Hi, I'm Mari Windsor and welcome to my 20 minute Pilates workout.
In only 20 minutes we're going to target every single area of your entire body.
To get the best results from this workout, let's review some key principles of Pilates.
The powerhouse, that band of energy, that band of strength and control running across
your middle, your center, pulling the belly button into the spine activates that area
and supports your lower back.
Next is the frame of the body, shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip.
Wherever that is on you, that's where your legs should be, inside the frame of the body
to work the smaller muscles so they can support the larger muscles.
Last, but certainly not least, is breathing.
Breathing is a key point for Pilates exercise, breathing in through the nose and out through
the nose.
We all have a natural filtration system inside our nose that purifies the air, sending that
air to the muscles to oxygenate the muscles and increase your flexibility.
Joining me from my Hollywood studio, Susanna, Dina, Brenda Lee, Roger and Dagny.
Please keep your eye on Dagny if you have any delicate areas of the body and you find
something too difficult.
The first exercise in the Pilates workout is always the 100.
So everyone find the center of your mat and sit.
Knees are bent, feet are flat on the floor.
Place your hands behind your knees and walk your hands down and uncurl your back.
Your back should be flat on the mat, your head is down, your shoulders are relaxed.
Breathing is a key issue.
Inhale through the nose and exhale through the nose.
When you exhale, make sure you press your belly button to the spine for support.
Bring your knees into your chest.
Stretch your legs up.
Lift the arms six inches off the floor, reach with your fingertips.
Pull your rib cage together and lift up the head.
Excellent, there's your position.
It's perfect.
Now, inhale through the nose and exhale through the nose.
Add the pumping of the arms.
Inhale through the nose and exhale through the nose.
Beautiful.
Always connecting into that powerhouse.
When you exhale, imagine my hand on your stomach and you're pushing your belly button away
from my hand as you exhale.
If your lower back feels strong, lower the legs down and give yourself a little challenge.
Nice.
Inhale through the nose and exhale through the nose.
If you have a delicate neck, simply put your head down or use a pillow for support.
If you have a delicate back, please bend your knees.
She's still pushing into that powerhouse, I can tell.
Inhale through the nose, increase that circulation.
Very beautiful, everyone.
Bring your knees into your chest.
Great.
Lower your head down.
Take your hands and place them on your ankles.
Take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the nose.
Beautiful.
Release your hands, place your feet on the floor, and let's get ready to do the roll-up.
This exercise really challenges your powerhouse.
Make sure that you're pulling the belly button into the spine as you execute this exercise.
It really does help.
Let's test that concept.
Keep your belly button pulled into your lower spine as you stretch the legs out.
Try not to change that.
There's your support.
Very nice.
Bring your arms back over your head.
Try not to take your arms too far back because I don't want you to arch your upper back and
stick your ribs out.
Close your ribs, only go as far as you can go, and still be in control.
Bring your arms up.
Nice.
Fingertips reaching the ceiling.
Then lift up your head.
Continue rolling over until you're reaching past your feet.
Roll down, belly button to the spine.
Nice.
Vertebrae by vertebrae and bring the arms back.
Five more times.
Inhale to come up.
Good.
Exhale to reach over.
Imagine I'm pulling your hands a little bit further this time.
Roll down.
Inhaling and exhale.
Roll the rest of the way.
Inhaling up and exhale over.
Lengthen the legs as you go.
Try not to let the legs come up.
Roll down vertebrae by vertebrae.
Control that with your powerhouse.
If you have delicate issues in your back and you find this difficult to do, you can build
strength in the powerhouse by taking your hands behind your knees, pulling the powerhouse
in and rolling back as far as your arms will go.
Then use the powerhouse and not the arms to bring yourself back up.
Lift up and reach over.
Nice everybody.
Longer, longer, longer.
And roll down using the powerhouse.
Go vertebrae by vertebrae.
Last one.
Here we go.
And inhale to come up.
Belly button in.
Use that powerhouse.
Stretch over.
Stretch the back and the hamstrings as you reach a little bit further.
And roll down.
Inhaling through the nose and exhaling.
Bring the arms down by your side.
That's a very nice relaxing exercise and it's great for flexibility.
Now we're going to get ready for the single leg circles.
Bring one knee into your chest and stretch it straight up.
The leg is like an arrow coming out of your hip socket.
We're going to cross the leg over the body, swing it down and up.
Ready and cross down and up.
Use your powerhouse for control.
Don't let the hips wiggle.
No hula dancing.
Make sure your arms are supporting you as well as your powerhouse.
Nice.
Reverse.
And don't forget to breathe.
In through the nose and out through the nose.
Breathe with the movement.
If your hips are tight, your hamstrings are tight, simply bend both knees and make your
circles a little smaller.
Bend one knee in.
Put the foot on the floor.
Bring the other knee into your chest.
Stretch the leg straight up.
Lengthen that leg.
Lengthen the muscles.
Nice.
Long, loose legs.
Here we go.
And cross down and up five times.
Pull that powerhouse in.
And when the leg crosses the body, don't allow the hip to lift off your mat.
Keep both hips down.
And reverse.
Down, cross and up.
Stay inside the frame of the body.
Inhale through the nose and exhale through the nose.
Right.
Beautiful work, everyone.
Bring the knee into the chest.
Place the foot on the floor and stretch the leg out.
Down like a ball, six times.
This is a great exercise to massage your spine.
Lift up your head.
Let's roll up to a sitting position using your hands if you need to.
Sit up tall.
Place your hands by your hips.
Push with your hands so your hips elevate off the mat.
Bend your knees and scooch yourself so that your buttocks is touching your heels as closely
as possible.
Take one hand over the other.
Wrap them around your ankles.
Keep yourself in a nice tiny little ball, making a C-curve in the back.
The head is down.
Are you guys ready?
Let's lean back a little bit and balance.
Right.
See if you can find your balance.
Pull your powerhouse in.
And roll back and come up.
Use that powerhouse.
And again, roll back and up.
Balance and control.
Roll back and come up.
Breathing as you go.
And again, roll back and pull yourself up with your powerhouse.
Again, two more.
Roll back and up.
Last one.
Watch Dagny for modifications.
And up.
Very nice.
Place your feet on the floor.
Take your hands by your side.
Push yourself back to the center of the mat.
Pull your powerhouse in.
Roll down the spine.
And we're ready for the single leg stretch.
Bring one knee into your chest.
Take the same hand as leg.
Lift it up and place it on the outside of the ankle.
Take the opposite arm.
Lift it up and place it on the inside of the knee.
Lift up the bottom leg so it's in a 45-degree angle.
Pull the ribcage in and lift up the head.
Now you can see your legs.
Make sure you keep your legs as you're changing inside the frame of the body.
Tug the leg gently towards you.
One, two.
Switch, taking the same arm to the ankle outside.
And change.
One, two.
Beautiful.
Don't forget to breathe.
You're still going to get some great benefits in the modified version.
Pulling the stomach in and connecting the breath to the powerhouse is very important
in this exercise.
And one, two.
Please breathe.
Inhale.
And as you exhale, connect the breath into the belly button.
Bring both knees in.
Beautiful job, everyone.
Lower the head down.
And now we're ready to do the double leg stretch six times.
Everyone, please lift your head off the mat.
Yes, you're in a folding position.
Now we're going to unfold the body, stretching the arms by the ears and the legs out to a
45-degree.
Ready and stretch long.
Everything pulls away from the center.
And exhale through the nose as you reach around and hug your ankles.
Again, inhale.
Reach long.
Feel like you're stretching first thing in the morning.
And reach around and hold your ankles.
Again, inhaling through the nose.
Take all the air in and reach your arms around and pull.
Very nice.
And inhale.
This is very nice modification.
She's still going to get some great benefits.
She's stretching the arms and legs and using the powerhouse to motivate the body coming
back.
Nice.
And inhale one last time.
Reach the arms around, pull the belly button to the spine, and hold.
Beautiful, everyone.
Put your feet on the floor.
Release your arms down by your side and lower your head.
Single straight leg follows 10 times.
This is a great exercise to engage your powerhouse and to get some flexibility in your hamstrings.
Bring one knee into your chest.
Stretch the legs straight up.
Nice.
Long leg.
Bring the other knee into the chest and stretch it out to a 45 degree angle.
Beautiful.
Take your hands behind your ankle, calf, or thigh, whichever you can get.
Lift your head off the mat and breathe as you gently tug the leg towards you twice.
Switch legs like scissors cutting through the air.
Beautiful.
One, two.
Dagny over here is getting still some great benefits by stretching the hamstring and engaging
her powerhouse.
Don't forget you can put a pillow under your head if you need some extra support.
And again, one, two.
Bring both knees into your chest.
Take a hold of your ankles and lower your head down.
And let's get ready for the double straight leg, six times.
Release your arms from your ankles and reach around and take your hands behind your head,
one on top of the other.
Don't lace your fingers.
Stretch your legs up.
This is great for your powerhouse and control.
Use your ribs, lift up your head.
Be supported.
Lower the legs down between a 90 and a 45 degree angle.
Squeeze your buttocks, pull your powerhouse in and bring the legs back up.
Lower down.
Squeeze your tushy, pull the powerhouse in.
And again, keep the elbows open and the rib cage in.
Dagny's doing a great job over here.
She's using her powerhouse and getting stronger each time she does it.
Squeeze the buttocks, yes.
Down and squeeze the tushy, pull the powerhouse in.
Make sure the lower back never comes off the floor.
Bend your knees.
Take your ankles and lower your head down.
Nice job, everybody.
And now we're ready for the crisscross.
Stretch one leg to a 45 degree angle, keeping the other knee bent.
Pull the ribs in.
Pull the powerhouse in.
Lift off the upper body.
Take the opposite elbow to the knee and hold that position, feeling a diagonal line between
the hip and the elbow.
Switch to the other side, keeping the torso up.
Keep the legs in the frame of the body as well.
And twist 10 times slow.
Nice.
Dagny is still working out her powerhouse.
Her legs are up just a little bit higher and she's not doing such a big twist.
And twist.
Nice.
Feel the powerhouse working.
Glue the seat to the mat.
Don't let your seat come off.
And more importantly, keep the legs inside the frame of the body.
Let's pick up the tempo for a nice challenge.
Here we go.
And one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Beautiful.
Bring both knees into the chest.
Bring the body to the front.
And roll down.
Very good.
Put your feet on the floor.
Spine stretch forward three times.
Great for the posture.
Everyone release your arms from your head and bring them down by your side.
Stretch your legs out, keeping the belly button pressed into the spine.
Lift up your head, walk your hands up to your knees till you're sitting up tall.
Yes.
Reach your arms out in front like you're sleepwalking.
Flex the feet and open the legs, hip width apart.
No wider.
Lift up.
Feel the powerhouse supporting the posture.
Chest is up, shoulders are down.
You're going to exhale as you pull the belly button back and reach the upper body forward
to stretch and get a nice C-curve in the spine.
Sit up as you inhale.
Imagine my hands around your waist pulling you back as you exhale and reach your arms
forward.
You get a nice stretch in your back that way.
And inhale as you stretch up.
Think about that posture one last time.
Exhale as you pull the belly button to the spine and curve the body forward.
Reach with those arms.
Nice.
Beautiful, Dagny.
And sit up tall and very, very good.
The next exercise called the saw was designed to ring air out of the lungs.
Twist from the waist and take the little finger towards the little toe, rounding the back.
Breathe out the air and reach a little further as you breathe out.
And last one.
Sit up tall.
Beautiful.
Let's try the other side.
Twist from the waist.
Work that waistline.
Keep those buns down and reach one.
Stomach in, breathe out.
Two.
Last one.
Three.
And sit up tall.
Once more on each side.
Twist from the waist.
Very nice.
If you have a delicate shoulder, please keep your shoulder down as Dagny is demonstrating.
It takes a lot less pressure.
Twist and reach.
Last one.
Saw one.
Saw two.
Reach a little bit further this time and sit up tall.
Work that waistline.
Nice.
Take your arms down by your side and breathe.
Side kick series is next.
This is my favorite group of exercises to tone and firm the buttocks, inner thighs and
outer thighs.
You're going to love it when you see the results.
Everyone, bring your legs together.
Use your hands to help you roll down vertebrae by vertebrae until you're flat on your back.
Nice.
For this exercise, you're going to roll on your side and place your whole body against
the edge of the mat.
Feel a nice long line between your head and your tippy toes.
Beautiful.
Take your hand.
Place your head in your hand.
That's a great support.
Now, put your other hand in front.
I don't want your torso to move back and forth during this exercise and that hand will help
you.
Use your powerhouse.
Tweeze your buttocks.
Place your legs together.
Lift them up and take the legs together to the edge of the mat.
Beautiful.
Now, you're in a pike position and we're ready to go.
Lift up the top leg no higher than the hip.
We're going to do 10 kicks back and forward.
10 sets.
Here we go.
Double kick to the front.
One, two and back two.
Use your powerhouse so that your upper body doesn't move.
The reason why this is so good for this area is you're isolating the leg in the hip socket.
Great for balance and control and flexibility as well.
Keep that torso still.
It's very common when you first try this exercise to move back and forth as you're trying to
isolate the leg.
Just keep working on it and you'll get it.
You can try making a little bit smaller range of motion and then you'll have a little bit
more control and then you can make it bigger as you go.
Bicycle.
Three times to the front and three times to the back.
Everyone, lift the leg hip level no higher.
Bring the leg straight to the front.
Bend the knee.
Take the heel to the buttocks.
Shift it to the back and lengthen the leg out.
Again, bring the leg to the front.
Bend the knee.
Heel to the buttocks.
Shift and lengthen.
Again, the closer you get your heel to your buttocks, the more you'll feel your buttocks
and stay.
Yes.
Now reverse.
Bend the knee.
Heel to the buttocks and elongate that leg.
Again, bend the knee.
Heel to the buttocks and stretch the leg.
Use your powerhouse for control.
Bend the knee.
Last one and stretch.
Beautiful.
Bring the legs together.
Leg lifts are next.
Great for flexibility and again, that tushy.
Turn the leg out as much as you can without losing the placement of the hips.
Kneecap is facing the ceiling.
Ready?
On my count.
Kick the leg up and bring it down.
Again, kick it up and bring it down.
Up and bring it down.
Kick that leg up and down.
Yes.
Nice work.
Kick it up and down.
Yes.
Pull the powerhouse in.
Don't wiggle around.
And last one and down.
Big scissors.
Ten times.
Ready?
And one, two, three, move those legs.
Seven, eight, nine, ten.
Beautiful legs together.
Bring your knees into your chest.
Push yourself up with your hands and let's switch around and do the other side.
Gotta make both cheeks even.
Rest your head on your hand and your other hand is in front.
Ready for your side kicks on the other side.
Lift the leg.
Two B's to the front.
Ten sets.
Here we go.
Kick it front.
One, two and back.
And two and back.
Nice.
And three and back.
Good.
And four.
Keep it going.
And five.
Keep your belly button tight.
Six and seven.
Don't move your torsos.
And eight and nine.
Last one and ten.
Nice.
Bring the legs together and we're ready for the bicycle.
Three each way.
Bring the legs straight front.
Bend the knee.
Heel to the buttocks.
Bend to the back and lengthen the leg.
Again.
Up.
Bend the knee.
Shift it to the back and lengthen down.
Up.
Bend the knee.
Shift it to the back and stretch.
Now reverse.
Bend the knee.
Heel to the buttocks and bring it front and stretch.
Great for the butt.
Bend the knee.
Bring it front and stretch.
One more.
Back.
Bring it front and stretch the leg.
Legs together.
Leg lifts ten times.
Turn the top leg out a little bit.
Use your powerhouse.
Back it up.
And one.
And two.
And three.
And four.
And five.
And six.
Seven.
And eight.
Nine.
Last time and ten.
Beautiful.
Remember those big scissors slicing through the air?
Here we go.
Ten times.
And one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Everybody roll onto your back and find the center of your mat.
We're going to roll up to a sitting position so use your hands to help you if you need.
Ready and up.
Nice.
Sit up tall.
Place your hands by your hips.
You should be feeling a little taller at this point.
Pick your hips up and scoot yourself to the front of the mat.
Open the knees shoulder width apart.
Take your hands, place them inside the legs and curl your hands around to hug the ankles.
This exercise is called the seal and we're going to do this six times.
Balance and control.
Powerhouse.
They all work together.
Lift up your legs and let's balance.
Head is down.
Beat three times.
One, two, three.
Roll back and beat the heels.
One, two, three.
And come up.
One, two, three.
Roll back, use that powerhouse.
And come up, beat the heels.
One, two, three.
Roll back.
And one, two, three.
And again, up.
One, two, three.
Make sure you keep your head down and roll back.
One, two, three.
And come up.
One, two, three.
And roll back.
One, two, three.
And come up.
Balance and great.
Put your feet on the floor.
Hands down by your side.
Come to a sitting position.
You've just finished my 20 minute Pilates workout.
You should feel taller, stronger, and more sculpted.
Keep this workout up on a regular basis and you'll reap all the benefits Pilates has to
offer.
Good job.