There are many training styles where working at a faster pace brings greater rewards, but when it comes to increasing your deep core strength, slow and steady wins the race.
This 25-minute workout from Pilates instructor Nicole McPherson, who goes by Move With Nicole on YouTube, is the perfect example of this.
It’s a Pilates session where your core stays constantly engaged for long periods as you move through slow sets of exercises that will not only sculpt your abs and obliques but also build deep strength in your stabilizer muscles.
As a runner, I’m always looking for sessions like this to help me maintain my form deep into longer training runs and races, but everyone can benefit from improving their core strength and the only equipment you need for this workout is one of the best yoga mats.
Watch Move With Nicole’s 25-minute Pilates core workout
The workout moves through a series of exercises to target the upper and lower abs, along with your obliques and deep core muscles.
Nicole does the workout with you and provides advice on breathing as well, so make sure you can see and hear the video during the session.
I gave it a go myself this week, swapping out my usual core routine for this slow and controlled session to see how it felt. Here are my main takeaways.
Slow and steady is harder than rushing
I often go into workouts with the attitude that I just want to get through it, and end up rushing at times. With core workouts, that means I quickly exhaust my abs in particular and have to take breaks.
I’m still getting a good workout done, but actually controlling my movements and maintaining a slow pace through the long sets in this session seemed tougher and also more effective.
It maximized the time under tension for my core and pushed me to really engage the right muscles with each exercise. Don’t be afraid to reduce your speed and let the deep burn come slowly.
Breathing is the key
Nicole advises on how to breathe throughout each movement in the workout, and it’s important to heed that advice, because I found it a lot easier to push through the harder sections when I was breathing correctly.
It also helps you move at the right pace, moving slowly while you take long inhales and exhales, and lets you get deeper into stretches as well.
This is a challenging workout
I don’t think this is a particularly beginner-friendly workout, because some moves require a fair amount of strength even to just get through a couple of moves, and there aren’t really many modifications available for most exercises.
If you’re new to Pilates-style workouts, try this six-minute core session instead, or focus on building up your core strength in general before trying Nicole’s workout.
That goes for me too — I’d want to be a bit stronger before I did it again, as there were points where I had to rest for stretches during sets because I wasn’t strong enough to maintain the movements.
Your flexibility is also tested
Along with the challenge to your core strength and endurance, this workout also requires some flexibility in your hips and legs I do not possess, which made some moves even harder.
I already like doing a lot of yoga for runners, but clearly need to work on this more to get into a seated bend position or fully extend my leg above me when lying down.
It’s not a session to burn calories
Pilates can be an intense workout that gets your heart rate up to burn calories, but that’s not the case with this workout because of the slow pace you’re moving at.
I burned 52 calories in 25 minutes according to my Garmin Venu X1. It’s a very effective workout for building strength, but if you’re looking to burn calories, a faster training session like these HIIT workouts for beginners would be better.