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With over 15 years of experience in teaching Pilates, I’ve witnessed firsthand the positive impact of Pilates core exercises on my clients’ mobility and strength. Many have shared with me how they were able to maintain their favorite activities such as tennis, horseback riding, or cycling for longer periods by regularly practicing Pilates. As we age, the wear and tear on our bodies become more noticeable, but by engaging in Pilates, we can reduce these effects by strengthening our stabilizer muscles and keeping our larger muscle groups flexible and elongated. My top recommendation for clients in their 50s and beyond is to dedicate just 20 minutes every few days to their Pilates practice to uphold these benefits.
Pilates is a comprehensive practice that focuses on strengthening, mobilizing, and balancing the entire body. It involves movements that work the spine in various directions, enhancing core strength, and promoting proper posture and alignment. While anyone can benefit from Pilates, it is particularly effective for maintaining body strength and flexibility. The exercises can be tailored to accommodate injuries and support the aging spine, offering muscle toning and flexibility through gentle yet impactful movements.
Here is a selection of ten core exercises that can be performed at home on a mat, showcasing key Pilates principles that can significantly enhance the wellness of individuals in their 50s when integrated into their daily workout regimen.
1. Flat Back Bridge
Laying supine on the mat, place your feet at a hip-width distance in parallel, about 8 inches from your sitz bones. Keeping your head down, your neck relaxed, and your palms and feet pressing into the mat begin to lift your hips up, taking care to keep your spine long and neutral as you exhale. Hold at the top of the bridge for an inhale, then lower your spine keeping it in one long line onto the mat as you exhale. Repeat this exercise 4 more times, and make sure to keep the spine flat as you lift and lower your hips.
This exercise strengthens your spinal and posterior chain muscles. It’s safe for clients who may have osteopenia or osteoporosis because it is a version of the bridge that does not include articulating or segmenting the spine.
2. Toe Taps
Laying supine on the mat, walk your legs up to the tabletop one at a time, stacking your knees over your hips and lifting your feet off the floor. From this tabletop shape, hinge from your left hip and tap the ground with your toes, keeping a 90-degree bend in the knee. Engaging your core to keep your lower back stable, lift that leg back to the tabletop. Then, repeat on the right side. Continue this movement for a total of ten reps on each side, inhaling to hinge and exhaling to lift.
This exercise requires pelvic stability and strengthens your core without spinal flexion, which makes it a safe exercise for beginners or people with low back issues.
3. Spine Stretch Forward
Start seated on the mat, extending your legs long and bringing them out as wide as your mat, flexing your feet, and grounding your heels into the mat. Extend your arms out long and shoulder height, taking care to keep your shoulder blades pulling down your back and not drifting up towards your ears. As you exhale, begin to reach your arms towards your feet, keeping them shoulder height and parallel to the floor, and follow your fingertips with your gaze. Engaging your core as you reach, imagine you are rounding over your legs like you are rounding over a beach ball. Stack the spine as you inhale, sitting tall. Repeat this exercise 4 more times.
This exercise is an example of spinal flexion and strengthens your core muscles while mobilizing your spine. It is a safe exercise for those with any spinal issues because it does not put loaded flexion on your spine.
4. Criss-Cross
Laying supine on the mat, lift both your legs into a tabletop position. Place your hands behind your head with your elbows in line with your ears. As you exhale, lift your head, neck, and shoulder blades off the mat and rotate from your center to bring your left elbow to your right knee. Inhale back to the center, then exhale to rotate to the other side. If your pelvis can stay stable when you rotate, you can begin to introduce extending the leg you are rotating away from as you twist. Do 10 reps rotating to each side?
This exercise is an example of spinal rotation and strengthens the obliques while stabilizing the pelvis. If spinal flexion or rotation is contraindicated for your spine, modify this exercise by keeping the head down and reaching your straight arm across your body, connecting the elbow to the outside of the opposite knee.
5. Side-lying Clam
Laying on your left side, bend your knees in front of your hips and bring your heels back in line with your sit bones. Bring your heels side by side to touch and lift your feet up off the mat. Keeping your shoulders and hips stacked and stable, lift your top knee up from your hip as you exhale and lower it back down as you inhale. Repeat 9 more times and then switch sides.
This exercise strengthens the glutes and promotes core stabilization.
6. Mermaid
Sit on your left hip with your right leg stacked over your left with both knees bent. Place your left hand on the mat a few inches from your left hip. As you exhale, reach your right arm up and over your head into a side bend, but keep a stacking of your joints as if you were between two panes of glass. Inhale to stack your spine back to tall. Repeat this exercise 4 more times, then switch sides.
This exercise is an example of lateral flexion and stretches the intercostal muscles, obliques, and spine.
7. Swan
Lay prone or flat on your belly on the mat with your feet hip-width distance apart and the tops of your feet parallel and pressing into the mat. Place your hands under your shoulders with your elbows bent back in line with your shoulders. Pressing your pubic bone into the mat to stabilize your lower back and your palms into the mat, inhale and begin to leave your chest off the floor. Initiate this movement from your thoracic spine and gaze forward like you are watching a marble roll off your nose to avoid excessive cervical flexion. Exhale as you melt your chest back down to the mat. Repeat this 4 more times.
This exercise is an example of spinal extension and helps to strengthen the posterior chain muscles and mobilize the spine. If getting down on a mat does not work for your body, this exercise can be done standing, arms out in a goal post shape, hips over heels, while lifting the heart up towards the sky to provide gentle movement to the thoracic spine.
8. Bird Dog
Start in an all fours or quadruped position, hips over knees and shoulders over the wrists. Imagine your abdominal muscles are a corset around your spine, and tighten the corset as you exhale. Keeping the abdominal muscles engaged and the spine stable, begin to lift the left arm off the ground and reach it out straight in front of you. If you can stabilize here you can progress the exercise to have the right leg extended and lifted straight behind the right hip. Hold for 3 breaths, then switch out the extended arm and leg. Repeat this exercise 4 times, or 2 more times on each side.
This exercise is an example of spinal stabilization and core control.
9. Roll-down to Push-up
This exercise is an example of two in one! To finish your routine, stand at the back of your mat with your feet hip width distance apart and parallel. As you inhale, reach your arms up towards the sky, as you exhale soften your knees and begin to roll down the length of your spine until your hands reach the mat. Begin to walk your hands away from your feet until you are in a plank shape, then bend your elbows back in line with your shoulders to do a push-up. Straighten your arms to press back to plank, then pike the hips up and begin to walk your hands back to your feet.
You can modify the push-up by dropping the knees to the mat or omit the push up completely and hold a plank for 15 seconds instead. When rolling back up, soften the knees to protect your back and begin to stack your spine back to tall as you exhale. Repeat this 2 more times to complete your practice. Take notice of how tall you are standing and how good your body feels! And if you enjoyed this article, don’t miss How Long Your Walking Workout Should Be To Shrink Belly Fat.
