We understand your busy schedule and want to help you get in your best form under 30-minutes a day.
We reached out to Lesley Logan, a PMA Certified Pilates Teacher, to devise a workout plan of Pilates at home, Home Pilates Practice, which just needs a mat.
Home Pilates Practice is for anyone with a busy schedule, wants to stay athletic and get a total body strength workout.
Find out everything about Home Pilates Practice, the benefits of doing it every day, and why Pilates at Home is all you need.
Home Pilates Practice
Pilates at home raises some eyebrows – can it be done at home without a teacher?
Lesley Logan devises a very compact yet comprehensive Pilates workout plan which can be done anywhere. All you need is a mat for a comfortable position.
Who is it for?
- Independent movers
- Busy people
- Athletes
- No access to classes
- Frequent travellers
Fitness Goal
- Athleticism
- Full body workout
- Flexibility
- Better posture
- Strengthen weaker areas
Standout Benefits
We have already discussed 7 incredible benefits of Pilates.
Here are 5 standout benefits of this Pilates at home workout, which will start giving you results instantly.
1. Best for Beginners
Pilates at home workout is for everyone. However, it great for beginners. You don’t need equipment or any instructor. Just a manual of basic yet effective workout plan which can be done solely by you.
Home Pilates Practice precisely provides that. Lesley Logan has great instructional videos which can be easily followed.
It is great for all levels of movers and Pilates lovers. But, Home Pilates Practice is best for beginners because it meets you where you are! – Lesley
2. Modify Where You Need To
Home Pilates Practice allows you to modify where you need to. Not all start at the same fitness level. The workouts listed below can be modified for your fitness level.
Lesley provides instructions on how to make each of your workouts work best for you fitness level.
You do the best you can with just a few reps and then you move on. – Lesley
3. Energetic Rather Than Sore
Most workouts tend to leave you sore. Muscle soreness through workouts are good signs but can interrupt your daily tasks for the upcoming days.
The workouts require natural movements which leave your body with more energy for daily tasks.
Pilates doesn’t leave you so sore at the beginning of your practice that you cannot do the things you need to do the next day. Instead it leaves you feeling invigorated! – Lesley
4. Never Overworked or Underworked
With most workouts, it is difficult to understand the intensity being put through. As a result, muscles are underworked and overworked leaving you with poor results and form.
Home Pilates Practice is designed to balance the intensity of workouts on your muscles. None of your muscles will be overworked to cause an injury, or underworked to leave you weak.
Pilates is all about quality not quantity and it challenges your whole body in every exercise so you get strength where you are weak, flexibility where you are tight and no part of the body is underworked or overworked. – Lesley
5. Full Body Engagement
Most workout plans target specific areas on specific days. This 30-minute Pilates at home workout engages all your primary muscles giving you a full body strength based workout.
How Are All Muscles Worked?
In this workout, we begin warming you up with the 100 and then we start with flexion exercises to warm up and connect to your core before we flip on to your stomach and fight against gravity! Then we take really open the front of the hips and strengthen the back before we challenge our side body (obliques and gluteus medius). We round it out with another extension, flexion and finally the full body push-ups! – Lesley
How to Get Started?
- Grab your mat
- Find a space on your floor, office, hotel or grass
- Circle your arms wide and overhead – as far as you can
- Kick your legs out to the side
Make sure you have that much space and you don’t hit anything.
List of Pilates Workouts
The workouts listed are best to be done in the order given.
All workout videos have instructions and clear demonstrations.
Each of the following 16 Pilates at home workouts take less than 30 seconds. With 15-30 seconds rest between them, the Home Pilates Practice workout can be done under 30 minutes.
As you become better at them feel free to reach out and I can tell you how to uplevel them or what to add in next! Or, head on over and subscribe to weekly mat classes that are all level and only 30 min here.
1. HUNDRED
100 on the Mat is an all levels Pilates Exercise. If legs at the high diagonal is too hard, lift them higher. Or lower them towards the floor if too easy.
2. ROLL UP
After years of Roll-Ups and talking with my teacher who studied with Joseph Pilates, I’ve learned that the strap is essential as you advance your practice.
3. SINGLE LEG CIRCLES
Single Leg Circles on the Mat is an all level Pilates exercise. The goal is to freely circle your leg without disturbing the rest of your body.
4. ROLLING LIKE A BALL
Pilates Rolling like a Ball also known as Rolling Back is more than meets the eye! There is a lot of control and connection needed to accomplish this Pilates exercise!
5. SINGLE LEG STRETCH
SIngle leg stretch on the mat is an all levels Pilates Exercise. Lying on your back, bring your knees into your chest and curl your head and chest off the mat. Pull one knee in and stretch the opposite leg out to the high diagonal. Then switch.
6. DOUBLE LEG STRETCH
Double Leg Stretch on the mat is an all levels Pilates Exercise. Lying on your back, bring your knees into your chest and curl your head and chest up. One hand on each shin. Inhale reach your arms straight back and your legs as long as you can. Maintain lifted chest. Exhale circle the arms around and bend the knees in.
7. SPINE STRETCH FORWARD
Spine Stretch Forward on the mat is an all levels Pilates Exercise. Sitting up tall with your shoulders over your hips and your arms shoulder height and distance. Separate your legs mat width apart. Inhale sit tall, exhale round forward, inhale roll up and exhale sit tall.
8. SAW
The saw is similar to Corkscrew. But, instead of twisting your lower half around your body, you are twisting your upper half.
9. SWAN PREP
Prep for Swan on the Mat is a beginner Pilates Mat Exercise. Start lying on your back and place your hands one on top of the other. Glue your forehead to your hands. Curl your tailbone towards your heels and press the tops of your feet into the mat. Lengthen out the crown of your head to lift your head, chest, hands and elbows off the mat. Lower down with control. Repeat.
10. SINGLE LEG KICK
Single Leg Kick on the mat is fantastic for getting you connected to your seat and your back. But, it’s also one of the most misunderstood exercises.
11. THIGH STRETCH
The Pilates Thigh Stretch on the Mat is more of an advanced exercise. I like to teach it to people after they have done this exercise on the Cadillac.
12. SHOULDER BRIDGE
When you do your Shoulder Bridge be mindful of equal weight on your feet front to back and side to side.
13. SIDE LEG KICKS
Moving your top leg while maintaining the strength and stability of your torso and bottom leg is only one of the challenges of the Side Kicks!
14. SWIMMING
Swimming is absolutely essential for our bodies fight against bad posture and shrinking. Due to lives in front of computers and sitting, extension is needed.
15. SEAL
Seal is so much more than meets the eye! Take your Rolling like a Ball, add some balance and coordination and really challenge your strength and stamina.
16. PUSH-UPS
Push Ups on the mat is an all levels Pilates Exercise. Standing up tall roll down to the floor. Walk out in less than 4 counts. Shoulders over wrists. Do 1 tri-cep push up. Curl your tailbone under, lift your ribs and dive your head in. Walk your hands back to your feet in 4 counts. Repeat do 2 pushups, repeat do 3 and so on until 5 push-ups.
Why can Pilates Home Practice be done every day?
Our bodies are different every single day! How you feel in your Pilates practice today will be different than yesterday and tomorrow. You have all the benefits of yesterday’s session in your body and then all of the life that happened within the last 24 hours. If you have a Mat Pilates practice you can not only do Pilates wherever you are but you also don’t need to fit a class into your schedule or have a full hour. You can do your Pilates whenever and also do the exercises your body needs the most. – Lesley
About Lesley
LESLEY LOGAN is a PMA Certified Pilates Teacher and has been studying and teaching Joseph Pilates Classical Method since 2005 and 2008 respectively.
You can take her weekly online mat classes here.
