How to do a pilates roll up

The Pilates roll up is one of those sneaky strength moves. It looks simple and straightforward — you’re sitting up and lying when down. But when executed with proper form and mechanics, this foundational exercise will unobtrusive plane the most wide Pilates student.

“While it is considered a staple, it is not a beginner exercise,” says Lauren George, certified Pilates instructor and founder of Lauren George Fitness. “You can modify it to be beginner-friendly, for sure. But it’s definitely challenging.”

However, the benefits are worth the effort. If you want a strong, stable core, improved spinal flexibility, and a sculpted midsection, the Pilates roll up exercise belongs in your fitness routine.

To help you get the most out of the ab roll up, we’ve included step-by-step instructions, expert-backed tips, and modifications for everyone from the fitness newbie to the Pilates pro.

So, grab your mat and get ready to fire up your core with the Pilates roll up!

Pilates Roll Up: Step-by-Step Instructions

You don’t need any equipment to do a standard Pilates roll up, but you may want to grab a yoga mat for comfort.

Sit up tall on your sit wreck with your legs together and extended and your toes pointing forward.
Extend your stovepipe in front of you at shoulder height and take a deep vapor in.
On an exhale, scoop your vitals inward by drawing your pubic unorthodoxy toward your navel. Maintaining a C-shaped lines with your spine and stovepipe extended, lower your when to the ground one vertebrate at a time, starting with your lumbar spine (lower back) and ending with your head, then indulge your stovepipe to come overhead.
Take a deep vapor in, and on your next exhale, proffer your stovepipe when out in front of your shoulders as you lift your throne and tilt your chin toward your chest. Draw your navel toward your pubic bone, and gradually lift your when off the mat, one vertebrate at a time.
Return to a tall seated position and immediately uncork the next rep.

Tips for Performing the Pilates Roll Up

Proper form and mechanics will ensure that you’re maximizing the benefits of the roll up exercise while lamister injury. Here are a few pointers to alimony in mind.

Move slowly unbearable to yacky each individual vertebra. “Imagine that you’re putting lanugo a strand of pearls, and you want to put it lanugo one pearl at a time,” George says. The same goes for rolling when up to a seated position; think well-nigh lifting one pearl at a time.
If you’re throwing your stovepipe forward or finding that your feet lift off the floor as you roll up, you’re probably relying too much on momentum and not properly engaging your core.
Lifting the stovepipe overhead and to the floor requires significant shoulder mobility and cadre strength. If you notice that your rib muzzle flares out as you roll down, raise your stovepipe to chest height or just slightly overhead.

Benefits of the Pilates Roll Up

The roll up exercise offers a myriad of benefits for practitioners of all skills and levels of experience. Here are some reasons why it’s worth incorporating into your workouts.

1. Strengthens the core

core muscles | how to engage your core

The roll up engages the superficial and deep cadre muscles, which are hair-trigger to good posture and help support and stabilize the soul as it moves. But, George clarifies, proper form is critical.

“To get the most out of it, expressly for the deep cadre muscles, it’s important to roll up and to roll lanugo with tenancy versus speed,” she says.

2. Improves spinal mobility

Because the roll up moves the spine through a wide range of motion, it can help modernize and maintain spinal mobility. Being worldly-wise to move your spine freely without feelings of stiffness or pain can stupefy everything from your worthiness to get out of bed to participating in your favorite physical activities.

3. Supports when health

Woman Holds When in Pain | Pilates Roll Up

Regularly performing the roll up strengthens the muscles of the lower back. This may help alleviate when pain, prevent injury, and lead to largest posture and stability.

4. Adds definition to the midsection

If it’s six-pack abs that you’re after, you’ll definitely want to add the roll-up to your repertoire. The roll-up targets the rectus abdominis, the top layer of rectal muscles that provides shape and definition to your midsection. “The roll up is whilom and vastitude a vital crunch,” George says.

How to Make the Pilates Roll Up Easier

If you struggle with the standard roll up, there are a few ways to make it easier and increasingly accessible.

Bend your knees

Instead of keeping your legs straight during the movement, wrench your knees so that your feet remain unappetizing on the floor, as shown in this modified version of the roll up by XB Pilates creator Andrea Rogers.

Put some elbow into it

“You can use an elbow on the way lanugo or on the way up to requite yourself a uplift while still keeping that slow and controlled range of motion, which is what helps you get the most out of it,” George says.

Go halfway

“You can do a half roll down, just rolling lanugo until your lower when or sacrum is on the ground, and then roll when up,” George says. “It’s largest to do a half roll up with really unconfined tenancy than to go all the way up and lanugo with momentum.”

Hold onto your thighs

Placing your hands on your hamstrings and using a bit of arm strength to help lift and lower your torso will help you maintain the integrity of the exercise and build cadre strength.

Use an exercise ball

George recommends placing a small exercise wittiness between your thighs. “Your inner thighs are unfluctuating to your pelvic floor, and when you’re engaging your pelvic floor, it’s going to be easier to engage your rectal muscles,” she explains.

You can moreover place a small exercise wittiness overdue your when to offer support and feedback during a half roll up.

Grab a resistance band

Loop one end of a resistance wreath virtually an immovable structure, like a bar or a weight rack, and hold the other end as you perform the roll up. “A lot of people think a resistance wreath is going to make it harder, but in this case, it will squire with the tenancy on the way lanugo and then squire to get when up,” George says.

How to Make the Pilates Roll Up Harder

Looking for a killer cadre challenge? Here are a few ways to make the roll up plane harder.

Hover a leg

From the starting position (seated, legs bent, feet unappetizing on the floor), proffer one leg and hover it well-nigh a foot whilom the ground. Alimony your leg lifted as you do your roll ups, then well-constructed an equal number of reps with the opposite leg lifted.