The good news is you don’t need a gym membership or access to heavy dumbbells to sculpt and tone your body.
Pilates is a great way to hone strong, lean muscles, and I’ve been taking Pilates classes for over a decade. To mix things up, I added some light weights to my Pilates workout, using a set of the best ankle weights to increase the intensity from my living room. Read on to find out more.
As a reminder, if you’re new to exercise or returning to exercise following an injury or pregnancy, it’s always a good idea to check your form with a personal trainer before adding weights. Moving with bad form can increase your risk of injury.
What is the workout?
This workout is designed by Lilly Sabri, Lean app founder and Pilates instructor. It's just 15 minutes long but works your entire body.
You’ll need a set of light weights, and one of the best yoga mats to provide some padding for your lower back during the abs section of the workout.
You can follow along with Lilly in real-time, and as she is a qualified Pilates instructor, she’ll offer modifications along the way for beginners.
Some of the exercises include:
- Lunge bicep curls: The workout starts with a lunge series which includes a lunge with a bicep curl. Lilly performs a narrow lunge, raised onto your tiptoes to challenge your stability. Holding a weight in each hand, as you lower your back knee to the floor, keeping a 90-degree angle in your front leg, curl the weights up to your chest, performing a bicep curl.
- Pilates hundreds: Start by lying on your back, and peel your head, neck, and shoulders off the floor so that you are in a crunch position. Raise both legs to a tabletop position, and extend your arms by your side. From here, pump your arms for 100 reps, breathing in for five, and out for five. To increase the intensity of this exercise, straighten your legs.
What are the benefits?
There are several benefits to adding weights to your workouts — the addition of weights, even light dumbbells, can increase the intensity of the exercise, forcing your muscles to work harder against the extra resistance.
In this workout, you’ll need a set of dumbbells or weight plates — Lilly is using weight plates in the workout, but I decided to grab a set of 3kg dumbbells. A few exercises in, I realized this was far too ambitious, and swapped them for my 1.5kg ankle weights, strapped to my wrists instead.
As with all Pilates exercises, the goal here is to move slowly and with control. I found the heavier weights were making me rush through my reps, compromising my form.
This workout also targets the entire body — the lunge sequence at the top of the workout works the muscles in the lower body, with bicep curls and side lifts working the upper body at the same time. There’s also a 5-minute ab series, which really works all of the muscles in your core. You’ll finish with a few plank variations at the end to work the upper body and core.
As a reminder, you can’t spot reduce fat in your body, so no workout will help you lose fat around your waist. If you’re looking to lose weight, you’ll need to ensure you’re in a calorie deficit, meaning you’re burning more calories than you’re eating, as well as adding strength workouts and cardio to your weekly routine.
Overall, Pilates is a fantastic way to sculpt strong muscles without impact, and this is a quick workout I’ll definitely be repeating.
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