Celebrity Fitness Guru Endorses Three Exercises for Strength Building
Liana Levi, the founder of Forma Pilates, recommends a series of three exercises for beginners that focus on core and spinal stability, arm and leg mobility, and full-body strength. These accessible movements, essential for Pilates practice, can help build foundational strength, flexibility, and body awareness.
Pelvic Tilts/Core Stability
- Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
- Slowly tilt your pelvis to flatten your lower back against the floor while engaging your abdominal muscles.
- Hold briefly, then release.
This exercise strengthens the deep core abdominal muscles, promoting spinal alignment and stability, essential for protecting the lower back and improving posture.
Pilates Arm Circles/Arm and Shoulder Mobility
- Sit or stand tall with arms extended to the sides at shoulder height.
- Slowly make small circular motions with your arms, gradually increasing the circle size.
- Reverse direction after several circles.
This exercise increases mobility and coordination in the shoulders and arms while gently engaging upper body muscles, improving tone and endurance.
Bridging/Full-Body Strength and Spinal Stability
- Lie on your back with knees bent and feet hip-width apart, flat on the floor.
- Engage your core and glute muscles to lift your hips off the floor, creating a straight line from shoulders to knees.
- Hold, then slowly lower down with control.
This exercise strengthens the glutes, hamstrings, lower back, and core, enhancing overall spinal stability and lower body strength.
Levi's holistic approach to Pilates helps clients achieve aesthetic goals while educating them on Pilates' additional benefits, such as injury prevention, breath control, and improved coordination. Her popular workouts have helped celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber tone their physiques.
For those unable to attend Forma Pilates' referral-only studios in Los Angeles, New York, Texas, and Phoenix, Liana Levi has launched Forma Online, providing the Forma experience at home. One such exercise, the swimming exercise, is great for hip and shoulder mobility and focuses on strengthening the back, core, shoulders, and glutes.
The swimming exercise involves lying down on the belly with arms and legs extended diagonally. Both arms and legs are floated off the mat as high as possible while activating the core, and then gently returned to the floor. This exercise is performed in two sets with 10 reps.
Another exercise recommended for beginners is the bird-dog exercise, which strengthens and stabilizes the core and spine while improving mobility in arms and legs. The starting position for this exercise is lying on your stomach with your hands and knees on the mat. Reach one leg out behind you while reaching the opposite arm in front of you, then engage the core to pull the elbow towards the knee. The advanced version of this exercise involves floating the supporting knee off the mat until the knee and shin are parallel to the mat underneath.
Liana Levi's first Pilates reformer was acquired in 2020, and her recommended exercises align with her beginner-friendly Pilates philosophy, focusing on mastering form and controlled, mindful movements to build foundational strength, flexibility, and body awareness. The twisted mountain climber exercise, while not explicitly mentioned, engages arms, shoulders, glutes, and legs while stabilizing the core and provides a challenge to the spine by working on mobility. This exercise involves 2 sets with 10 reps and starts in a plank position with hands directly under shoulders and legs straight behind.
[1] Forma Pilates Website (https://www.formapilates.com/) [2] Liana Levi's Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/lianalevi/) [3] Liana Levi's TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@lianalevi) [4] Pilates Foundation (https://www.pilatesfoundation.org/)
- Liana Levi's Pelvic Tilts exercise, a core stability workout, strengthens the deep abdominal muscles and promotes spinal alignment and stability, essential for protecting the lower back and improving posture.
- The Pilates Arm Circles exercise increases mobility and coordination in the shoulders and arms while gently engaging upper body muscles, improving tone and endurance.
- Bridging, as recommended by Liana Levi, is a full-body strength and spinal stability exercise that strengthens the glutes, hamstrings, lower back, and core, enhancing overall spinal stability and lower body strength.
- To improve hip and shoulder mobility and focus on strengthening the back, core, shoulders, and glutes, consider incorporating the swimming exercise into your health-and-wellness lifestyle at home, as made accessible through Forma Online.
