You don’t want to go to a studio or hop on a elaborate Reformer to present Pilates a attempt. With a no-equipment, newbie Pilates exercise, you’ll be able to dabble on this in style type of motion proper from the consolation of your lounge—and we’ve a fairly superior routine proper right here that matches that precise invoice.

Pilates is a superb train alternative for just about everybody, Jill Rothenberg, a Boston-based licensed Pilates teacher and founding father of Motion with Jill, tells SELF. That’s as a result of there’s a robust emphasis on correct kind, mind-body connection, and core stability. All this implies you’re deliberately transferring in ways in which really feel good to your physique, slightly than mindlessly busting out a bunch of reps in methods that will not work to your joints or muscle tissue. Plus, Pilates is a fairly stellar technique to get stronger, particularly in case your purpose is to assist your muscle tissue work for longer while not having to elevate a bunch of heavy weights.

One other advantage of Pilates: There are many methods to “layer” workout routines—which means, make them simpler for folk simply getting began, or tougher for folks wanting extra of a problem. This implies Pilates is accessible to a variety of health ranges—together with, yup, rookies.

Take the basic single-leg stretch train, for instance. This core-centric transfer may be modified by putting your head on the bottom or bringing one leg again into your chest earlier than extending the opposite. Or it may be made more difficult by curling your head, neck, and shoulders up and doing reps from that place in order that your abs tackle extra work, or by concurrently extending one leg as the opposite begins to come back again towards your chest, Rothenberg says.

“The primary layer will probably be actually conscious, the place you ensure you’re doing the proper kind, your hips aren’t rocking facet to facet, your vary of movement feels best for you,” she explains. “After which we take it to the following step the place you’re nonetheless holding those self same foundational cues and strikes and sensations, however we’re simply making it somewhat bit extra intense.”

With that in thoughts, Rothenberg designed the five-move Pilates exercise for SELF beneath that’s beginner-friendly and consists of numerous methods to tweak the problem primarily based in your precise health degree. Centered on basic body weight strikes—together with the well-known single-leg stretch, in addition to bird-dog, toe faucet, leg circle, and quarter-squat star toe contact—the routine has you working a bunch of muscle tissue, together with your legs, glutes, shoulders, arms, and again. And the whole time, you’ll severely problem your core too.

That closing piece is a key, defining element of Pilates. “Your core must be energetic in each single Pilates factor you do,” Rothenberg explains, since a robust, secure midsection helps defend your backbone and lets you use your limbs effectively and successfully in quite a lot of eventualities, whether or not you’re transferring them throughout a exercise (as within the bird-dog train or toe contact, for instance), or utilizing them to finish day by day duties (like hauling a bag of groceries, or wrangling a fussy youngster).