Home Pilates Mat Routine with Celeste

Your Home Pilates Mat Move Starter Pack is Here 

Pilates doesn’t have to be done in a class or at a gym. There are a few essential Pilates exercises that you can do anywhere! And since we’re all practicing #socialdistancefitness CHF360 Pilates Instructor, Celeste Knickerbocker has put together an easy home Pilates mat routine to keep you mobile and healthy. 

Instagrammers! Make sure to tag @chfitness #socialdistancefitness in your stories as you do these workouts. We’re all in this together, even if we’re apart. #flattenthecurve

From Celeste

Castle Hill Fitness 360 in Davenport Village is my fitness home and the best gym facility to teach and practice Pilates in Austin. The amazing staff, my fellow expert trainers, and the incredibly friendly members at CHF are my Austin family since moving from Los Angeles to share my love of Pilates with Texas. 

Today I’m bringing you a Mat Pilates routine that can be done at home, in your backyard, or at the park! Pilates exercises are the perfect complement to any fitness routine as the moves strengthen and align your core and body. Pilates can be a low-impact workout with a full-body effect; done on the machines or the mat; in a private lesson or a group class; and by beginners or experienced practitioners.

Incorporate these Pilates moves into your daily routine for a healthier spine and core. Complete 8-10 repetitions of each exercise. 

Home Pilates Mat Practice

SHOULDER BRIDGE Lying on your back with your arms actively lengthened alongside you, inhale to prepare, then as you exhale, flatten the small of the back to the ground and peel your hips up one vertebra at a time until you come to balance on the shoulder blades (A). From here you can lower and lift one leg at a time (B). To finish the move, place both feet on the floor, and exhale to articulate down vertebrae by vertebrae until you return to neutral spine on the mat.
MERMAID Sit with legs curled in one direction like a pinwheel around your body, inhale, extend arms wide (A) Come to a side stretch away from legs. Now exhale, lift up to start, grab your calf and counter-stretch (B)
TEASER Lying on your back with legs straight (A) or bent in a chair position; inhale, extend the arms overhead and curl the upper body while extending the legs to straight, coming to a balance point on your sitting bones. (B) Breathe in as you balance, and exhale to roll down to starting position.
SAW Seated with legs extended in wide second position & arms outstretched (A); Inhale, rotate to one side; exhale, fold forward over that leg, reaching one arm past the pinky toe and the other arm behind. Pull the abs away from the floor as you fold forward (B) Repeat on the other side.
PLANK Enter into a plank position, with a straight back and wrists aligned under shoulders. Push the floor away to keep an active “vest” of the shoulder girdle muscles (A); Inhale, lift one foot off the ground; exhale. Pulse leg up and down three times (B) Inhale as you return foot to the floor. Repeat on the other side.

Celeste feels fortunate to have discovered Pilates at an early age – while majoring in dance as a teenager in Los Angeles – and has corrected many of her own imbalances & injuries with this technique. A practitioner of almost two decades at the time, she was proud to train in San Francisco under some of the most influential minds in the field – earning her Comprehensive Pilates training through Balanced Body in 2011. Connect with Celeste here to book virtual training during our CoVid closure.