Upper Body Home Pilates Workout

Provided by Aleenta Health Club

Try this Pilates workout from Aleenta Health Club, one you can do in the comfort of your own home to strengthen your upper-body, or as your next gym workout.

If you’ve never done Pilates before or are recovering from injury, make sure to have clearance from your doctor.

1. Sternum Drops: Repeat 12 times

  • Start with your wrists stacked under your shoulders
  • Keeping a flat back, allow the sternum to lower towards the ground - gliding your shoulder blades together.
  • Imagine pushing your thoracic spine to the sky, broadening and gliding shoulder blades away from each other. Try to push the ground away.
  • Move between these motions.

Tip: Imagine your torso is an elevator moving between your arms.

2. Bird Dog: Repeat 12 times

  • Start with your wrists stacked under your shoulders. Knees stacked under hips.
  • Lengthen your opposite arm to leg long and in line with the spine. Alternate arm and leg.

Tip: Focus on keeping your hips facing the ground. The height of the leg and arm are going to be different for everyone. Don’t force them up - avoid arching through the back and dipping your belly to the ground! The goal is stability.

3. Tricep Circles: Repeat 8 times

  • Start with your wrists stacked under your shoulders. Knees stacked under hips.
  • Bend your elbows towards the waist.
  • Shifting your weight so that your shoulders are over your fingers, push back up into the starting position. Repeat.

Tip: Repeat in reverse for an extra challenge!

4. Tricep Press: Repeat 5 times per extended leg

  • Extend 1 leg behind you.
  • Bending through your elbows, keeping tight to your waist. Lower your body to tap chin to ground.
  • Make sure you keep a long line from head to toe as you tricep press.
  • Switch legs.

Tip: Imagine you’re a tippy bird.

5. Swimmers: 20 alterations

  • Laying on your belly, reach your arms and legs long.
  • Slightly push your pubic bone into the floor, engage and lift through the core. Avoid pressing your belly into the floor. Activate your quads.
  • Squeezing through your glute and shoulder blades, lift into a dish shape.
  • Flutter your arms and legs as if you’re swimming.

Tip: As long as you feel like you’ve lifted; how much you lift doesn’t matter, your range will increase over time.

6. Plank To Pike: Repeat 10 times

  • Find a high plank position. Wrists stacked under shoulders, keeping your hips down.
  • Lift your hips up towards the sky, pushing back towards your feet, creating an A shape with the body.
  • Lower back into a plank. Repeat.

Tip: Depending on your hamstring flexibility you may find it nicer to have a soft bend in your knees when up in pike, your heels don’t need to touch the ground.
Want a challenge? Hover one leg off the ground, as you pike lift your leg to the sky in line with the spine.

7. Pilates Inchworm with push up: Repeat 5 times

  • Start standing on the short edge of your mat.
  • Sweep your arms up overhead. Dive forward curving and rolling through the spine to reach your hands to the floor.
  • Walk out into a plank position and take a wide push up. Elbows pointing at a 45 degree angle from your body.
  • Walk hands back to feet into a forward fold. Ripple through the spine to sweep hands back over head. Repeat.

Tip: Imagine that you’re trying to curl up into a ball. Let the spine curve, don’t hinge at the hips to roll down. Drop to knees for the push up.

Health Partners members save 10% on all Aleenta Health Club membership and club passes

Enjoy a range of mat and reformer Pilates, Barre and Yoga classes at Aleenta Health Clubs.

Find out more

Posted: Nov 13 2024

Disclaimer

The information contained here is of a general nature and does not take into account your personal medical situation. The information is not a substitute for independent professional medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or used for therapeutic purposes. Should you require specific medical information, please seek advice from your healthcare practitioner. Health Partners does not accept any liability for any injury, loss or damage incurred by use of or reliance on the information provided. While we have prepared the information carefully, we can’t guarantee that it is accurate, complete or up-to-date. And while we may mention goods or services provided by others, we aren’t specifically endorsing them and can’t accept responsibility for them.

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