Wedding Dress Workout: Basic Pilates Mat Sequence for a Leaner, Stronger You
Pilates is an excellent way to sculpt lean muscles, develop good posture, and strengthen your core for your big day. Mika Street, owner of Uptown Pilates in Manhattan, shows you how.
If you’ve ever envied the long, strong physique of a dancer, pilates may be the exercise for you. A series of whole-body conditioning exercises, pilates first became especially popular with dancers because it strengthens and lengthens muscles without building bulk. In fact, after just one session of pilates you may feel a major difference in your body, almost as if a girdle has been tightened and strengthened from your inside. That’s because pilates concentrates on your core, or in pilates terms, your powerhouse, which is composed of your abdominal muscles, the pelvic floor, the muscles around the hip joint, and the muscles of your lower back.
Mika Street, Owner of NYC's Uptown Pilates
Strenghtening your core is important, because no matter what your fitness goals, core strength is an important cornerstone to a healthy body. To that end, Bombshell Bride checked in with Mika Street, owner of Uptown Pilates in New York City, for a pilates basic mat sequence that can give you better posture, strengthen and tone your core, and give you longer, leaner and stronger muscles so you can look and feel your best in your wedding dress. The basic mat sequence is also a critical building block for other pilates exercises.
A few notes about proper technique before you begin:
- Exercises should be done on a pilates or yoga mat if possible.
- Read directions all the way through before beginning.
- Breathe fully, inhaling through the nose, and exhaling through the mouth.
- Throughout the exercises, your core muscles should be braced and pulled in.
- Take a break or slow down if your neck begins to hurt.
- At all times be conscious of your form. In many exercises, your head will be drawn forward to your chest with a space between them about the size of a golf ball.
All of these exercises work your powerhouse. Additional muscles worked are noted at each exercise.
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