Wall Pilates is a fantastic way to strengthen and tone your core, glutes, and arms, all while using the support of a wall to enhance your stability and form.
This low-impact workout can help improve posture, increase flexibility, and sculpt those key areas without putting too much strain on the body.
Whether you’re new to Pilates or just looking for a fresh way to challenge yourself, wall Pilates offers a variety of effective exercises that target the stomach, glutes, and arms.
Ready to give it a try? Let’s dive into some exercises you can do right at home!
Table of Contents
Wall Pilates Exercises For Stomach and Glutes
Rachel, a certified Pilates instructor and occupational therapist, introduces the workout, emphasizing its focus on strengthening the glutes and abs using the wall for support.
She begins by explaining that this workout will involve specific positioning of the legs and feet to engage the right muscles. The aim is to ensure a safe and effective workout.
Setting Up the Position
- Rachel advises viewers to get into position with the feet at the right distance from the wall. She stresses the importance of aligning the knees and hips at a 90-degree angle for optimal glute engagement during movements like bridges.
- She encourages viewers to adjust their distance from the wall if they feel tension in their hamstrings, and reminds them to keep their hips beneath their knees to ensure full hip extension when lifting into a bridge.
Exercise 1: Hip Rolls
- Rachel demonstrates the first exercise, a “hip roll,” where participants tilt their pelvis back (imprint), roll through the spine, and come up onto their shoulder blades.
- She explains that this movement should be slow and controlled, allowing each vertebra to move one at a time. The goal is to keep the face pointed towards the ceiling for better breathing and stability.
- After completing five repetitions, she transitions into the next exercise.
Exercise 2: Hip Lifts
- The next exercise is the “hip lift,” where viewers press through their feet to lift their hips slightly off the ground while keeping their abs engaged.
- Rachel emphasizes the importance of not over-arching the back and encourages participants to focus on squeezing their glutes as they lift and lower their hips. The movement should be smooth and controlled, with the glutes doing most of the work.
Exercise 3: Heel Lifts
- Rachel continues by introducing a variation of the hip lift, where participants lift their heels off the ground while keeping their feet hip-width apart. This engages the calves and glutes more intensely.
- She explains the importance of exhaling as you lift the heels and inhaling as you lower them, repeating this movement for 10 repetitions.
Exercise 4: V-Position
- The next movement involves turning the feet into a V-shape (heels together, toes apart) and performing a squat-like movement by lowering and raising the hips.
- Rachel stresses the engagement of the outer glutes and hip rotators, as this movement works the external rotators of the legs. She advises viewers to feel the openness in their hips as they perform this exercise.
Exercise 5: Single-Leg Exercises
- Next, Rachel guides viewers through a single-leg movement. With both feet pressed against the wall, one leg is lifted straight up towards the ceiling and then bent into a tabletop position. The leg is then pointed back towards the ceiling.
- This movement challenges the stability of the glutes and abs as viewers work to maintain proper alignment. Rachel mentions that for those finding this movement too difficult, they can modify by placing the supporting leg on the floor for more stability.
- After completing 10 repetitions on one leg, she repeats the same movements on the other leg.
Exercise 6: Windshield Wipers
- Rachel introduces the “windshield wiper” movement, where the lifted leg moves out to the side and then across the midline of the body. This requires a lot of core engagement, especially from the obliques.
- She explains that the wider the movement, the more challenging it will be for the abs. This exercise emphasizes controlling the movement and preventing the hips from dropping during the rotation.
Exercise 7
- This exercise involves making small circles with the lifted leg, first clockwise, then counterclockwise. Rachel advises starting with small circles and gradually making them bigger as strength improves.
- The goal is to maintain control and stability while engaging the glutes, which can be felt strongly in the leg that is stationary.
Ab Exercises
- Rachel transitions into ab-focused exercises, starting with a simple flex-up, where viewers curl up from the floor, engaging their abs. She emphasizes keeping the neck neutral and the movement coming from the abs, not the neck.
- The next variation involves extending the arms overhead, which increases the challenge by making the lever longer. This requires more control from the core.
- Rachel then introduces alternating arm movements, where viewers flex up and bring one arm overhead while the other reaches towards the hip. This works the abs and engages more core stability.
- She finishes the set of ab exercises with a more advanced variation where the arms are held by the ears while flexing up, increasing the difficulty.
Final Ab Challenge: The Hundred
- The final ab exercise, the “Hundred,” involves staying flexed up while performing small vertical pulses for 100 counts. This exercise focuses on endurance and maintaining a lifted position to challenge the abs.
- Rachel instructs viewers to breathe in for five counts and exhale for five counts, completing this cycle repeatedly. The key is to stay engaged and avoid letting the body drop down as fatigue sets in.
Cool Down and Conclusion
- Rachel wraps up the workout, acknowledging the challenge of the Hundred and reminding viewers that variations such as using ankle weights or a ball can be added to further increase difficulty.
- She invites viewers to like the video and leave comments with requests for more Pilates content, indicating she is open to filming future workouts based on viewer interest.
- She thanks viewers for participating and encourages them to continue with their Pilates journey.
Overall:
- The video offers a comprehensive beginner-friendly Pilates workout using the wall for support. It focuses on strengthening the glutes and abs with a series of well-explained exercises that range from basic to more challenging movements. The instructor emphasizes proper form, breathing techniques, and gradual progression, making it suitable for those new to Pilates or looking to build strength and stability.
Wall Pilates Exercises For Arms
This is a 20 Min Wall Pilates Arm Workout for Toned Arms. It provides beginner and more advanced options to make this appropriate for all levels.
This is an interval workout with 30 sec on, 15-25 sec rest.
Choose a heavier set of dumbbells if possible- we will be doing about 10 reps per arm, and the last few reps should be challenging. For reference, Rachel is using 10lb dumbbells throughout the workout.
If having “toned” arms is a goal for you, seek out Pilates workouts that include resistance training with dumbbells.
To achieve “toned” arms, it is necessary to challenge your muscles enough to build the base of muscle underneath the fat.
Resistance training + a calorie deficit is the most effective way to achieve a toned arm look.
Additionally, resistance training the arms will allow you to feel stronger in every day life, and perform daily tasks with more ease.
