Ok – I’m keeping this short today. I’m headed out in a few minutes to teach my Saturday morning pilates classes.  But wait, I think I have time to do just a little bit of my own pilates workout.

What about you?

You’ve just finished your workout. Maybe you like spinning or you have a solid weight training routine you follow.  Maybe you do a combo of High Intensity Interval Training on Cardio machines along with circuits.  Perhaps you keep it simple and go for a run every day.  How ever you choose to workout…you probably have 5 minutes left at the end of every workout to do just a little bit more.

Here is a quick 5-minute pilates workout that I like to do at the end of my workouts.   I even take 5 minutes on days when I’m not moving around too much (i.e. thank you computer!) to do these simple exercises.

1. Chest Lift – Ab Prep – 10x
2. Chest Lift with Twist – 10x each side
3. Single Leg Straight Leg 1 – 10 switches
4. - then with hands behind head – 10 switches
5. Criss Cross – 10x each side
6. Breaststroke – 10
7. (Swimming on all 4s if you can’t be on your belly)
8. Plank on Forearms – switch weight forward and backward at the end to stretch out calves. – hold for up to 30 seconds

Make sure to do some gentle stretching and relax in child’s pose after you finish.

Check out this quick pilates workout video I did yesterday…you’ll notice I got down and did pilates in my jeans.

Have a great day and try to find 5 extra minutes in your day to do some pilates.