Pilates for beginners is a comprehensive system of gymnastic exercises that affects the whole body. During classes, a huge number of muscles are worked out, including the deep ones, which are quite problematic to “wake up” through standard training.
Frankly, this gymnastics will not give a quick result in terms of weight loss, but with regular exercise, you are guaranteed long-term effectiveness. In other words, after a certain time of systematic training, you will lose weight, get rid of toxins, get fit, and most importantly - kilograms will not return, since their loss occurred systematically and not quickly.
Everyone can easily learn Pilates for beginners at home, all exercises are harmonious, well thought out and combine well with each other.
For beginners
What is the perfect workout for beginners? Most likely, this is an activity characterized by the following parameters:
- smooth load on the muscles;
- joints are not injured;
- weight does not return, since weight loss is systematic and not fast;
- safe training;
- not requiring expensive simulators;
- not exhausting, not exhausting;
- helps to improve physical fitness and achieve peace of mind;
- You can do exercises at home, at any convenient time, without any embarrassment;
- Suitable for all people.
Meet before you Pilates for beginners.
This gentle form of fitness was developed as gymnastics for the rehabilitation of the military. Today it has gained fantastic popularity.
It is advisable to practice without shoes or in special Pilates shoes. Put on something that will not constrain your movements, to ensure maximum comfort, choose music that will motivate and charge. You will also need a good mat.
Underlying Exercises
The average duration of one workout should be from 40 to 50 minutes. At the same time, it is highly recommended not to pause between exercises, this reduces effectiveness. Regarding the number of workouts per week, the developer of this type of fitness, Joseph Pilates, recommended that experienced people practice 5-7 times a week, but the Pilates gymnastics complex for beginners is designed for 3 light workouts per week. Do not overload if you are a beginner, remember that the body needs rest and recovery to avoid overload.
When mastering Pilates, you should make every effort, observing the correct technique, if improperly performed, harm to the body is possible.
In any workout, there are basic elements, it is important to understand and master them, especially if you do it yourself, at home. Pilates for beginners is a great way to get fit, gain additional tone and make friends with your body, and working out the basic elements will help to achieve maximum effect, since all other Pilates elements are based on them.
Base Element - Rack
Stand, put your feet at shoulder height, bend your knees a little, put your pelvis forward, your abdominal muscles should be tense.
Keep your shoulders straight. Hands are relaxed and are located along the body. Your shoulder blades should be brought together;
If you are standing, you must keep the body straight, while the lower back should not bend and round. When practicing lying down, the back should be firmly pressed to the floor.
Spine
In the process of performing all exercises, monitor the position of the spine. It should be as extended as possible, unless of course you do twisting.
Press
Constantly control the abdominal muscles, they must be tense. This is the basis for the successful implementation of any exercise complex.
Head
Keep it straight, do not throw it back or forward to engage hard-to-reach muscles. It is important.
Shoulders
Your shoulder girdle should be straightened and lowered. Only with this position of the shoulders is proper breathing with maximum chest opening possible.
The basic principle is breathing
Practice breathing, constantly monitor it while doing exercises. Thanks to the Pilates breathing technique for beginners, the body is enriched with oxygen, metabolism improves.
- You need to breathe only with your chest, not your stomach.
- Breathe fully, try to breathe maximum amount of air into your lungs.
- The basic principles of breathing: smoothness, measured, breathing should not be hasty and intermittent. Throughout your Pilates beginner exercise, control your breathing. But how to understand that you are breathing correctly? You should feel like your back is getting wider.
- Open your ribs as you inhale as much as possible and tighten your muscles as you exhale.
The basic Pilates complex for beginners
The task of Pilates is to allow a person to feel all areas of his body, to regulate well-being, and a harmonious figure will become the result and reward. The basic complex for beginners includes:
- twisting the press;
- pose "Planck";
- "Table";
- swing legs.
Thanks to these exercises, joint mobility develops, flexibility increases, the abdominal press and many large and small muscles, as well as the hidden and deep muscles, that is, those that are not involved in a regular training, are perfectly worked out. You can work out in the gym with an instructor, or you can use the video tutorials at home: Pilates for beginners is an easy complex that is available for each of us to master. The main thing is to concentrate on the correct exercise technique.
From a standing position: twisting the spine
Your starting position is the main stance. Very slowly, without rushing, alternately, begin to tilt down, "folding" the spine directly from the crown, feel the bending of each of the vertebrae. To make it clearer, imagine that your back was stuck to the wall, and you gradually peel it off.
Do not help yourself with your hands, press your head to your chest and lower yourself down with your head.
In the end, your hands should be on the floor themselves, slowly, under the force of gravity. It is unacceptable to reach out to the floor with your hands and help them.
Now go back to the main rack. Throughout the exercise, your stomach should be pulled in. Breathe smoothly, deeply and slowly, according to the breathing technique.
Twisting press
Pilates classes for beginners include twisting the press. Lie on the floor and take the main pose in a prone position. Slowly, without jerking, rise, tearing the body off the floor, from the crown of the neck to the lower back. Watch your arms and shoulders, they should rise naturally, do not pull them yourself. As soon as the back is up, touch your feet with your hands, and then return to the floor just as slowly. The exercise must be repeated 6 times.
Strap
This exercise, during which almost all the muscles of the body are worked out, is one of the main ones included in the Pilates complex for beginners at home. Take a pose as if you are going to do push-ups, put your hands shoulder-width apart, and your legs - shoulder-width apart. Your abdomen should be pulled in, and the shoulder blades are flattened, back muscles, abdominal muscles, buttocks also keep in tension.
Fix the body absolutely exactly above the floor surface for thirty seconds, then relax and repeat again three times.
Table
This exercise is part of the Pilates Starter Pack. Imagine that you are a four-legged table. Lean on your palms and knees, pull in your stomach, bring your shoulder blades together, keep your back straight. Slowly and calmly raise your right hand from the floor, tensing your abs, and hold for thirty seconds, then return your hand back and repeat the movement with your left hand. We do the same for the legs, alternately lifting them parallel to the floor with a hold for 2 seconds at the top.
There is also a complicated option - lifting the opposite arms and legs, holding them for several seconds at the highest point while maintaining a flat body.
Mahi
Foot Mach is a universal exercise for losing weight. The Pilates complex for beginners necessarily includes successive leg lifts with a tense press, while for one max you should take at least ten seconds. For a couple of seconds we raise the leg up, for ten - down again. The meaning of the exercise is to maintain body balance. Keep your abdomen retracted and your shoulder blades flattened. Within one minute we perform the swing with one leg, then we change the leg.
Weight loss lessons
Pilates for beginners does not provide for a quick loss of extra pounds, however, regularly performing the following exercises, you can ensure a stable result after a month of classes. The following exercises are effective:
- extension of the back;
- "Mermaid";
- pelvic turns;
- "Cancan";
- leg swings;
- leg lift
- crosswise;
- wave;
- strap;
- flattening of the legs.
We offer you to get acquainted with easy exercises that promote weight loss. The best Pilates complex for beginners should include both warm-up and exercises for the upper and lower parts of the body.
- Ideal exercise for warming up. Lie on the floor, hands along the body, legs bent at the knees, exhale - press the lower back to the floor, inhale - bend it.
- Nod - contributes to the development of flexibility of the spine in the cervical and upper back muscles. Running lying, arms along the torso. Inhale - pull the chin as far as possible to the chest, exhale - return it to its original position.
- Exercise for the development of the shoulder joints. You can perform it while standing or lying down. Cross your arms behind your head, take a breath - stretch your arms up along the torso, join your palms at the top and return to the starting position.
- The fourth exercise is aimed at working out the hands and shoulder girdle. Take a breath and raise your hands in front of you, while exhaling, take them to the sides, while your shoulders should remain motionless, only your hands should work. Strain your abs during exercise.
- Circles hips. Exercise on the muscles of the abs and hips. Imagine that you have a dial on your stomach, the number 12 should be located above the navel, the number 3 is located on the left. Your hips should be raised, start to describe circles in a clockwise and then counterclockwise direction, while making sure that the hips are minimally diverted to the sides of the center.
- Raising the knees from a prone position (as in exercise 1). Inhale - raise one knee, exhale - lower it. Repeat with the other leg. Only the abdominal muscles should work, the hips should remain in place.
Finally, do not neglect the exercises with fitball, exercises on which are very effective.
The most acute question for girls is how many calories are burned.
In half an hour of classes, when you perform the Pilates complex for beginners with a weight of about 65 kg, you will burn about 140-200 kcal. It all depends on the level of your metabolism, but do not count on the active consumption of calories.
Exercise in the morning with Pilates elements is very good, giving a powerful charge of energy and mobility for the whole day, as well as providing increased stress resistance.
Will Pilates suit you?
As a rule, Pilates for beginners is well perceived by people of any age and gender, no matter what level of physical fitness a person has. Pilates is needed in order to put in order the general state of health, get rid of headaches, improve the condition of the spine, helps workers in sedentary work and leads a sedentary lifestyle, is useful in osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.
By practicing Pilates, you can prevent diseases and quickly recover from injuries.
Pilates is also useful for those who feel a decline in vitality and early aging, who have a malfunction in the brain, as well as for those who are prone to frequent stresses.
Consult a doctor if you are pregnant, Pilates for beginners is generally not contraindicated for women expecting a baby, as well as when recovering from childbirth.