You may feel like you have to gravitate towards heavy dumbbells and barbells to sculpt a lean, toned physique, but you don’t. This Pilates-inspired workout uses slow, controlled movements and light weights to help strengthen and define the muscles in your arms, shoulders, and back. The exercises will also challenge your stability and balance, meaning your core will also get a total workout. Just grab two light dumbbells or two small water bottles and get ready to burn.
A strong upper body goes way beyond aesthetics. It helps us perform everyday activities such as carrying, lifting, and pushing with more ease, reducing our likelihood of injury. But, strengthening the muscles in our back and shoulders can also aid better posture. Pilates is particurlarly renowned for this, as its exercises enhance spinal alignment and improve core strength, helping us to sit more upright.
You’ll see that some of the exercises include a Pilates ball, don’t worry if you don’t own one of these, you can easily substitute this with a small rolled-up towel or cushion. Work your way through the exercises below, aiming to complete 12-15 reps for each one. You may want to take a minute rest before moving on to the next exercise. Once you’ve completed all four, rest for two minutes, before completing two more rounds of the workout. Here are your exercises:
- Weighted Dead Bugs on Pilates ball
- Kneeling single-arm dumbbell row with hamstring curl
- Pilates ball legs elevated dumbbell skull crushers
- Kneeling dumbbell bicep curl to press
As the repetitions in Pilates workouts are quite high, you want to opt for a light pair of dumbbells. This 3kg set from Opti is a great starting weight (there are heavier options) and they're covered in neoprene, making them easy to grip and kind to your floor.
Give this full-body Pilates workout a try next, which is excellent for building full-body strength and improving your posture. What’s even better, you won’t need any equipment for it as every move only requires your bodyweight. If you fancy a Pilates core workout to bolt onto the end of this, then this three-move workout will take you no longer than 15 minutes but, be warned, your midsection will be left on fire.
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