Fitness Pilates Pilates Workouts

This 14-Minute Pilates Glutes Series Works Your Core and Improves Coordination

Jess Freedman

February 3, 2021

If you're looking for the perfect at-home workout that you can do without equipment (or sneakers, for that matter), then look no further: This month on Well+Good's Trainer of the Month Club , it's all about Pilates with Brian Spencer, trainer extraordinaire at East River Pilates. The best part about a Pilates workout? You're never just working one thing at once. Even though this 14-minute standing glutes series primarily targets your tush, you'll be engaging your core the entire time, which means it will also work your abs, improve your posture, and help to increase your total-body coordination. Additionally, according to Spencer, teaching your glutes to fire correctly (which this coordination workout will help with) provides support to your hips and lower back all day long, and who couldn't use a little extra support these days?

Experts In This Article

Brian Spencer, instructor at East River Pilates in New York City

As you may already know, coordination is a critical part of every move that you make, and improving it will allow you to to move more seamlessly in everything you do. "Challenging coordination is all about brain and body working together, and gives us greater control, proprioception, agility, and understanding of our movement," says Spencer. It's not only important in your workouts, but will also help carry you through your day-to-day activities with more ease. Plus, since coordination declines as you get older—which can ultimately effect your balance—focusing on it now will set you up for success in the longterm.

For today's series, you'll move unilaterally (meaning you'll you will work one side at a time), which has coordination-boosting benefits in itself. "Very rarely are we on two legs in our life, we're almost always on one," says Spencer. This workout will mirror the single-leg moves you do throughout the day, like walking up stairs or standing in front of the pantry with your weight on one leg while you decide if you want chips or pretzels. You may feel a little wobbly as you go through this workout—I may or may not have fallen over myself—but all that means is that you're working on your stability, which is also key for improving coordination. Wobbling aside, get those glutes ready to work, and follow along with the video above.

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