How to Keep Your Home Pilates Workouts Fresh?

If there’s anything we’re hearing continuously from Pilates lovers during this time of global lockdown, it’s that they miss the diversity of workouts their beloved Pilates studio provides. Rolling out the mat at home and following any old YouTube video, doesn’t exactly keep things fresh.  

At Kaya, whilst we won’t be seeing you at our Pilates club in Melbourne, we are keeping our students and followers motivated and energized during this time of self -solation through offering online Kaya at Home workouts. The good news is – no two workouts are the same! We pride ourselves on ensuring every single workout is completely unique – to help you all shake off all the cabin fever and keep things fresh and exciting!

Pilates Workout Plan:

To keep things innovative and different every day, we recommend choosing a different part of your body to focus on during some days and doing a whole-body workout on other days. Here is a workout plan that might get you inspired:

MONDAY: Pilates mat total body workout (45 mins) 

TUESDAY: Pilates ab workout (focus on your core) (20 mins) 

WEDNESDAY: Pilates reformer total body workout (45 mins) 

THURSDAY: Pilates lower body workout (focus on your glutes, hip flexors, thighs, inner thighs and calves (20 mins) 

FRIDAY: Pilates total body workout – either on mat or reformer, up to you! (45 mins) 

SATURDAY: Pilates upper body workout (20 mins). Focus on your arms, shoulders, biceps, triceps, chest, and upper back. 

SUNDAY: REST DAY

Pilates Mat Class Sequence: 

This set of Pilates Melbourne exercises is designed to provide you with an at-home Pilates routine and help you build familiarity with Pilates mat exercises, whether you are new or experienced. 

• Warm-up exercises:

It’s always important to practice a set of warm-up exercises as they set the foundations of all Pilates movement. They also prepare the body for safely executing the more challenging exercises later, which will warm you up and prevent injury. Here are some of our favourite mat warm-up exercise’s:

– Imprinting

– Cat cow

– Arm reach and pull

– Pelvic curl

– Swan prep 

– Wall roll down 

• Start your workout 

Now that you are warmed up, you can start your workout. Here are some of our favourite Pilates Melbourne mat exercises! You can do these in any order you like, although we recommend balancing out different parts of your body, if you choose to do all the ab exercises at once, you will most likely instantly regret it (trust us)! 

– Ab scoops 

– The hundred

– The roll-up 

– One leg circle

– Rolling like a ball 

– Open leg balance

– Sidekicks

– Plank with shoulder taps

– Sea saw

– Crisscross

– Double leg stretch

– Scissor kicks

– Teaser

– Pendulum

– Plank lift

– Plank rocks

– Plank with shoulder taps

– Slow mountain climber

– Hip dip  

• Cooldown and stretch

Anyone who practices Pilates Melbourne classes with us at Kaya, would know how diligent we are with doing at least a short cooldown workout after every sweaty session! Regular stretching is essential after every single Pilates class! Not only will also help improve flexibility, increase your range of motion and reduce the risk of injury, but it will also improve your Pilates technique and dramatically improve your performance the next time you choose to practice! 

– Leg walk-ups 

– Pilates roll-ups

– Double pulse side leg kicks

– Seated torso rotations

– The saw

– Cat camel

– Knees to chest, rocking side to side

– Lower back and hip twist

– Kneeling squad stretch

– Child’s pose

Pilates Reformer Lesson Plan:

We know what you’re thinking…. A Pilates reformer workout, at home, with no reformer machine? Yeah right! However, if any of you have been following our online classes over the past month, you might have noticed that we have been recommending our students to use a skateboard to replicate a lot of the reformer Pilates exercises we do in class! If you can’t find a skateboard, then a sock, tea towel, hand towel, or anything that goes underneath the foot and can slide, will be fine. Here are our favourite reformer Pilates Melbourne exercises which can be done at home. 

• Sliding Lunges

Place your front foot on the ground firmly, and your back foot on the middle of the skateboard. Keep your hands tied behind you on your lower back. You want your front leg to be bent in a lunge position. Slide the skateboard out behind you, lunging forward at the same time, then bring it back in, standing up straight. You want to breathe in as you slide the skateboard back, and breathe out as you bring it back in. Move with control and precision, and remember to breathe. You can do these as side lunges as well.

• Skaters

We knew they were called skaters for a reason! Anyone who practices Reformer Pilates with us at the Kaya Pilates Prahran studio will know this one! Place one foot firmly on the ground, and your other foot in the middle of the skateboard. Bend slightly downwards, holding the squat position firmly. Keep your hands on your lower back, imagining that there is a walnut in between your shoulder blades. Slide the skateboard in and out, in and out, breathing as you go. Remember to swap sides.

• Scooter

Place your front foot on the ground firmly, and your back foot on the middle of the skateboard (like you would on the reformer sliding bed). Keep your front leg bent, pushing your torso forwards in a lunge position, and keep your hands behind you on your lower back. Then scooter your back leg back and forth, back and forth, eventually swapping sides.

• Hip Plank with Push-ups 

Hold yourself in plank position, by placing your hands on the floor directly under your shoulders, and your feet on the skateboard behind you. Hold plank for 10 seconds. Then pull your knees to your chest, allowing the skateboard to slide under you, then kick it back out. Follow this with a push-up. Then pull your knees to your chest again, bringing the skateboard underneath your chest, then kick it back out, and do a push-up. Repeat this cycle and feel the burn!

• Bridging with toe taps

Lie on your back with your arms down by your side. Point your knees up to the roof, with feet pressed firmly on the floor in front of your gluts, as though you are preparing for a bridge pose. Now place one foot on the skateboard (which should be lying perpendicular to your torso), and leave the other foot on the floor. Lift your hips up into bridge pose and hold. The hamstring has to work hard to stop the skateboard from sliding, so aim to keep the skateboard as still as possible. Next, put most of your weight on the foot that’s on the skateboard, and do toe taps with the other foot. Then swap sides.

• Plank Pikes

Get yourself into a plank position by placing your hands on the floor directly under your shoulders, and your feet on the skateboard behind you. To do a plank pike, you want to raise your hips as high as they can go, pulling the skateboard underneath you towards your hands. Keep your arm stretched out in front of you, like you’re in a downward-facing dog. Hold here, then push the skateboard back out behind you into a plank position. Repeat this sequence.

Add accessories, props, toys, and weights to the mix!

A resistance band, a ball, a roller, or hand weights are all you really need to make tried and true Pilates Melbourne mat exercises seem new, fun and more effective. If you don’t have any hand weights at home, try filling up two water bottles with water and using those instead! Just make sure the lid is screwed on tightly, no one wants water spilled down their back halfway through their squats with overhead tricep extensions!  

About the Author

Demi fell in love with yoga when she travelled to India when she was 20 years old. She loved the feeling of bliss she experienced both during and after class, and how that feeling would stay with her throughout her day. It was also in India, that Demi learned how much she loved to write about her travels. She believes that stories have power. They delight, enchant, touch, teach, recall, inspire, motivate, challenge. They help us understand. They imprint a picture in our minds. This led her to her job as a Content Writer. She loves helping businesses tell stories. Especially when the stories involve educating readers on the endless benefits of yoga and Pilates- two of her most loved fitness regimes