15-Minute Mat Pilates Workout for Improving Posture (No Equipment)

[soft ambient music]

This is your posture series.

Think about posture, aligning yourself again,

shoulders down and back.

Posture has everything to do with your back,

with your center core, pelvic floor,

and everything from the bottom to the top.

So in this series,

we're gonna work on those posture muscles.

We're gonna bring everything down and back.

I'm gonna make you walk a little taller,

a little more relaxed through life.

Let's get started.

Let's take it down to the mat.

We're gonna start this into a Cat/Cow to warm up your spine.

I want your knees underneath your hips,

your hands underneath your shoulders.

Spread those fingertips nice and wide,

find your neutral spine first,

and all round in your spine, articulate it,

look down towards those knees, drop your head,

push out and away from your shoulders,

and I'll slowly release,

arching that back, look up to the sky, beautiful.

[inhaling] inhale through your nose, exhale.

Again, chin towards the chest,

round on your spine, look down towards your knees,

really press into those palms here.

Press your shoulders up, up, up,

and I'll slowly open it back up.

Perfect, really arching that back,

and you're gonna feel that nice deep stretch

in your core and in that low back.

Let's do one more right here.

Round your spine, look down to the knees.

Last one, arch, press into those palms, look on up.

Beautiful, now find your neutral back.

I want you to tuck your toes under.

Press into your palms.

Let's lift up into a Downward Facing Dog.

Lift those hips up, heels stay nice and high first.

And now I just want you to lift your hips super high,

start to pedal those feet.

Bend your left knee up and over to the right.

Really pedal out those feet right here,

keep those hips nice and high,

keep that head in between your biceps.

And then we can now walk this up in five, four,

three, two, and one.

Bend your knees, walk your hands slowly towards your toes,

fold yourself back up to standing,

take a big inhale, reach up tall.

Let's start with your first exercise.

We're gonna take this into an Inchworm.

First thing I want you to do here is reach tall,

take a big inhale, look up to the ceiling,

grow yourself taller like a tree.

And then take an exhale, bring your chin to the chest,

roll on down, one vertebrae at a time, bend your knees,

walk your hands down onto your mat

all the way out into a high plank position.

Find your plank, belly button to spine,

squeeze your core.

Hold it for five, four, three, two.

Bend your knees slowly,

walk your hands back towards your toes nice and slow,

pressing through your heels first,

then rising up, round your spine,

reach up, reach those arms long, grow like a big tree,

look up to the ceiling,

and then again, roll on down, chin to the chest,

bend your knees,

walk your hands all the way down onto that mat,

find your high plank.

We're gonna hold this here for five,

press your palms away for four,

three, two, and one.

One last one, bend your knees,

walk your hands slowly back in,

press through your heels, rounding your spine first,

roll yourself up, big inhale, reach up towards the ceiling.

Ooh, this feels nice.

And then again, take it all the way down,

rounding your spine, take it back down to the mat.

We're gonna hold your plank one final time.

Find that high plank.

Give me the prettiest plank you got,

belly button to spine.

If this is too much, drop onto your knees.

Last five, four, three, two.

Now replace those knees back down onto the floor,

find a quick little Child's Pose, stretch it out,

drop your head onto the mat.

[inhaling], inhale, [exhaling], exhale,

pull yourself back up.

We're gonna start in a little Bird-Dog.

Hands underneath your shoulders, knees underneath your hips.

You're in your quadrat position.

Start with your left leg.

Extend your left leg out, reach your right arm long.

From here, we're gonna tap your left foot

and right hand down to the mat,

lift back up.

Try again not to arch your back too much here, right?

Again, core is tight, bracing that core,

spine is nice and long.

Look towards the edge of your mat here the entire time.

Last four, three, two, and one.

Hold it all the way up, rounding your spine,

scoop from those lower abdominals,

pull your left knee towards that right elbow,

and extend everything out.

Now if you feel like you have not enough balance here,

what you're gonna do is you put your hand down,

and you're just scoop in from that lower abdominal,

pull that knee to the chest, and extend everything out.

I want you to round in your back a little bit here.

Tap and extend it out, beautiful.

Last one, we are gonna hold it out.

Hold it now all the way out,

we finish this out with a little sweep here.

Reach your right hand towards your left foot,

pull your left heel towards your left hamstring,

and then extend everything out, beautiful.

Sweep and pull, your right arm stays nice and long.

It's like a lat sweep, right, your sweeping from your lats.

Last three, two, and one.

Bring it down, sit back into a Child's Pose,

roll out your wrists left and right.

We're gonna take it to the other side.

Inhale, [inhaling],

[exhaling], exhale, pull yourself back up.

Extend your right leg nice and long.

Reach your left arm long.

Find your hold.

Now tap, right foot, left hand down to the mat,

lift everything up nice and slow and controlled.

Tap, inhale, exhale, lift.

Again, think about those fingertips and your toes

as an extension, right?

The energy is going through the fingertips and your toes.

Be intentional about your movement, beautiful.

Hold it high in three, two, hold it right here.

Now round in your spine,

pull your left elbow towards our right knee

for your Bird-Dog Crunch, and extend everything out long.

And remember, if this doesn't feel good for you,

please go ahead, put your hand down,

and scoop a little bit more from those abs.

Both hands on the ground.

If this does feel a little bit too much,

remember we're all on our journey,

and what works for one person might not work for the other.

So do what feels good on your body.

Hold it out in three, two, hold it all the way out.

Now start to sweep.

Sweep your left hand towards your right foot,

and bring it back.

Think about that right heel going towards your hamstring,

pulling it in, beautiful.

Last five, four,

three, two, and one, reset, beautiful.

All right, check out those hands

for a split little second right here.

Let's come on up.

We take this into a Kneeling Chest Expansion.

I want you to come up onto your knees.

If this feels uncomfortable on your knees,

fold your mat up twice

so you got extra cushion underneath your knees here.

Now palm face back, relax your shoulders down and back.

We're pressing your arms back for two.

Open through your chest and back muscle for three,

open for four.

Again remember, your chest expansion is all

about the backside, your posterior chain right here.

Press back, feel those triceps,

feel the backside of your lats and traps activate.

Squeeze it back, [inhaling], inhale.

Exhale, press it back, try not to surpass your hip line.

So your hands stop right by the hip,

and you press back from there.

We're gonna hold this back in five,

we're adding onto this in four, three, two.

Hold your arms all the way back.

Now slowly hinge the upper body forward for one,

forward for two, hold it here.

Now lift your arms up an inch, and down an inch.

Lift your upper body slowly back up nice and slow,

squeeze your glutes,

return your hands back towards your hip line.

Beautiful, we are just pressing those arms back,

hinging the upper body forward,

lifting those arms up an inch, and down an inch.

Feel those triceps, and then lift back up.

Last one right here.

We're holding it forward in three, in two, and one.

Hold it all the way forward.

Now open your pinkies out to the sides, draw 'em back in.

Look forward, your eyes look

towards the edge of the mat here.

Squeeze it in, thumbs are trying to kiss behind your back.

That's it, they're having a little rendezvous.

You have five, four, three,

two, and one.

Come on up, shake it all out,

let's take this into your Swimmer.

I want you to lay down onto your stomach,

get nice and comfortable.

Lay all the way down onto your stomach.

I want your forehead resting onto your mat

for a second right here.

Bring your arms mat-width apart into a letter T.

It's almost like a little goalpost.

Now what I want you to do here is

press into your palms first,

press into your thighs,

and I'll lift your upper body up nice and slow,

and bring it right back down.

You are working your low back right here.

Remember, for your posture,

everything has to be in alignment.

You are thinking about upper back, lower back,

as well as your center core.

So inhale, exhale, lift that upper body up.

Now if you can, you already see me doing it,

I'm pressing my thighs into the mat,

lifting my legs up as well.

And again, if this doesn't work,

I want you to keep your feet down,

and just lift your arms up.

You got it, take an inhale.

Exhale, lift, press those thigh muscles down into your mat.

[inhaling] inhale, [exhaling] exhale, lift up.

You got eight, we're gonna hold this at the top in four,

three, two, hold it right here.

Now reach those arms forward all the way,

pull your elbows back into your goalpost,

squeeze your shoulder blades together,

reach nice and long.

Press those thighs still into your mat, beautiful.

Last 10 seconds right here.

We're gonna finish this out with a little Swimmer

in four, three, two, and one.

Hold everything long.

Swim, swim it out.

Arms long, pedal those feet, pedal those arms.

You got ten, nine, eight, seven, six,

push through, four, three, two,

and put it back down.

Put your head to the right side,

[inhaling], take a big inhale,

[exhaling] exhale, let it go.

Maybe pull your heels towards your booty,

and then just move your knee side to side.

Let's switch to the other side.

Put your left cheek down onto your mat.

Do the same thing right here.

Move your legs side to side.

And I'll slowly extend those legs all the way out for me.

Put your forehead back onto your mat for a second,

and then bring your hands underneath your shoulders.

Push yourself all the way up.

Yep, now we're up.

Again, if this doesn't work,

you're gonna come from here right up onto your knees,

and pull yourself back into a Child's Pose.

Now find that modified pushup position.

Your hands are underneath your shoulders,

maybe a little wider if this feels better for you.

Squeeze your inner thighs together,

tuck your tailbone under, right,

tuck as much as you can.

You don't wanna be here, tuck your tailbone under.

Squeeze those inner thighs, right?

It's one extension muscle right here.

Now we're gonna slowly lower your upper body down for two,

down for three, down for four.

Press slowly back up.

Now, if this doesn't work,

what I want you to do is just gimme a tiny bend

from the elbow,

press yourself back up.

That's all I need from you here, tiny press.

Take it down, down, press up, press up.

Your progression, as always, is up on your toes.

If you want a little bit more,

separate your feet nice and wide apart,

and then go into your pushup right here.

Right, there's modifications and there's advancement.

I want you to do what feels good on your body.

We're gonna take this into a stretch here as well

in three, two, and one.

Press yourself all the way up.

Your chest should feel nice and warm.

You're gonna start to reach your left arm long,

bring it in, reach your right arm long, right?

Find that length again in your spine.

Yes, again, energy through those fingertips.

Find those postural muscles.

That's it, beautiful.

You got five, four,

three, two, release.

Push yourself all the way back, stretch out those arms.

Amazing job, I know pushups are always a little mean.

Let's stand all the way up.

Shake it on out, stand up.

We come now into your Plie Squat Series.

It's not long.

Think about your Plie Squat,

just again, being a puzzle of the big framework here.

Lower down, tuck your tailbone under.

It's really about the pelvic floor here right now, right?

Pelvic floor is stabilizing your spine.

Tuck your tailbone under,

reach those arms out to the sides, palms face up.

Take an inhale, on the exhale, press into your heels,

rise up, grow tall like a tree.

Again, relax your shoulders down and back,

and then take it all the way that back down

into your Plie Squat.

Push those knees out to the sides, right?

Open those hips here for me,

[inhaling], inhale, [exhaling], exhale, rise up, right?

Focus on your breath here.

There's no need to speed this up.

We got eight more seconds.

We meet down low

in four, three, two.

Hold it right here.

Now bring those elbows towards your rib cage,

extend out, rotate your palms to the sides.

Speed it up, elbows towards your rib cage, extend out.

Keep your chest and collarbone open.

Relax your shoulders away from the ears.

There we go, out and in.

Yet, eight, seven, six,

hold in five, in four, in three, two.

Hold it right here, now palms face out,

draw everything in, rounding that spine.

Open everything up, look up to the ceiling.

Rounding, tuck that tailbone under.

Open back up, beautiful.

Pull that pelvic floor forward, open back up.

You got five, four,

three, two, one.

Hold everything open,

now pulse your legs, 10 seconds.

Ten, nine, eight, seven,

you can do it,

five, four, three, two.

Slowly stand up, shake it out.

All right, now the last set we have here

is a quick little Plank Series.

It's real quick, we're gonna come down onto your mat,

and I'll give you some modifications right away.

Hands underneath your shoulders.

Extend your legs out into a plank.

We're starting to walk your feet underneath your hips

just like this, and then walk it back out.

So pull, left knee underneath your hip,

right knee underneath your left hip,

step left leg out, step your right leg out.

Pull your right knee underneath your hip,

left knee underneath your hip,

and step it back out.

Right, it's like a Bear Pose.

Modification, you tuck your knees underneath your hips,

pull yourself up, and just hold it here for three seconds.

Bring it back down, right?

Remember, core muscles are engaged,

and they help you in your entire life, right?

They're holding you up.

They're working on your posture.

You got five, you got four, three, two.

Hold your plank all the way out,

drop slowly down onto your forearms,

find your forearm plank, modification on your knees.

Just hold your forearm plank.

Open your palms, lengthen that spine.

Look towards those fingertips.

Last ten, nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four,

three, two, and one.

Slowly drop down onto your knees, tuck your toes under,

find yourself on a Downward Facing Dog,

drop the head down, pedal out your feet left and right.

We're gonna stand this up in three, in two, and one.

Bend your knees, walk your hands all the way back

towards your feet, roll on up one vertebrae at a time.

Stand up nice and tall, reach those arms overhead.

Grab with your right hand your left wrist,

pull yourself slightly towards the right-hand side.

Feel that stretch down that left side.

[inhaling], inhale, [exhaling], exhale,

sink a little deeper.

Pull yourself back to the midline.

Grab with your left hand your right wrist,

and then pull yourself towards the left-hand side.

Big inhale, [inhaling], [exhaling], exhale, sink deeper.

And then last stretch,

interlace your fingertips behind your back.

Open that chest up, look up to the ceiling,

find that nice deep stretch.

And inhale, reach, reach, reach.

Exhale, release.

I hope this posture series felt good on your body.

Shoulders should be down and back.

You should be standing a little taller,

and whenever you need to,

come back to this video, and do it again.

Thank you so much for joining me.