Pilates & Cardio Workout Plan

Overview

Combining Pilates exercise for alignment, core awareness, flexibility and muscle strength with regular cardiovascular training, will guarantee you long lean muscles and a great body. This workout is inspired by P90X DVD workouts.

Materials

Mat + Elastic Band (Heavy Weight- Blue)

Recommendations

Commit to do this workout 3 times a week for 4 weeks.

Nutrition

1. Eat plenty of proteins, drink lots of water, good fats and complex carbs.


2. Multivitamin in the form of a smoothie w/essential vitamins & minerals; A,B,C,D,E,K, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc & more.

10 Pilates Principles

1. Become Aware
2. Achieve Balance
3. Breathe Correctly
4. Concentration Deeply
5. Center Yourself
6. Gain Control
7. Be Efficient
8. Create Flow
8. Be Precise
9. Seek Harmony

Workout

1. Warm-up

• Alignment (standing): Stand legs parallel, hip distance apart. Check that your hips are in line with your heels and your shoulders in line with your hips and ears in line with your shoulders. Core is engaged, feeling grounding through your feet and lifted through your head. Breathing expansively.

• Core or powerhouse: Formed by the abdominals and back muscles, together with the diaphragm and the pelvic floor, create a cylinder of muscle support in the center of the body. “Engage your core” means bringing these cylinder of muscles to connect and work synergistically (cooperative manner)

• Neutral pelvis (NP): Neutral spine (NS): NP is when the anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS) and the pubic symphysis (PS) are in the same horizontal plane. NS indicates that the neutral curves of the spine are present. 

2. Foot work (ankle articulation)

• Jump the Rope with or without rope, jump with both feet (30 sec), one foot up (30 sec) and opening and closing legs like a jumping jack (30 sec)

 3. Abdominal Work (w/ elastic)

• Hundreds (100x) Breath in for 5 and out for 5 with arm bounces straight in front of you, in a curled up position holding an imaginary apple between chin and chest and elastic stretched between hands and under your legs away from your glutes.

4. Hip Work (w/elastic)

• Supine Leg Series (8x each) Lie on your belly, legs straight to 45 degree angle looping the elastic around both heels. Stretch arms towards your head and keep the tension of the band. Lower down legs in parallel, “V” feet and flexing knees in “frog” position.

5.  Spinal articulation

• Roll down to plank (4x) Standing, legs straight parallel and together. Roll down vertebra by vertebra until reaching the floor, then walk your hands to a plank position and reverse the movement. If injured, bend knees when coming to plank, if it is too easy ad 2-5 push-ups.

6. Stretches (hamstrings & quadriceps w/ band)

• Supine Leg stretches (8x each) Lie on your belly, lift one leg up and straight, loop the band around top leg and pull the leg towards your face keeping the leg stretched. Parallel (8X), externally rotated (8X) flexing and stretching knee (8x) and side (8x)

7. Full body integration ( w/ band)

• Insanity jumps/arms (6-10x) Standing holding elastic with straight arms up towards head, squat and jump stretching the band and opening legs. Landing softly articulating the feet and bending knees to squat again and repeat.

• Insanity jumps/legs (6-10x) Same as arms but now elastic is looped around knees with a knot.

8. Arm work  (w/ band)

• Biceps & Triceps (8x) Stand with legs hip distance apart, stepping on elastic holding both ends with each hand. Biceps curls, triceps, shaving and standing anger or lotus flower.

9. Lateral flexion and rotation w/ elastic

• Mermaid (6X each side) Sit on heels then move both legs towards the right lowering your hips to the mat as much as possible, now side bend to the right bringing the straight arm towards your head.

• Standing Spiral Twist the spine toward the right, then left holding the elastic with arms extended to the side.

10. Back Extension

• Swimming(3-6x) Lie on your belly with hands over your head. Head slightly off the mat eyes down. Inhale pull the navel, gently engage the glutes rising up with your head, neck and upper back in a spine extension with arms towards your ears.  Begin extending opposite arm and leg with the sensation of swimming or flying like superman.

11. Balance (vestibular system SV)

• The vestibular system sends signals primarily to the neural structures that control our eye movements, and to the muscles that keep us upright. When hiking you use it a lot in order not to fall. Stimulating the VS strengthens eye tracking, hearing, proprioception (the sense of the relative position of neighboring parts of the body) balance and coordination.


• Swings, Spins, tips and rolls in all levels and all direction.

12. Cool down

• Supine Spine Twist (right and left) Lie on your back with both knees flexed towards your chest. Imagine turning like a doorknob, with the pelvis , knees, and feet as one unit rotating fluidly from side to side.