If you want a heart-pumping workout without stressing your joints, you’re in luck: This Pilates HIIT workout uses low-impact exercises to get you sweating.
The final installment of Sweat With SELF’s new Pilates series, this workout offers a combination of some of your favorite things: It’s got “elements of Pilates, strength training, and high-intensity cardio,” as Sina Riemann, a certified personal trainer and Pilates instructor based in New York City, says in the video. “We put it all in one class to make you feel your best.”
Throughout the workout—which takes just 20 minutes—you’ll fire up muscles in your core, legs, and upper body. You’ll begin with a dynamic warm-up, where you’ll perform reps of the inchworm to downward dog, a full-body exercise that gets blood flowing in your shoulders, core, and hamstrings.
Then it’s on to your actual routine, and like your warm-up, your workout is packed with moves that perform double duty. Take your first exercise, the bodyweight ab-roller to modified push-up. The first part challenges your entire core as your midsection fires to keep you steady as you “roll” forward, while the modified push-up calls your chest and shoulder muscles into action. Then there’s the plié squat burpee (challenging your quads, butt, core, and shoulders), which you can modify or progress according to your fitness level or what your body is craving that day.
The programming of this workout also helps it check the HIIT box: You’ll be going from exercise to exercise (which often work the same part of your body) with little rest. That means your muscles spend a lot of time under tension, which really gets your heart rate up. Sequences include the reverse lunge to reverse lunge step-out, donkey kick to hamstring curl, and side-lying leg lift to heel tap (with a pulse, because yes, this is Pilates!).
Important: While this workout is meant to go from move to move, it’s important to take some time to rest if you feel your form beginning to falter. Remember, quality is always going to be most important here.
This Pilates HIIT workout is a great one to bookmark if you want to work your entire body, really challenge your muscles, and get a dose of cardio. And since it doesn’t require any equipment, you can do it anywhere!
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