This 15-Minute Pilates Routine Utilizes a Towel as a Slider for Max Muscle Activation

Good workouts can be quite pricey—and often, they’re worth it—but one thing a year of studio-free living has taught us is that they don’t actually have to cost a dime. Pilates reformers are awesome, for example, but you don’t actually need one in your life to stay fit. On the latest episode of Good Moves, Chloe de Winter of Go Chlo Pilates demos a Pilates routine utilizing nothing but a mat and a towel. The latter serves as an actual piece of equipment meant to help you replicate a slider workout.

“Today, I’m taking you through a Pilates workout using a towel, so grab yourself a [hand] towel and have it close by,” she says. If you’re on a hardwood floor, the towel is all you need. If you’re on a carpeted floor, she recommends grabbing a paper plate or something that will better slide on a more textured surface but notes that you’ll still want a towel, too. (Technically, you can do the whole series without a towel or paper plate—it’s just there to add a bit of extra challenge to the routine.)

In the episode, de Winter’s series of moves include some of the greatest hits in mat Pilates, including highly effective exercises such as squats and crunches. There are also leg slides done using the towel or paper plate under your feet (as you would a proper slider), which essentially help activate more muscle groups in one fell swoop than doing the same exercise sans towel or slider.

The result is more bang for your buck—or should I say, bang for your no bucks since both the equipment and the workout is 100-percent free of charge. Press play to challenge your body using only items from, of all places, your kitchen.

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