A 15-Minute Pilates Workout for the Glutes and Abs

It’s an advanced-level class, so, as Spencer says, “Get able to move fast and feel burn.”

Spencer has you begin on the mat—no additional equipment is required. Once you’re taking a seat with bent knees, you may rotate your hips side to side, windshield-wiping your knees to your left and right. Next, Spencer has you balance in your hands and feet along with your hips up, stomach facing the ceiling—just like crab-walking you might have done in gym class growing up—to fireplace up that gluteus maximus.

Clamshells follow to hit the gluteus medius muscles on either side of your buns. “She’s cute, but she hurts,” jokes Spencer. Soon he adds in an upper body rotation for a full-body (and brain) challenge.

From there, you may move into the guts of the workout, which involves engaging your core muscles and committing to proper form in positions that, admittedly, might feel uncomfortable. Eventually, Spencer has you push yourself up right into a half-side plank and reach your arm to the sky, bring it back down and repeat.

If this sounds intense, don’t be concerned. Spencer uses transitional stretches like downward dog, lunges, and cat-and-cow to maneuver between different exercises that engage your core and glutes. This offers a much-needed break in between each segment of the workout.

With these stretch breaks, you would possibly not notice how difficult the workout is until you’re almost done. Still, you may rest assured that you simply’re in good, enthusiastic hands—Spencer leads you thru the workout every step of the best way. Ready for sweat? Hit that mat and press play.