If you’ve never tried Pilates before, you may be surprised at how effective it is for building muscle strength. Slow, controlled movements allow you to isolate and load muscles using only your body weight.
Pilates instructor Katie Pearce recently shared a Pilates workout that targets a wide range of muscles in the core and lower body. It’s perfect for people who want to build strength without putting pressure on their joints, a risk associated with many aerobic and weight-based activities.
The workout takes just 15 minutes and requires no equipment, although a good yoga mat is helpful.
How to do Katie Pearce’s Pilates workout
Check out Pierce’s Instagram reel and the repeating captions required for each move.
You can do this routine multiple times if you want a longer workout. Or, combine this session with his 5-minute Upper Body Pilates workout to work an even wider range of muscles.
How to use
This routine includes lots of pulse movements. Pulsing a movement means doing a few small, limited repetitions of the movement, usually at the most difficult point of the exercise, rather than going through the full range of motion. This is usually done after a certain number of repetitions of a traditional exercise.
Pulsing is one way to increase the amount of time your muscles stay tense in the same position, making them work harder. Doing this increases muscle endurance, or the ability of your muscles to contract for long periods of time. If you want to learn more, check out these exercises to increase muscular endurance.
