- This exercise develops mobility of cervical vertebrae and muscles. Starting position: Lie on your stomach, leaning on your elbows, lift your head, shoulders and chest. You press on crutches to the trunk; the shoulders deployed, the stomach drawn. Smoothly turn your head to the left, then to the right. Now move your head in the circle, beginning with the left shoulder. Repeat the other way. Perform two times.