
Learn the fundamentals of Pilates for complete beginners by mastering six basic principles, proper posture, and introductory exercises, then follow guided workouts.
Shoulder placement, the third Pilates principle, balances opposing muscle groups, per Marcel Péres, by sinking the shoulders, lengthening the lats, and strengthening the upper back through shoulder blade pinching.
Master breathing, rib cage placement, and shoulder alignment to engage the diaphragm and intercostal muscles for better posture. Balance muscle groups to relieve postural aches and promote neck elongation.
This swan dive prep for complete beginners shows two variations that teach grounding, tiny spine movements, chest isolation to activate the upper back, and keep shoulders down and back.
Learn the half roll back to strengthen the abdominals, improve mobility, and protect the lower back by keeping the back on the mat, with feet hip-distance apart and knees bent.
Develop rolling like a ball prep by curling the back, tightening the core, and coordinating inhale and exhale to maintain balance and control.
Hip rolls guide mobility in the lower back with hamstrings and pelvis engaged, using breath-led, vertebra-by-vertebra rolls up and down from feet hip-width apart.
Practice the cat stretch to round the spine, relax the shoulders, and engage the lower abdominals while guiding movement with breath and neck elongation for lower back mobility.
Roll downs: a breath-guided movement from standing to the floor, inhale to lengthen, exhale to roll the spine vertebra by vertebra with chin aligned and space behind.
Perform knee lifts from a knee-open floor position with the spine and shoulders aligned. Exhale to engage the glutes as you lift, keeping small lifts to protect the lower back.
Engage in controlled stretches, twists, and rolls to improve spine mobility and shoulder alignment. Keep shoulders down and hips aligned as you perform the movements.
Guided seated stretches for beginners teach lengthening through controlled discomfort, holding each pose 20 seconds per side, with deep breathing, twists, and safe alignment to improve flexibility.
Pilates for Complete Beginners is designed to comfortably get you ready for a full Pilates class, which is also included in this course.
I have been teaching Pilates for over 20 years and decided to bring the fundamentals to you. This is a home made course with limited lighting, but the information provided comes from years of working in the industry with many professionals giving guidance along the way. Proof that not all that is golden has to shine.
Pilates is a type of exercise system where you place your body in the correct alignment for each exercise. By doing this you lower exercise related risks and improve the quality of each move is increased ten fold. Please ensure your physician has given you the thumbs up to exercise.
The exercise of choice for people who aren't into gym vibes and hardcore trainers. My approach is gentle. Building up is better than jumping into the deep end.
"I never loved exercise until I was introduced to Pilates. I now do it 5 days a week" raves Sheila, whose been a client of mine for over a decade and is in her mid 70's.
The movements are done slowly - have you ever tried doing a push up slowly - it's much more effective. p.s. we don't generally do push ups in Pilates so please don't loose interest yet. So it's slow, controlled exercises where a smaller move is usually more effective than a bigger move. For this reason Pilates suits those who don't want to sweat and get out of breath.
When you can hold the correct positions while performing an exercise, you start to work multiple muscle groups and those muscle groups are the precise ones that correct your posture. Do you want to make your workout more effective? This is the method for you.
There are Six Principles that oversee your Pilates practice. These include:
- Breathing
- Rib Placement
- Shoulder Positions
- Activating your Core muscles effectively
- Head Placement
- Lower Back placement
Better than just improving your Pilates exercises you can then start to use these Six Principles when you do any other kind of exercise as well - Optimizing any fitness regiment you do.
Once we've learnt these Principles we'll start to build the foundation Matwork exercises (one at a time) incorporating all six steps simultaneously.
This may sound daunting but you will get the hang of it easily. You can then spend time repeating these steps to grow your confidence or go on to do the full workouts provided.
Before each workout you must do the warm up and after the workout please do the stretches provided. These steps are crucial to the safety of the exercises.
Grant says "Pilates has completely changed my life, I've improved my performance on all my extreme sports and lowered the aches and pains that used to follow me daily"