5 Best Pilates Floor Exercises for a Slimmer Waist

Pilates is a productive exercise that’s chock-full of goodness. In fact, Pilates will be your new best friend when it comes to achieving your best workout results. This total-body workout can improve flexibility, strength, balance, coordination, posture, sleep, and so much more. You can easily adapt your workout to slim down, and we have just the right plan with the best Pilates floor exercises for a slimmer waist.

“Floor Pilates exercises [are] a great way to tone the body and achieve defined muscle definition while shaping and sculpting the abdomen and waist,” explains Pamela Paley, NCPT and master trainer for Club Pilates. “Breathwork is extremely important while doing the Pilates exercises as it engages and contracts the abdomen [while] activating the small deeper muscles of the core.”

To sculpt your waistline, you need to perform exercises that engage the core muscles, such as the obliques, back muscles, and glutes, which are essential in stabilizing your spine.

“Ideally, Pilates, if done [consistently] three to five days a week, depending on your fitness level, will help in sculpting muscles, improving flexibility, improving strength, and maintaining muscle elasticity while activating core strength with just 30 to 40 minutes a day,” Paley adds.

Below, Paley outlines her favorite Pilates floor exercises to build a strong, toned, and sculpted midsection.

The Exercises

Standing Side Knee Lift

1. Begin standing with your hands behind your head and elbows wide.
2. Lift your left knee out to the side while bending your torso so your left elbow touches your left knee.
3. Complete 10 to 15 reps.

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Lunge Back to Knee Strike

1. Begin standing tall with your feet parallel.
2. Take a big step back with your right foot to a lunge position, raising your arms overhead.
3. Pull your right knee up to your chest as you bring your arms down, pulling your abs inward.
4. Complete 10 to 15 reps.

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V-sit

1. Begin seated on the floor with your knees bent and feet slightly lifted.
2. Hinge back to 45 degrees.
3. Extend your legs and reach your arms out to your legs
4. Rise up higher as you pull your knees in toward your chest and back to the start position.
5. Complete 10 to 15 reps.

Bridge up With Heel Reaches

1. Lie flat on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
2. Place your arms at your sides on the mat.
3. Lift your hips without arching your back to form a “bridge.”
4. Engage your glutes and hold the position for 5 breaths.
5. Lower down and then lift back up.
6. Reach your right hand down to touch your right foot, then return to the center.
7. Repeat on the left side.
8. Complete 10 to 15 reps.

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Quadruped With Knee Rotation or Knee Taps

1. Assume a quadruped position on all fours.
2. Lift your knees off the ground a few inches.
3. Rotate your knees to the left and then back to the center.
4. Stay on one side for all 15 reps, take a break, and then complete 15 more reps on the other side.

Alexa Mellardo