Mat Pilates for beginners

What is mat Pilates?

Pilates on the floor, with your bodyweight as the only resistance. Researchers describe Pilates as a mind-body exercise focused on strength, core stability, flexibility, muscle control, posture and breathing.^[1]

Reformer Pilates uses a sprung machine, and wall Pilates uses a wall for support. The principles are the same; what supports you changes.

Wall, mat or reformer: the full comparison

What do you need?

A mat or a rug, floor space about the size of a yoga mat, and clothes you can move in. A small cushion under your head helps if your neck tires.

8 foundational mat Pilates moves

Do them in this order, slowly, with 5 to 8 repetitions of each. Breathe out on the effort, and keep every movement small enough to control.

1. 1.Breathing and pelvic tilt

   Works: Deep abdominal muscles and your breathing pattern

   1. Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat and hip-width apart.
   2. Breathe in to widen your ribs. Breathe out and gently flatten your lower back toward the mat.
   3. Release as you breathe in. Keep your shoulders soft.

   On the wall instead: Wall Roll Down

2. 2.Bridge

   Works: Glutes, hamstrings and lower back

   1. Start as for the pelvic tilt, arms long by your sides.
   2. Press through your heels and lift your hips until your body makes a line from shoulders to knees.
   3. Lower one part of your spine at a time.

   On the wall instead: Wall Glute Press

3. 3.Toe taps

   Works: Lower abdominals and control of your pelvis

   1. Lift your legs one at a time to tabletop: knees over hips, shins level with the floor.
   2. Keeping your lower back still, lower one foot to tap the mat, then bring it back.
   3. Alternate legs. Make the movement smaller if your back starts to arch.

   On the wall instead: Wall Marching

4. 4.Modified hundred

   Works: Abdominals and breathing under effort

   1. Start in tabletop with your arms long by your sides.
   2. Breathe out to lift your head and shoulders, eyes toward your knees.
   3. Pump your arms in small beats, breathing in for five and out for five. Start with 20 to 50 beats; keep your head down if your neck strains.

   On the wall instead: Wall Knee Drives

5. 5.Single-leg stretch

   Works: Abdominals and coordination

   1. With your head and shoulders lifted, hug one knee in and stretch the other leg long, at a height you can control.
   2. Switch legs, breathing out each time.
   3. Raise the long leg higher, or rest your head, if your lower back lifts.
6. 6.Side-lying leg lift

   Works: Outer hips and glutes

   1. Lie on your side in a straight line, head resting on your lower arm, hips stacked.
   2. Lift the top leg to about hip height without rolling back, then lower it slowly.
   3. Do all your repetitions, then switch sides.

   On the wall instead: Wall-Supported Reverse Lunge

7. 7.Hands-and-knees reach

   Works: Back, glutes and balance

   1. On hands and knees, with hands under shoulders and knees under hips.
   2. Reach one arm forward and the opposite leg back, keeping your hips level.
   3. Return and switch sides. Pad your knees if they are sore.

   On the wall instead: Wall Glute Press

8. 8.Chest lift (swan prep)

   Works: Upper back and posture

   1. Lie face down with your forearms on the mat and your legs long.
   2. Breathe out and lift your head and chest an inch or two, shoulders away from your ears.
   3. Lower slowly. Keep the lift small and the back of your neck long.

   On the wall instead: Wall Angel

See beginner mat classes in our reviewed video picks

A first routine of about 15 minutes

Go through all eight moves once with about 15 seconds of rest between them, then repeat the first four. Two or three sessions a week is plenty to start.

When to start on the wall instead

Start with wall Pilates if getting down to the floor and back up is hard, if kneeling or putting weight on your hands hurts, or if your balance feels shaky. The wall gives similar work with support.

• Getting up and down

  Standing wall moves need no floor work at all, so you can build strength first.

• Wrists and knees

  Wall versions take weight off your hands and knees: a wall push-up instead of hands-and-knees work, for example.

• Balance

  The National Institute on Aging suggests keeping a sturdy chair, a person or a wall nearby to hold for balance exercises.^[3]

Free Wall Pilates workouts What is Wall Pilates?

What can mat Pilates do for you?

Modest benefits. Across many studies Pilates may help balance, pain and sleep, though most of the evidence is low quality, and mat Pilates was no better than other exercise for body composition.^[4][5]

Does wall Pilates work? The evidence in full

Sources

Every source was read before it was cited. Where studies disagree, we say so.

1. [1]Defining Pilates exercise: a systematic reviewWells, Kolt and Bialocerkowski. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2012
2. [2]Adult activity: an overviewUS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
3. [3]Three types of exercise can improve your health and physical abilityUS National Institute on Aging
4. [4]Pilates and multiple health outcomes: an umbrella reviewXu and colleagues. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 2023
5. [5]Effects of the mat Pilates method on body composition: systematic review with meta-analysisCavina and colleagues. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 2020

This guide summarises published research and public health guidance. It is not medical advice: if you have pain, an injury or a health condition, ask a doctor or physical therapist what suits you.