Sculpting Pilates Moves That Burn Serious Calories

Want a leaner and stronger body? You can transform your Pilates workout into cardio, strength, or combination workouts, by changing the pace (tempo), incline level (intensity) and repetitions. These alterations can provide enough tweaks to change the body without having to learn a large repertoire of exercises. Increasing your pace and adding explosive Plyometric moves will help to raise the heart rate, while slowing down the movements and adding increased resistance will focus more on muscular development.

Tips and Recommendations for This Pilates Workout:

• This workout is based first and foremost on maintaining good form and a strong core connection. Once this is achieved, then start to either increase your pace or intensity, and sculpt your body into a lean and tone machine.  To tighten the core, first tighten the pelvic floor, then the lower belly and visualize arching the back and sliding the back and front ribs down toward the hips.
• Although some may avoid muscle building to focus on cardio for weight loss, one pound of muscle will burn an extra 50 calories a day. Build 10 pounds of muscle, and burn an extra 500 calories per day!
• The breath is one of the harder elements to implement. The key is to first ensure you are breathing and not holding your breath. Note that the breath can be used to intensify or ease a movement pattern.
• Perform each exercise for 30-60 seconds. If you want to build muscle and strength, complete about 8-12 reps at 70-85% intensity. For cardio or endurance, focus on completing 12-20 reps at 60-70% intensity.
• Refer to the video and table for further explanation on performing the moves of this workout, possible modifications, and tips for achieving a flatter stomach.